Eric's Reviews > America Fantastica
America Fantastica
by
by
Like many others, I became familiar with Tim O’Brien through his short story collection The Things They Carried and have continued to follow his writing since that exposure.
Knowing how Tim O’Brien takes his time with his offerings, I was quite excited upon learning of the publication of America Fantastica, especially since he mentioned in a contemporary interview how he believed his next book would be his last.
America Fantastica was a pleasant surprise almost from start to finish. I have to admit, upon reading the very opening to the novel, mostly out of bewilderment, I questioned what was to follow. As I went on, O’Brien’s writing flourished in ways I did not anticipate. Reading America Fantastica was like stepping into an old muscle car being driven by that one relative you could not always predict what was going to come next.
It is also a novel one laments if read in electronic form because there are so many wonderfully crafted sentences throughout the book that one might just want to highlight many of them for future recollection.
The novel follows Boyd Halverson in the time of COVID and of decent people trying to simply exist in times of the explosion of myth as fact in modern-day America. Halverson, quite the milquetoast and sad sack, has caused a wild pursuit because of an act he committed that was both impulsive and well thought out. With him on this chase and at first against her will, is Angie Bing. Bing, a fireball of a petite and attractive good-hearted woman who is in search of a normal life of picket fences and green lawns, has been scooped up in Boyd’s life, which now involves the two being chased across America by an odd-ball collection of killers, gangsters, and other amusing gadflies.
Halverson, a compulsive liar of the highest order, was once a respected journalist until his lies caught up with him eventually sending him on an amusing downward spiral where a soft landing is anticipated by no one, including himself.
America Fantastica is like Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities mixed in with the dour witticism of Charles Bukowski and with dashes of the madness of James Ellroy and Hunter Thompson.
America Fantastica is highly recommended to readers who enjoy novels with flawlessly crafted sentences, flowering words, and one a reader is not in too big of a hurry to finish.
Knowing how Tim O’Brien takes his time with his offerings, I was quite excited upon learning of the publication of America Fantastica, especially since he mentioned in a contemporary interview how he believed his next book would be his last.
America Fantastica was a pleasant surprise almost from start to finish. I have to admit, upon reading the very opening to the novel, mostly out of bewilderment, I questioned what was to follow. As I went on, O’Brien’s writing flourished in ways I did not anticipate. Reading America Fantastica was like stepping into an old muscle car being driven by that one relative you could not always predict what was going to come next.
It is also a novel one laments if read in electronic form because there are so many wonderfully crafted sentences throughout the book that one might just want to highlight many of them for future recollection.
The novel follows Boyd Halverson in the time of COVID and of decent people trying to simply exist in times of the explosion of myth as fact in modern-day America. Halverson, quite the milquetoast and sad sack, has caused a wild pursuit because of an act he committed that was both impulsive and well thought out. With him on this chase and at first against her will, is Angie Bing. Bing, a fireball of a petite and attractive good-hearted woman who is in search of a normal life of picket fences and green lawns, has been scooped up in Boyd’s life, which now involves the two being chased across America by an odd-ball collection of killers, gangsters, and other amusing gadflies.
Halverson, a compulsive liar of the highest order, was once a respected journalist until his lies caught up with him eventually sending him on an amusing downward spiral where a soft landing is anticipated by no one, including himself.
America Fantastica is like Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities mixed in with the dour witticism of Charles Bukowski and with dashes of the madness of James Ellroy and Hunter Thompson.
America Fantastica is highly recommended to readers who enjoy novels with flawlessly crafted sentences, flowering words, and one a reader is not in too big of a hurry to finish.
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Reading Progress
October 16, 2023
–
Started Reading
October 16, 2023
– Shelved
October 16, 2023
–
5.39%
"Hm, I don't know how to describe the opening of this novel, but it has certainly picked up and seems to be quite the sardonic look at life. Just glad to get a new Tim O'Brien book."
page
25
October 26, 2023
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10.78%
"This is one of those novels where a reader has to read slowly to catch all of the wonderfully crafted sentences throughout."
page
50
November 3, 2023
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16.16%
"Okay, this novel starts out kind of slow, but it does pick up and becomes really interesting and the writing - it is so good. I would suggest America Fantastica is sort of like reading The Bonfire of the Vanities as if Tom Wolfe was also channeling Hunter Thompson when writing that novel."
page
75
November 27, 2023
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53.88%
"I am purposely taking my time in reading this book due to the wonderful writing within the covers."
page
250
January 19, 2024
–
Finished Reading