Rating: 
Summary: The apocalypse according to Boyle
Review: T.C. Boyle has seen the apocalypse, it's hour come 'round at last. But it's human nature to ignore bad news, says Boyle, and that's why it's easy to sit wedged inside our modular homes and forget about the fact that global warming is marching on, the population is growing like a tumor, and the end, my friend, could be closer than we think. A Friend of the Earth is set in the year 2025 as the earth belches its last gasps and there's nothing left for dinner but catfish and sake. The tale is narrated by the reformed eco-terrorist and aging Baby Boomer Tyrone O'Shaughnessy Tierwater, who's spending his last days tending to a bedraggled menagerie of now-rare animals (hyenas, lions, and the like) owned by pop icon Maclovio Pulchris. But then his ex-wife Andrea appears on the scene. She wants to write a book about Ty's daughter, the legendary tree-sitting Sierra. (She'd also like a little love.) Soon, a flood strands Boyle's cast of characters (both human and animal) in Pulchris's mansion. From this vantage point the tale unfolds, and here the reader is launched into Ty's story, told through chapters that alternate between 2025 and the '80s and '90s, his first wife's accidental death, his beginnings as a renegade member of Earth Forever!, his run from the law, and so forth. The humor is wry, the outlook hilariously dire, and the personalities brilliantly constructed. A Friend of the Earth takes a daring look at humanity's hubris and our grim global future. Only a champion storyteller like T.C. Boyle could slap us silly and make us laugh all at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: This book really makes you stop & think
Review: T.C.Boyle wants to warn us about the damage we are doing to our planet. He tells the story of a former "eco-terrorist" & goes back & forth between the 80's/90's and the year 2025. The characters are not particularly likeable. There's an amusing Michael Jackson-like character who appears occasionally. It was hard, at times, to empathize or connect with the passion of the main character & his daughter. But, the story was compelling enough to keep turning the page. I wanted to hear T.C.Boyle's vision of the consequences of our abuse of the planet. That's the compelling piece and, if he's even remotely correct, it's frightening. The book is too complex and pedantic at times to be interesting to a teenager but it would be helpful to have younger people read the book now that environmental issues often take a backseat to other news items. We should all appreciate the author's warning & take a look at our own behaviors.
Rating: 
Summary: dystopia, usa.
Review: the shifting chronology, from end-of-century environmentalism and monkeywrenching do-goodism, to a bleak future, a quarter of century later where the widening ozone hole and el nino have wreaked their vengeance on the earth and its inhabitants, has the effect of bracketing a spate of touchy eco-subjects. tc boyle is too gifted as a novelist and satirist to fall prey to didactic posturing. this book is a heartfelt homage--told from the perpective of the elderly narrator whose job is taking care of a menagerie of endangered species for a mega rock star-- to an abused earth, and the people self-chosen to protect its natural treasures. the spirit of edward abbey, david brower and julia butterfly hill reside at the epicenter of this book that also questions the so called altruistic intentions of these anti-logging green activists.
Rating: 
Summary: A comedy? Of errors perhaps..
Review: There are plenty of other reviews which summarise the plot (such as it is) in this novel by the undoubtably talented T C Boyle. So I'd like to concentrate on what you might actually be expecting from a book about a near-future post-ecodisaster Earth. An ecodisaster? Sorry; we're led to believe it's out there, but not much in the way of description from Mr Boyle (err, it's wet and windy). This does little to conjure an image of a credible future world. OK, so the ecodisaster bit is just a frame for the hilarious, sometimes moving, always dynamic plot and subplots? No, sorry again. To describe this book as 'comic', perhaps only pertains to its category in my home library. Moving? Somehow emotive? Well, I had a few motions whilst reading this book, but none of them were complimentary. T C Boyle has written much, much better books. And no doubt will do so again. Read it if you're desperate to complete all of the author's work, otherwise look elsewhere for your entertainment, provocation, immersion or whatever else you get out of a good book. This isn't one.
Rating:
Summary: Do We Have to be Friends?
Review: There can be no question that TC Boyle is a masterful manipulator of words and storyteller. These two qualities shine through in this dark recent effort. However, I found it hard to give this one a five-star rating because, unlike in the other of his books I've read, his main characters seemed stereotypical or maybe even displaced from a Harlan Ellison or Orson Scott Card work. In fact, Boyle should really leave the quasi-science fiction writing to the quasi-writers. The philosophy here which tends more toward nihilism than anything else is sure to put off some readers who want to be sympathetic to the characters. And though he tries hard with Tierwater, there is no resemblence between him and your typical anti-hero buddy character. I have to, however, ask, do we really have to have sympathetic "buddy" characters to foster our reading experience? Sometimes, perhaps, powerful high quality prose should be enough to sustain us. I would be the first one to admit that this novel is not on the same level with WORLD'S END or even RIVEN ROCK; nevertheless, I would not deny myself the chance to enjoy, one more time, a prose stylist that rises above nearly everyone else writing these days.
Rating:
Summary: Very Poor
Review: This is by far the worst book by Mr Boyle I have read. Not his best work, poor story, slow and boring.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe Next Time
Review: This was my first Boyle book, and it left me unimpressed. I found the characters to be shallow, unsympathetic stereotypes. There was a wealth of images he could have followed through on: weather changes, species extinction, human (and animal) disease, and he left it all undeveloped. He did show a skill for weaving metaphors, however, and some were fascinating. I will try his short stories, as someone suggested.
Rating:
Summary: Truth or Fiction?
Review: Though the story is set in the year 2025, the details of environmental degradation which it portrays are not beyond belief. Yet this fictional romp is still a fun read with lovable characters whom we get to know through effective flashbacks to modern day. Mr. Boyle spins an engrossing tale in a Tom Robbins-like farce which seems almost prophetic at times. As we follow the life of Ty Tierwater from 'average joe' in upstate New York to budding environmentalist in the redwood forests to eco-terrorist in prison, we meet his colorful family and friends including his current employer: a Michael Jackson-like character for whom he caretakes a menagerie of almost extinct animals on a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA. Through all the silliness, the message is not lost, but delivered with sharp wit and satire missing from most writing today. I thoroughly enjoyed this work!
Rating:
Summary: Truth or Fiction?
Review: Though the story is set in the year 2025, the details of environmental degradation which it portrays are not beyond belief. Yet this fictional romp is still a fun read with lovable characters whom we get to know through effective flashbacks to modern day. Mr. Boyle spins an engrossing tale in a Tom Robbins-like farce which seems almost prophetic at times. As we follow the life of Ty Tierwater from 'average joe' in upstate New York to budding environmentalist in the redwood forests to eco-terrorist in prison, we meet his colorful family and friends including his current employer: a Michael Jackson-like character for whom he caretakes a menagerie of almost extinct animals on a ranch in Santa Ynez, CA. Through all the silliness, the message is not lost, but delivered with sharp wit and satire missing from most writing today. I thoroughly enjoyed this work!
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Thought Provoking and Great Satire
Review: Unlike most of the previous reviewers, I had never read T.C. Boyle before I read A Friend of the Earth. I usually do not step into anything that's even remotely futuristic. But I took the plunge and I found this to be a delightfully funny, funny book. Sure, it's full of all kinds of life lessons, environmental warnings, poignant introspection and blah blah blah. But, the satire wasn't lost on me and I think it's absolutely hysterical. I enjoyed every moment of it. I haven't stopped talking about it to family and friends. I highly recommend that you try an audio version as well.
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