Synopsis:
From the award-winning author of Pirates of the Universe, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, comes The Pickup Artist--a sharp, witty, and subversive exploration of the future of art, culture, and society. In the tradition of Ray Bradbury's fireman who burns books in Fahrenheit 451, our hero, Hank Shapiro, is a pickup artist, a government agent who gathers for retirement creative works whose time has come and gone. You see, there's simply not enough room in the world for all the art, so anything past a certain age must be cataloged, archived in the records, and destroyed, paving the way for new art. It's a job that comes with risk and the pay's lousy, but it covers the bills. And, after all, this year's art is better than last year's, isn't it?But what happens is not nearly as important as the telling. Terry Bisson is an American writer in the satirical tradition of Twain and Vonnegut and perhaps Richard Brautigan. He can make you laugh and touch your heart in the same sentence. This is a book about love, death, and America.
I read this book because I saw it in the book exchange at my work and thought the cover art was interesting. Well, that is about as far as it goes. Hank is a government agent, a pickup artist, who collects works of art (books, CD's, paintings, etc) that have been "deleted" to make room for new art. But he somehow goes on an adventure with a librarian who wears a bluebird bra that shows her emotions, his sick dog who ends up being able to talk but only says how things smell, and a bunch of cloned Indians named Bob. This book was weird. I think it was meant to make you think about something, but it didn't have that affect on me. The whole time I just couldn't wait to finish it. I was really hoping that in the end it would come together and mean something. But that didn't happen. It was just....weird. Maybe it was too satirical for me or something. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are just in to weird, futuristic novels that don't mean anything.
From the award-winning author of Pirates of the Universe, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, comes The Pickup Artist--a sharp, witty, and subversive exploration of the future of art, culture, and society. In the tradition of Ray Bradbury's fireman who burns books in Fahrenheit 451, our hero, Hank Shapiro, is a pickup artist, a government agent who gathers for retirement creative works whose time has come and gone. You see, there's simply not enough room in the world for all the art, so anything past a certain age must be cataloged, archived in the records, and destroyed, paving the way for new art. It's a job that comes with risk and the pay's lousy, but it covers the bills. And, after all, this year's art is better than last year's, isn't it?But what happens is not nearly as important as the telling. Terry Bisson is an American writer in the satirical tradition of Twain and Vonnegut and perhaps Richard Brautigan. He can make you laugh and touch your heart in the same sentence. This is a book about love, death, and America.
I read this book because I saw it in the book exchange at my work and thought the cover art was interesting. Well, that is about as far as it goes. Hank is a government agent, a pickup artist, who collects works of art (books, CD's, paintings, etc) that have been "deleted" to make room for new art. But he somehow goes on an adventure with a librarian who wears a bluebird bra that shows her emotions, his sick dog who ends up being able to talk but only says how things smell, and a bunch of cloned Indians named Bob. This book was weird. I think it was meant to make you think about something, but it didn't have that affect on me. The whole time I just couldn't wait to finish it. I was really hoping that in the end it would come together and mean something. But that didn't happen. It was just....weird. Maybe it was too satirical for me or something. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are just in to weird, futuristic novels that don't mean anything.
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