Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Disaffected young-adult-film makers who specialize in escapist stunt comedy are caught in a propaganda war in Anders' sharp, absurdist novella. Between riding a flaming stationary bike off a roof while being pelted with rocks (turned post-production into throwing stars) to staging epic battles between gladiators and their natural enemies (vacuum salesmen), slapstick artist Rock Manning doesn't have time for resistance. As he sees it, the world we live in now, the only time things make sense is when I'm coming up with bigger and crazier disasters to put on film. Reality can't compare, what with the water crisis, the debt crisis, and the drug crisis, with the endless wars raging overseas and the Red Bandana militia at home. The violence that Rock witnesses haunts him, but he avoids taking a stand until he's conscripted to make films encouraging people to honor the authorities that brutalize them. Anders wisely avoids dating this piece with too much realism, presenting instead a funhouse mirror version of our world, all too recognizable despite its surreal distortions. This gonzo vision of an apocalyptic America is a challenging mixture of both farce and tragedy; it makes its point about the influence and responsibility of the media in the weirdest possible way.--Krista Hutley Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hugo and Nebula winner Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) glances sideways at current political and social issues in this jittery, vigorous science fiction novella set in a near-future United States. Rock Manning's mix of ADHD and PTSD renders him not so much an unreliable narrator as too reliable, at least when the topic is himself. He tells the reader exactly what he's thinking about, but his narration zips past the grim science-fictional elements of his environment, such as soldiers in robotic suits and militarized gangs. Rock's personal world is all about watching and making slapstick movies. His attention span is short, but his ability to fall down in the most hilarious way possible is legendary, and his best friend, the brutal but creative Sally Hamster, craves the fame that comes from filming his antics. Meanwhile, the world around them is at war; pratfalls and the quest for notoriety are the only way Sally and Rock have to cope. At times hilarious, at times brutal, this is an extremely personal look at how one person tries to survive constant tragedy. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Anders' (All the Birds in the Sky, 2016, etc.) latest short work is an absurdist, apocalyptic fable.In a near-future and possibly alternate America that is nevertheless fairly analogous to our own, the country might be under threat by the Pan-Asiatic Ecumenthat is, if they even existbut is certainly threatened from within due to various environmental and economic crises, a growing drug problem, and a violent young militia known as the red bandannas. In the midst of the chaos, there is high school student Rock Manning, a hyperactive class clown addicted to classic physical comedy. Rock and his best friend, Sally Hamster, make short videos that are light on plot but heavy on Rock's insanely dangerous stunts. Once posted online, they go viral and catch the attention of Ricky Artesian, a red bandanna member and local bully who once snapped Rock's arm but now tries to pressure Rock and Sally into making propaganda for the red bandannas. The line begins to blur between filmed violence and real-life violence, and a terrible incident creates a gulf between the two friends. While Sally refocuses her efforts on more artsy films and Rock unsuccessfully tries to forget the horrors he's seen, the two are inevitably drawn together again to create new material even as the country teeters toward apocalypse. The emotional currents and thematic elements running through this story strongly resonate with today's sociopolitical milieu, even if our situation is not currently as direin particular, the tendency to try to continue with daily life even as catastrophe threatens, as well as the necessity of making art in the face of fierce opposition, feels topical. Rock's personalityeasily distracted, always in motion despite being somewhat aimlessis both realistically uncomfortable to experience and sympathetic.An astute capsule of that moment of overload when you can't decide whether to laugh or cry. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
