Satire, comedy, politics and metafiction are tough. Combining those elements, plus an apparently rather academic grasp of history is pretty much impossible. [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060520450/qid=1043713986/sr=2-1/fishinguideto-20][i]Stingray Shuffle[/i] by Tim Dorsey accomplishes all that, and it’s a wonderful entertaining ride along the way.
The main character is Serge. Serge is a classic Gemini. I got about a third of the way through the book, and I started assigning signs to characters because some of the characters obviously displayed certain characteristic associated with the signs.
I was digging through [i]A Handbook to Literature, 6th Edition[/i], looking up a few phrases to be a more accurate critic, and I stumbled across the term, “prose rhythm.” That’s what the book has, there’s a rise and fall, the dialog, plot, action, scenery all go ripping by. It’s like fast ride on a train.
The best part, though, and what shines, is the way the whole tale is wrapped, nicely, neatly and coherently by standard literary devices. The framework is a potboiler mystery/crime novel. The background is like a tropical print shirt. The characters are both noble and low-brow. It’s just plain funny in part.
“Dear God, please protect from your followers. Amen.” (Serge says grace, page 192)
While that lines is horrendously funny in context, even out of context, it’s not a bad point. Really good book, a sequel to a sequel to a sequel.
What was nice, in an exchange of e-mail with the author, he pointed out two scenes that were actually autobiographical, in an earlier novel. Which makes the whole thing even funnier. The author himself is an Aquarius, and I can only figure that this series of novels was written under the influence Uranus in Aquarius. In a word, electrifying.
