First Lines of Kari Kunzru's "My Revolutions"

"Outside in the garden, workmen from the marquee company are bolting together an aluminum frame on the lawn. They shout to each other and make jokes, theatrically throwing bolts and brackets across the blossom-strewn patch of grass under the three. ... The men seem happy. Maybe because it's because they work in an atmosphere of constant preparty excitement. Perhaps celebration gets inside of them. The secret of the good life: putting up tents."


- Kari Kunzru, My Revolutions.

I'm already hooked. I figured I would like this book after Eric's positive review and how much I liked Gods Without Men, Kunzru's latest novel. But I sat down to read perhaps 10 pages before bed and ripped through 28, forcing myself to put it down due to the hour. Excellent stuff, although I'm not sure how well the first person perspective will pay off. I remember how unlikable some of the characters were in Gods without Men and if the protagonist here ends up like one of them, it might be tough going without the change in perspective that the 3rd person can bring. Still, i'm looking forward to reading more!

Unwrapped Like Pink Cakes

"The nicest girls at school were the misfits, the ones who wore black and seemed at least to have been bruised by life, instead of being unwrapped like pink cakes every morning before school, fresh and stupid and untouched by human hand."
- Hari Kunzru, Gods Without Men, page 298

This book is absolutely fantastic. I'll have some more thoughts about it later, but for now i'm enjoying the ride.

First Lines of "Gods Without Men"

"In the time when the animals were men, Coyote was living in a certain place. "Haikya! I have gotten so tired of living here-aikya. I am going to go out into the desert and cook." With this, Coyote took an RV and drove into the desert to set up a lab."

- Hari Kunzru, Gods Without Men. An extremely entertaining book so far. An episodic book, but one that on page 71 doesn't really show signs of meaningful connection. I'm curious to see if the author is looking to blend things together David Mitchell-style or is just building a collage of sorts. Either way, its fantastic reading. h/t to Eric and Joel for pointing me at this one.