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Rating: 
Summary: Not as much fun as you may be lead to believe....
Review: Coming from Northern California (albeit 20 years ago), I am very familiar with Willits and home grown Humboldt Gold. I met those that attempted to cash in on the lushest crop of all and how they went about it. So, it was with amusement that I picked up this book and re-visited old territories and memories. (what I can remember, short term as they can be, and all.)This was an entertaining, quick trip back to then, although I never was brave enough to attempt to garden this cash crop of pot. But, the characters in this book do, and for a while you think they might just pull it off, But then....... I"m not going to tell you. Read the book. It was fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A trip!
Review: First, to be fair, Boyle's opinions on artistic freedom and the work of a writer are insightful. I like his interviews & the intellectually vigorous way he defends, as an example, the right of artists to write from different points of view. He had a letter printed in Harper's magazine in which he took some fools to task who thought only black males should write from the point of black males, only albino Czech paraplegics should write from the point of view of albino Czech-you get the point. A review now follows... Boyle can on occasion flash some good prose. He does here, too. His problem is he doesn't know when the author should get out of the way & let the story speak for itself. Show, Boyle, not tell. Due to love of language & his showboating of his talents, the story takes a backseat. Tension, surprise, & basic characterization are second priorities to Boyle's piling on of metaphors or of just plain old expository prose. Characters are flat. When Felix & Petra get stopped by cop, it's almost like a US Up All Night movie. You expect the characters to open a bikini carwash or something in order to raise the bail money. The cop Jerpbak-poor name choice-seems drawn from Buford T. Justice of the Smokey & the Bandit movies. When he stops the car, it does remind you of Buford's traffic stop in movie. (Incidentally, it shouldn't be strange to discuss this novel using movie examples as Boyle writes in this style anyway.) Realism...Boyle portrays a girl named Aorta who is supposed to be in a punk band called the Nostrils. Let me tell you as a "vet" from a punk scene in the eighties, Boyle is NOT familiar w/ this world. Aorta falling over herself over a record producer-it just doesn't happen. The ethic in punk is Do-IT-Yourself or just to do it & not to be a "rockstar" or the ultimate insult-a "poseur". In the seventies, when this was written, the anti-star attitude was even sharper. NOw I won't say that there isn't some kind of worship-after all, I remember some musicians who put on these airs. (Suicidal Tendencies during mid-eighties before they became a straight out heavy metaller's band). But they were taken to task over the attitude & even some who exhibited it, took pains to play it down. The I'm more punk than you are attitude was/is a reality. Aorta's fawning to meet a producer is flat out NOT realistic. Pick up on some of the punk fanzines & you'll see how wrong he is on this. If I harp on this, it's because when an author doesn't do their homework on a subject you know cold, the story is already that much deader. False even. Metaphoric excess abounds in this novel. Twice we're "treated" to fecal metaphors w/ regards to eating. Hey Boyle, when you draw needless attention to a weird metaphor you are again showing the reader that what they are reading is no vivid continuous dream (yes, I am a john gardner fan), but a poorly constructed story. Two other metaphors that caught my attention were having to do with being surprised. One compared it to being like the man in the electric chair watching the prosecutor kiss his wife. (uh-ok.) The other was of being like the attorney in a packed courtroom & trying to swallow cold egg noodles while examining a witness. (Yuck.) Also, less is more. He piles on metaphors when comparing just one thing. It comes off as narcissistic & tiring for the reader. While i think many good books demand of the reader a certain bit of work to read, they do pay off. This one doesn't. Oh yes, and one character comes off like a Scooby do villain. Guess that's about it. I've read worse & I've read better.
Rating:
Summary: Not as much fun as you may be lead to believe....
Review: I first read this about 10 years ago and enjoyed it. However, in revisiting it, I have found reading it to be a chore. For a novel that's supposed to be fun, there are a couple of major problems with it. The main character, Felix Nasmyth, is a rather self-absorbed, humorless and generally unlikable jerk. I found myself totally unable to sympathize with him. Also, there's such a pervasive sense of dread overshadowing the proceedings that it makes it hard to take as being very funny or enjoyable. Lastly, as another review mentioned, the book is way, way overshot with metaphor and entirely too showy. I am by and large a fan of Boyle's work, but he was trying way too hard here to prove how clever he can be, and as a result most of this comes off as overwrought. If I were to recommend reading something by Boyle to anyone, it would not be this. Go with World's End or Riven Rock first.
Rating:
Summary: Can Get You High
Review: Neither a waste of money nor time, Boyle's "Budding Prospects" is entertaining, funny from cover to cover and to a certain extent touching. At the core of the novel one finds a story of three bums growing marijuana in Northern California for $ a 500,000 profit. The problems and obstacles which the trio faces during their nine-month stay in Willits, CA are hillarious and realistic. Boyle's creativity and feel for the simple man's thoughts are to be praised.
Rating: 
Summary: Boyle's done better
Review: This book got me all excited, especially after "Water Music" and "World's End." But "Bud" is a bit flat, and lacks any coherent message. It's cute, even funny in places -- a snack, not a meal. "Budding Prospects" will leave Boyle fans, I believe, with the munchies.
Rating:
Summary: Boyle's done better
Review: This book got me all excited, especially after "Water Music" and "World's End." But "Bud" is a bit flat, and lacks any coherent message. It's cute, even funny in places -- a snack, not a meal. "Budding Prospects" will leave Boyle fans, I believe, with the munchies.
Rating: 
Summary: bleak and funny
Review: you'll laugh out loud if you've ever been the jerk who tried a hairball scheme, or slacked off and thought that being resourceful and smart would save you... this is comedy for the black-t shirt intellectual elite... Boyle makes this story of escalation weird and funny, and actually, if you're a Boyle aficionado, you may be surprised. Boyle likes to mix it up, (as you can see with the range of his short stories,) and this is an example of him trying out something a little bit different. this read more quickly for me and it seemed less serious than some of his weightier stuff. as we've come to expect, though, it was as funny and provocative and satisfying as ever. two thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: bleak and funny
Review: you'll laugh out loud if you've ever been the jerk who tried a hairball scheme, or slacked off and thought that being resourceful and smart would save you... this is comedy for the black-t shirt intellectual elite... Boyle makes this story of escalation weird and funny, and actually, if you're a Boyle aficionado, you may be surprised. Boyle likes to mix it up, (as you can see with the range of his short stories,) and this is an example of him trying out something a little bit different. this read more quickly for me and it seemed less serious than some of his weightier stuff. as we've come to expect, though, it was as funny and provocative and satisfying as ever. two thumbs up.
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