Amazon.com: Monster, 1959: David Maine: Books

Review

"[When] Maine's evocative prose takes control, as in the telling of the creation myth recited by the elders on K's island, he creates something uniquely strange and beautiful...If you think you've seen this story before, you're right, but never quite like this."--Washington Post

"Like its protagonist, 'a Daliesque construct of unexpected leaps and alarming juxtapositions,' Monster, 1959 is both ungainly and oddly endearing."--The New York Times Book Review

“Maine’s achievement is to revisit an American myth with fresh eyes, creating an affecting parable for troubled times.”--O Magazine

"A ripping good adventure."--The Hartford Courant

“Discover Maine. If you haven’t heard the story from him, you haven’t heard it.”--The Oklahoman

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

From the critically acclaimed author of The Preservationist and The Book of Samson, Monster, 1959 is an extraordinary tale of 1950s America---flawed, conflicted, and poised to enter the most culturally upended decade of the century.

The United States government has been testing the long-term effects of high-level radiation on a few select islands in the South Pacific. Their efforts have produced killer plants, mole people, and a forty-foot creature named K. Covered in fur and feathers, gifted with unusable butterfly wings and the mental capacity of a goldfish, K. is an evolutionary experiment gone very awry. Although he has no real understanding of his world, he knows when he’s hungry, and he knows to follow the drumbeats that lead him, every time, to the tree where a woman is offered to him as a sacrifice by the natives. When a group of American hunters stumble across the island, it’s bound to get interesting, especially when the natives offer up the guide’s beautiful wife to K. Not to be outdone, the Americans manage to capture him. Back in the States, they start a traveling show. The main attraction: K.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (February 19, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312373015
ISBN-13: 978-0312373016
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,009,209 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
In his dream, K. flies. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mole people

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
David Maine, Ocean Princess, Jack the Spinner, Coast Guard, New Year, Billy Quinn, Lady Liberty, New York City, Statue of Liberty, Eighth Avenue, Madison Square Garden, National Guard, San Francisco, United States, Another World, Bledsoe Island

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	36% buy the item featured on this page: Monster, 1959 3.3 out of 5 stars (7) $18.68
	26% buy The Preservationist 4.4 out of 5 stars (34) $11.86
	23% buy Fallen 3.9 out of 5 stars (20) $11.01
	15% buy The Book of Samson 3.5 out of 5 stars (6) $11.86

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Technicolor, April 9, 2008

By	Stuart Archer Cohen (Juneau, Alaska) - See all my reviews

If you thought the 1950's monster movie story was all used up, David Maine will prove you wrong as soon as you've hacked your way through a few pages of jungle on his nuclear-contaminated island. Maine includes all the parts left out of the originals: the primitive sacrificial victim who preceded the beautiful blonde intruder, the sluggish thought processes of the innocent vegetarian monster. He even fleshes out the highly interesting sex life you always fantasized about between the square-jawed hero and the big-busted heroine he saves. Gotta love it!

An arch, sardonic comic-book of a novel that brings technicolor into a black and white landscape. Definitely a romp.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars On the soapbox and Lady Liberty, August 14, 2008

By	Richard LeComte "richlec" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Maine sets up the book as a spoof of 1950s horror films, complete with corny dialogue, while at the same time echoing John Gardner's "Grendel" in that Maine tries to get into the "head" of a mutant, 40-foot monster. Some of the writing, particularly in the deptictions of the characters of Betty and Doug, is very good, and there's a good deal of excitement as well as sex and gore. But Maine has axes to grind about the United States and the world of the 1950s, and the novel, short as it is, suffers from the pretty naked preaching about Iran, Palenstine and Hungary.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Surprise Come From Behind Climax!, October 9, 2008

By	mike ferry (OC, CA) - See all my reviews

Monster 1959 sure was quirky. I have never quite been a monkey guy. Yet K. is not quite an ape (such as King Kong). Given that, this book's quirkiness kept me reading. We do learn that the U.S. was so very rotten in the late 1950's. What is amazing (considering that past) is that this country's system of advancing liberty has brought average Americans' standard of living so high with such an abundance of free expression. Strangely, Monster 1959 failed to mention Red China's The Great Leap Forward (started 1958) which contributed to an estimated 14 to 43 million starvation deaths by 1961. Can't blame the good ole U.S. for that one. Ultimately, the monster (a tree hugging vegetarian) wasn't a monster. We were (still are?). Rewarded greed that allows for the exploitation of an innocent [creature, person, being, entity, (take your pick)] creates the real monster. I think this was the author's point in raising our consciousness of the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study and other such historical revelations. The disappointment of Monster 1959 is manifested by the author knocking down the story's heroes leaving us with no decency in their place.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars A familiar tale, uniquely Maine.
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