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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully unique, November 10, 2003
I remember reading (and rereading) this zany, gripping, urban adventure when I was in third or fourth grade (and its worthy sequel, The Snarkout Boys & the Baconburg Horror). On a whim, some twenty years later and with a law degree to my name, I tracked down a copy at the public library and ... wow! I enjoyed it every bit as much. Daniel Pinkwater deserves major kudos for such a book--someone buy that man a Napoleon or twelve.The fast-paced story is told from the viewpoint of Walter Galt. Walter is a teenager on the verge of dying from boredom at Ghengis Khan High School, until he meets Winston Bongo, another suffering student and the self-proclaimed inventor of 'snarking out'. The boys' late-night snarkouts eventually bring them into contact with a smorgasbord of oddball characters (such as Ms. Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, aka Rat) and places, from Blueberry Park to Lower North Aufzoo Street to Beanbender's Beer Garden and beyond. Ultimately, with the help of the world's greatest living detective, Walter, Winston and Rat must locate the world's largest avocado and save the world (or at least the nations' realtors)--but watch out for stuffed Indian fruit bats! Pinkwater is a true original and writes this surreal, comic yarn simply, cleanly, and hilariously. Highly recommended for kids, parents, avocado lovers ... and even lawyers who used to be kids. Five stars!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A look at what's really going on, February 2, 2007
I would wager that more than a few adults who favor science fiction or fantasy were set on that path as youngsters by the works of Daniel Pinkwater. Speaking for myself, Pinkwater instilled in me an interest in fiction that was reflective of more than just the ordinary world me (or, more than likely, awakened an existing, but dormant, interest in such literature). In the case of Avocado of Death, we are presented with aliens posing as realtors, a supercomputer fashioned out of a single avocado, and an international criminal mastermind who employs orangutans to do his dirty work, just for starters. And Pinkwater's books are without a doubt offbeat, zany, absurd, and certainly whichever other such adjectives the critics proffer. But their zaniness is beside the point, or at least it is subordinate to a larger point.
Though Pinkwater's books have a wide appeal, I can say from experience precisely who they're aimed at, and to whom they appeal the most: the kid who's bored with school, who looks in vain for something new or unusual to engage his interest; the kid who knows how much he doesn't know, who knows that there are things that his parents and teachers aren't telling him and is almost certain that there's a great deal that adults don't know either. Pinkwater's protagonists slog through the mundane world of the everyday, until some circumstance allows them to catch a glimpse of what's behind the curtain and have some idea, for the first time, of What's Really Going On. Generally it involves conspiracies, outlandish coincidences, and general wackiness, and generally none of it makes any less sense than what we normally think of reality. In fact, it occurs to me that a reader of Pinkwater's could graduate to Douglas Adams without too much trouble.
I'm not sure that Avocado of Death is Pinkwater's best work; if I were to make a recommendation, I would start a kid off with Lizard Music. But whichever you begin with, I have to recommend giving a kid who enjoys reading a Pinkwater novel; there's no telling what kind of imagination you might unlock.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sentimental fave, March 31, 2003
woooooo. suddenly I'm brought back to third grade when I first read this book. It was absolutely magical then and I remember how it stretched my imagination like taffy, and made me see avacados in a whole new light. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be taken on a wacky adventure.
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