The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye (Paperback)

by Jonathan Lethem (Author) "I left her in the bedroom, and went and poured myself a drink..." (more)
Key Phrases: shrunken homes, robot maker, sleepy man, Vanilla Dunk, The Happy Man, Michael Jordan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Jonathan Lethem continues his unique brand of storytelling with this collection of seven short works. There is no mistaking his range or ability as he writes skillfully about subjects as various as Hell and the NBA. As usual, reading Lethem is a bit like staring at an upside-down Picasso in black light with 3-D glasses--intensely interesting, often confusing, rampantly inventive and never dull. The underpinning of this book is not a theme or an idea but rather Lethem's pure, unleashed talent and a mind that can come up with ideas that will jolt even seasoned SF readers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Although Lethem is claimed by the science fiction community as one of its own?last year, Locus magazine bestowed its Best First Novel award on his Gun, with Occasional Music?this relative newcomer's extraordinary work is really extra-genre, in the manner of Borges or William Burroughs. Each of the seven unsparing stories in this collection hangs a tale of considerable emotional and intellectual power on a futuristic hook. In "The Hardened Criminals," convicts in a state of semi-suspended animation have been set into a prison wall. "Light and the Sufferer" features a race of mute, panther-like space aliens who are visiting Earth. In "Forever, Said the Duck," a couple throws a party whose guests include virtual-reality copies of every lover the couple has known. It soon becomes clear that these hooks are in no way the focus of the stories. The space panthers seek out the depredations of drug culture, for instance, and when Nick Marra, the protagonist of "The Hardened Criminals," is jailed, he has an opportunity to meet his long-absent father, fused into the wall 13 years before. Lethem surpasses himself in this collection. The opening story, "The Happy Man," is a perfect parable about a man, Tom, allowed to return from death for short stretches to provide for his family. To do this, he must navigate Hell?an Alice-in-Wonderland environment ruled by a rapist incongruously called the Happy Man. Once in the real world, Tom struggles with his son, Peter, to unravel the Freudian mystery of that nightmare landscape, and winds up inventing a new hell for himself. In this story and a few others here, Lethem has created tales of such resonance that they graft themselves onto the subconscious.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (March 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156032481
• ISBN-13: 978-0156032483
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #670,697 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, yet flawed., October 5, 1997

By	Andrew S. Cruse "andrew2" (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye: Stories (Hardcover)

Jonathan Lethem is one of the best authors in the science fiction genre at making things bizarre and psychedelic seem utterly convincing and plausible.

The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye continues in that vein. Each story is set in a carefully crafted world that stretches the mind and defies the imagination. When reading a Lethem story one is almost forced into the position of simply absorbing the language for later digestion as his prose is at the same time lush and full of ideas as well as it is sparse as far as plot devices go.

This is the downfall of the stories in this volume. Of them, only Vanilla Dunk, and the Happy Man have truly conclusive endings, and the latter's ending is obvious right from the start. The rest of the stories simply trail off ambiguously or end rather abrubtly. In either case the stories fail to reach a satisfying conclusion. It feels as if Lethem has these wonderful stories, full of likeable characters and fascinating ideas, but that he doesn't know what to do with the worlds he creates, with his ideas and his characters. They seem to be incomplete.

Overall, however, it is impossible to deny the joy to be had in these stories. In spite of their shortcomings they remain highly well written...tidbits. To call them stories is perhaps stretching the definition of the word a bit since stories generally are brought to reasonable conclusion. But, as tidbits, or story fragments perhaps they serve well to show of Lethem's prowess at characterization and world building.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating ideas, but one true jewel..., January 31, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Moultrie, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye: Stories (Hardcover)

There's one way to describe Lethem's writing: inventive. Reminiscent of Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick at their best, Lethem's stories are some of the most creative works of fiction you'll ever read. Unfortunately, "creativity" doesn't always equal "entertaining." While none of the stories in this book will bore you, some of them are kind of pointless. You'll get done reading them, and you'll be like, that's it? There is one story in here that's worth the price of the book alone, though: Vanilla Dunk. If you are a sports fan, buy this book, ignore the other stories, and read this one. It's about a futuristic basketball league in which players can have the skills and playing abilities of all the great players of history. It's one of the best sports stories I've ever read. Outstanding. I could pass on the other stories, though.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Huge Creative Range, but Not Always Satisfactory Execution, June 20, 2005

By	Lukas Jackson (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye (Paperback)

You never know what to expect from Lethem. Compare the terse, stripped-down language of "Gun, With Occasional Music" with his hyperverbose description in "Fortress of Solitude." The man is a literary chameleon, a ventroliquist of strange new voices.

Of what I've read so far, my favorite two Lethem stories are "Mood Bender" from The Best of Crank! anthology and "The Happy Man" from this one. Like what other reviewers have said, the rest is a mixed bag. Most are interesting, and might show the beginnings of Lethem's literary aspirations, as they are more vignettes than traditional stories ("Light and the Sufferer," about crackheads shadowed by strange mute aliens, is the best of these). Frequently, I found myself impressed by the ideas far more than the stories themselves.

But the collection is definitely worth reading, especially for fans of Philip K. Dick looking for something new in SF. I enjoyed them much more than his more recent novels, where he takes a nose-dive into big-L "Literature," with its endless description and dearth of plot.