Lemur by Tom Bradley Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.89 You Save: $4.06 (34%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.82 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Lemur
Book Review: AT LAST . . . an ORIGINAL serial killer!
Summary: 5 Stars
Spencer Sproul worships serial killers. His home is a shrine to them, and he spends the majority of his time devising ways to become the next Manson, Bundy, or Gacy. Spencer's also a dedicated employee at Lemuel's Family Restaurant, oblivious to the constant insults of his collegues. When a rival food chain opens across the street, and one of Lemuel's waitresses leaves to work for the competition, Spencer springs into action in an attempt to make Lemuel's the ultimate family dining experience.
If I'd read what I just wrote above without having read this book, I probably would have never had an interest in LEMUR (even with the funny cartoon cover art). But the amazing thing about LEMUR is that it's so normal it's strange; we see the world through the eyes of Spencer, a nobody, flake-wanna-be serial killer, friend of bums and other flakes, and by the hystercial conclusion we can't help but feel as if we'd like to hang out with him. He's an anti-heroes' anti-hero, a serial killer who devises a way to serial kill in a manner too perfect (and too real) than his idols had ever dreamed of.
Bradley's sharp writing and in-your-face social commentary make LEMUR one of the funnest (and funniest)satires to come down the pike in many a moon---or should I say, many a deep-fried chicken patty? Like a genuine cult film, this story features many crafty scenes and lines of dialogue that won't soon leave your mind (one scene inside a 7-11-type convenience store is absolutely hysterical). Don't miss this.
Book Review: And A Side Of Lemmy Fries
Summary: 5 Stars
The world of "Lemur" is at first glance as seemingly banal in it's detailing of wage slavery and small town numbness as our own, except that Bradley has peopled it with such an unbelievable parade of grotesques that it becomes a horrifyingly distorted reflection. The prose sketches Scarfe like portraits which then become animated by bizarre purposes to produce... an idiot savant bus boy who is attempting to become a serial killer; a cellulite worshipping store clerk who views his hyper-obese customers as "God-babies"; a paedophile restaurant reviewer; a trio of cops that includes not only an uber-Marxist but a female who wishes "to become the toughest creature on the planet"; and the various vicious co-workers, holocaust survivors, and mascot worshipping dumpster divers that you would expect.
A savage satire of the fast food trade with zero fat content and complete free of literary MSG.
Book Review: Bizarro Satire in the form of a bad Anthony Hopkins impression
Summary: 4 Stars
LEMUR is a bizarre journey into fast-food hell with a serial killer wannabe named Spencer.
First, I'll say that if you are looking for a weird, fast-paced satire with crazy "mental-patient" dialogue, you should buy this book.
When I started reading, LEMUR reminded me of one of those independent movies in which the main setting is banal (in this case, a fast food restaurant) but the characters talk in unrealistic and exaggerated ways. That's neither a positive nor a negative statement. However, usually when I start watching one of those movies, I turn it off.
Luckily, Tom Bradley's prose is so well-written, so smooth and clever that it overshadows any problem that I personally have with the dialogue. This book is in the Bizarro genre so it's not a shock that the characters speak in weird/funny/unrealistic ways. It isn't that Bradley can't write realistic dialogue but rather that he chose not to for the sake of this story. By the end of the book, however, the dialogue seemed less awkward and I was fully immersed in the story.
I fear that this is starting to sound like a bad review. It's not. Bradley is a talented writer who satirically explores many social issues in LEMUR. Consumerism, murder, corporations, communism, the food-service industry, bad Anthony Hopkins impressions. All are fodder for Bradley's sharp wit.
Bradley ventures into Vonnegut territory (though maybe not as deftly in the dialogue department). Overall, that's my impression of LEMUR: a more obscene version of a Vonnegut novel but with enough originality to not make it a rehash of old ideas. There are some laugh-out-loud parts in there, too.
Personally, as far as Bizarro fiction is concerned, I much prefer the style of Carlton Mellick III. However, that isn't meant as an insult to Bradley and his work. LEMUR will no doubt please most bizarro readers as well as those who have never read a "bizarro" book before.