Ark Baby
by Liz Jensen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Liz JensenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-10-01
ISBN: 0879517298
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Overlook TP
Book Reviews of Ark Baby
Book Review: Dark... and hilarious
Summary: 4 Stars
Ark Baby is a terribly witty social parody that manages to bring together disparate elements like Darwinism, taxidermy, slave ships, rural English chruches and a modern-day fertility crisis. Jensen has an ear for language and a wonderful talent for creating vivid, memorable and very unusual characters- like the hirsuite, red-headed twins who may be the saviors of British fertility. Stylisticly, "Ark Baby" reminds me more than a little of some of my favorite English authors with a sense of dark, comic irony; both Kingsley Amis and some of the later Aldous Huxley come to mind. Think Amis' "Lucky Jim" meets Huxley's "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan". Jensen manages to develop two different plot threads, one contempory and one 19th Century, and then brings them together for a great finish that, while not entirely unexpected, still has a few twists and turns. I was a bit reminded of Thomas Powers, who often uses this technique to great effect. But unlike Powers, who often revelas sublte and unexpected connections between his plot threads, Jensen brings hers together in a massive collision, with great comic effect.
All in a all, a terrifically enjoyable and original book.
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