Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer
My rating: 3/5 cats
i read this a couple weeks back, but i haven’t been able to write a review for it. i didn’t know wtf to say about it then and i don’t know wtf to say about it now.
so instead, i will interview myself:
-why didn’t you like this book? why do you hate books, karen?
it’s not even like that, dude – it was a good book, i just don’t think i am the best judge of it, is all, and for some reason, it has left me with nothing to say.
-who would be the best judge of it?
see, ordinarily i would say greg. it has this hipster sci-fi vibe to it – aimless thirty-somethings caught up in a tech-conspiracy situation, with spies and self-reflection, and it has been compared to john le carré, philip k. dick, jonathan franzen, thomas pynchon, david foster wallace, william gibson, chuck palahniuk, don delillo…
-that’s a lot of comparisons
i know, right?? and the response has been pretty enthusiastic – so but anyway, interrupting cow, ordinarily i would have said “greg will like this, because he likes all of those authors,” but he read it and was also underwhelmed. but it is so “his” kind of book, on paper.
-so would you say you are shitty at readers’ advisory or do you just not know your best friend at all?
nice. thanks. no, i think i am very good at readers’ advisory, and i know greg pretty well, but i guess in this instance, i was wrong.
-did you get him a birthday present yet?
no. shut up. i’m working on it.
-if you say so. so, what didn’t work for greg?
umm, well since he’s not really writing reviews anymore, i guess i can speak for him. i know he had a problem with the names.
-the names?
yeah, the code names the revolutionary people used, like “seymour butz” and “paige turner.” he thought it was a little twee and faux-pynchony. i didn’t have a problem with that, but i’m not a pynchon fan, so it’s not even something i would notice. for me, i think the major problem was how long it took to get going. it’s a 400-plus page book, told from three different viewpoints, and the characters don’t even start coming together until nearly halfway through.
-but you love sprawling narratives, haven’t you read infinite jest, like, 7 times?
yeah, but with that one, i was in love with each and every storyline. with this one, the only character i really loved was leo. his chapters were always really funny and moving. this one was more like reading A Game of Thrones, you know? how when you get to a cat pov chapter, you are like zzzzzzzzMOAR TYRION!! i was really invested in leo’s storyline, but the other two were what i had to endure to get back to the one i loved.
-oh, like odysseus enduring his trials to get back to penelope?
no, more like penelope enduring the tedium of other suitors in order to hook up with odysseus again.
-yeah, but she wasn’t “getting back” to him, she stayed put.
jesus christ, so it’s an imperfect analogy, what is your problem?
-this is your book review – not my fault you aren’t good at this anymore.
true, true. so anyway – i don’t know. i certainly didn’t hate this book – when all the characters eventually meet up, it becomes more enjoyable and the pacing is quicker. plus, there is an interlude involving the daily jumble that i enjoyed, and an “armless genius.”
-the armless genius sounds particularly dfw-inspired.
yup, i thought that, too. so, yeah, i liked this book, but i am also completely the wrong audience for tech/big data/global conspiracy thrillers. plus – the e-version i had was a little messed up, with some paragraphs duplicated and some distracting typos, and i was on vacation at the time, so it might be a case of “wrong circumstances under which to read this book.”
-so, when this book becomes a bestseller that everyone loves, this is going to be your excuse?? not that you are wrong, but that you were – what – distracted?
this is why no one likes you. it’s a strong debut novel, and people will probably love its timely, snowdenian flair
-not a word
BUT ANYWAY, it might just be more of a “boy” book, with its themes and its increasingly-beautiful and desirable female lead.
-you are going to get a lot of shit for that “boy book” comment. people on goodreads get real huffy when you make gender-assumptions.
ugh, i don’t even care. this book reads a little “lad” to me, is all. and View Spoiler » so, yeah. an ambitious debut which mashes up the spy thriller, the sci-fi near-future paranoia rant, and the conspiracy novel, with some floundering-emo characters to hash it all out.
-that is a terrible blurb.
INTERVIEW OVER. KAREN OUT.
i hope you are going to go buy greg a birthday present
