Elvissey (Womack, Jack) (Paperback)

by Jack Womack (Author) "Elvis died several years before he saved me from drowning..." (more)
Key Phrases: sans reason, New York, Mister O'Malley, Doctor Harrison (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A troubled couple sets out from a dismal future to retrieve Elvis Presley from an oddly different 1954. They need the King to be a savior to what's left of humanity, but he's a murderous freak with no desire to be anyone's god. Elvissey is set in Jack Womack's maybe-not-cyberpunk future, where the Dryco corporation runs everything, and everyone has been or will be "regooded," for their own good. Womack writes in an evolved language, full of odd verbs and newspeak: "He unpocketed a bottle of small blue pills; Dryco's standard eyedots and smile were imprinted upon each tablet. Three hours sole could pass between dosings, no more, no less. Swallowing dry, he fixed a doorways stare; shook, and resettled.... Regooded or not, his unscratchables still itched."

This is a bleak tale, buzzy and complex, full of human failings. Elvis is a disgusting jerk. The United States of Dryco is horrifying and manipulative. And Iz and John are mutually lonely, despairing in their failing marriage, and betrayed by Dryco. Despite its darkness--or maybe because of it--you owe it to yourself to read Elvissey. Womack is one of the most interesting writers in the business, and nobody does cultural science fiction funk like he does. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly
Womack ( Ambient ) astounds and entertains in this adventure featuring a young Elvis Presley kidnapped into a future in which he becomes a deity. Though the plot suggests the ridiculous, this is, in fact, a deep, often theological, reflection on love, betrayal and commercially inspired nihilism. The narrator is Isabel, a high-level operative for Dryco, a mind-manipulating multinational conglomerate in a parallel future. Seeing control of various Elvis-worshiping sects as important to its domination of the globe, Dryco sends Isabel and her husband through a "Window" to kidnap young Elvis from another parallel universe. They find the King-to-be of Rock 'n' Roll standing over the body of the mother he has just murdered, and he takes the couple on a bloody road trip through the South before they arrive in Dryco's world. Though Elvis is happy to have escaped murder charges, his gnostic philosophy makes him a reluctant messiah, and Dryco goes to extremes in convincing him to go public. From loony beginning to gripping climax, Womack has found a brilliant vehicle through which to examine relationships, race, popular culture and a host of other topics, and forces us to contemplate whether the dystopian worlds he evinces are not, in fact, merely heterotopian.
Copyright 1992 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: 319 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Grove Press Ed edition (January 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802134955
• ISBN-13: 978-0802134950
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,126,944 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SHOULDN'T BE YOUR FIRST WOMACK, April 6, 2001

By	"jaylimmo" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Elvissey is my second-least-favorite of the Dryco Chronicles series ( we'll see where it ranks after Going, Going, Gone hits my mailbox ), but not for the reasons you might expect. Allow me to explain.

It was the first Jack Womack book I ever bought - the Gibson blurb on the back sold me - but I couldn't understand a word of it and shelved it. Somehow, a year later, I wound up with a used copy of Terraplane. I had to re-read the first chapter three times to make sense of the language, but eventually I put everything together; now it's probably my favorite. This led me to collect his other books from used bookstores, and then finally to tackle Elvissey.

Elvissey is a remarkable achievement, particularly in its funhouse-mirror distortion of the the 1954 we knew on our planet. Having said that, it's also by far the most depressing of Womack's books. Which is saying something. The odyssey of pregnant security operative Isabel and her psychologically-unraveling husband John leads them to an American South where black people no longer exist and Elvis killed his mother. Their return to 2054, and subsequent attempted conversion of Elvis into a corporate messiah, is utterly heartbreaking. This is the Womack book which I've only re-read once.

First-timers should read Womack's books in this order: Random Acts of Senseless Violence, Heathern, Ambient, Terraplane, Elvissey. You'll gradually come to understand everything about the strange future Womack paints, and recognize recurring characters.

Enjoy the ride. You won't forget it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hard to Read, Yet Harder to Put Down, September 11, 2004

By	SirGeorgeMartini "ElDorado" (Chihuahua Legs, Wyoming) - See all my reviews

In the future, Elvis Presley has become a religious figure. Like all events in history, certain details have become distorted over time. Agents time travel back to the Fifties to find the original Elvis in an alternate universe and kidnap him. Author Womack has done his homework, and he clearly is an Elvis fan. His details are based on real events found in any Elvis biography and his insights on Presley's behavior are accurate. Unfortunately, "Elvissey" is written in a style similar to "Clockwork Orange". How can you go to the next chapter when you can't be sure you understood what you just read? If the language had been simplified, this book would have been incredible. Most people will probably give up after the first chapter, but I had to find out what happened. If you like Elvis and Science Fiction, get this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Look At A Sinister Media Culture Future, September 8, 2001

By	John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Elvissey" is the first Jack Womack novel I have read; I eagerly look forward to reading the rest. Without a doubt, Womack is one of the most interesting writers to emerge out of science fiction since William Gibson hit the stage with his brilliant "Sprawl" short stories, culminating with his amazing "Cyberspace" trilogy of novels. He's certainly among the most bizarre stylists I've come across, echoing Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" with his own poetic usage of Dryco's newspeak. "Elvissey" is a brilliant satire of our own obsession with rock and roll stars and other transient entertainment celebrities. It is also a fascinating look at how a psychologically troubled couple from 2054 meet a homicidal Elvis Presley in an alternative 1954. Equally appealing is how Elvis struggles to cope with his new found fame in 2054, after learning he is regarded as a saint by millions of adoring fans. I strongly emphasized with Isabel "Iz" Bonney's struggle to hold onto her sanity as her health and her relationship with John, her psychotic husband, dissolve through the course of the novel. Anyone expecting another excursion into William Gibson's "Cyberspace" future may be disappointed; Womack isn't quite as visionary as Gibson, though his prose is just as poetic. Instead, prepare yourself for a startling fresh, unique view of what a media-dominated future might look like.