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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
An archeological find sets off an apocalyptic epidemic in this first novel by Johnson (Emporium), an erratic, overstuffed satire that tracks the antics of a South Dakota academic. Anthropology professor Hank Hannah studies the Clovis people, a prehistoric tribe of hunter-gatherers. His theory is that their hunting habits helped kill off 35 species of large mammals. The discovery of a Clovis arrowhead helps substantiate his claim, but disaster strikes when Hannah and two graduate students, publicity hound Brent Eggers and formidable Trudy Labelle, try to dig up the remains of a Clovis male. The police appear and Hannah is arrested for assaulting the officer who defiles the grave site. His stint at a luxury low-security prison, Club Fed, is interrupted by the outbreak of a deadly epidemic, transmitted from pigs to humans and triggered when Eggers and Labelle use the Clovis arrowhead to kill a pig. The prehistoric contagion litters the Midwest with dead bodies, ushering in a bleak new age. Johnson's fertile imagination produces plenty of innovative speculation about the connection between prehistoric and modern customs, and Hannah's bumbling charm can be endearing. But wading through the chaff of the unfocused narrative-including an ineffective romantic subplot in which Hannah woos a Russian botany professor-is an arduous task. Johnson shows some of the outrageous flair here that made the stories in Emporium a critical success, but his elaborate concoction sags under its own weight.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
As the North American culture ends and the only study is that of humanity, Dr. Hank Hannah, a tenured anthropology professor who's coasting along at the University of Southeastern South Dakota after publishing The Depletionists, about the prehistoric Clovis people, leaves this book as a record for future colleagues. Having contended that the Clovis' sharpened spear points were responsible for eradicating 35 species, Hannah is drawn to the site at which his grad student Eggers finds a Clovis point, and grad student Trudy makes a spear of it. Their testing of the point on a 4-H hog helps land Hannah in a cushy federal prison, leaving the excavation site not properly protected, a situation that soon proves disastrous for all civilization except dogs and a few strangely protected humans. Yet though individuals and species die, the need for human connectedness remains strong. Johnson displays the same inventiveness, black humor, and penetrating insight that marked his short story collection Emporium (2002) in this weird but masterfully written debut novel. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
An archeological find sets off an apocalyptic epidemic in this first novel by Johnson (Emporium), an erratic, overstuffed satire that tracks the antics of a South Dakota academic. Anthropology professor Hank Hannah studies the Clovis people, a prehistoric tribe of hunter-gatherers. His theory is that their hunting habits helped kill off 35 species of large mammals. The discovery of a Clovis arrowhead helps substantiate his claim, but disaster strikes when Hannah and two graduate students, publicity hound Brent Eggers and formidable Trudy Labelle, try to dig up the remains of a Clovis male. The police appear and Hannah is arrested for assaulting the officer who defiles the grave site. His stint at a luxury low-security prison, Club Fed, is interrupted by the outbreak of a deadly epidemic, transmitted from pigs to humans and triggered when Eggers and Labelle use the Clovis arrowhead to kill a pig. The prehistoric contagion litters the Midwest with dead bodies, ushering in a bleak new age. Johnson's fertile imagination produces plenty of innovative speculation about the connection between prehistoric and modern customs, and Hannah's bumbling charm can be endearing. But wading through the chaff of the unfocused narrative-including an ineffective romantic subplot in which Hannah woos a Russian botany professor-is an arduous task. Johnson shows some of the outrageous flair here that made the stories in Emporium a critical success, but his elaborate concoction sags under its own weight.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
As the North American culture ends and the only study is that of humanity, Dr. Hank Hannah, a tenured anthropology professor who's coasting along at the University of Southeastern South Dakota after publishing The Depletionists, about the prehistoric Clovis people, leaves this book as a record for future colleagues. Having contended that the Clovis' sharpened spear points were responsible for eradicating 35 species, Hannah is drawn to the site at which his grad student Eggers finds a Clovis point, and grad student Trudy makes a spear of it. Their testing of the point on a 4-H hog helps land Hannah in a cushy federal prison, leaving the excavation site not properly protected, a situation that soon proves disastrous for all civilization except dogs and a few strangely protected humans. Yet though individuals and species die, the need for human connectedness remains strong. Johnson displays the same inventiveness, black humor, and penetrating insight that marked his short story collection Emporium (2002) in this weird but masterfully written debut novel. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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