Fortune's Bastard

Rating:
Summary: Well, more like 4 and a half
Review: Very interesting book. There are twists and turns you wouldn't expect unless you read the back cover first. And we come to why it's only 4 1/2 instead of five. The back gives it all away!

It does compare to "Geek Love" (a book that should also be picked up if your stomach can take it) but in a more appealing way. You could read this in almost three sittings as we go over the three stages in his life we get to witness.

My suggestion; read this then "Geek Love" and don't read the back cover!

Rating:
Summary: From the sublime to the ridiculous
Review: What a schizophrenic book. The first half-- following its hapless anti-hero through a series of escalating mortifications--is a great, funny read--Chalmers possesses a real mordant wit. However, the minute our hero steps foot onto the super-heated tarmac of deepest, darkest Central Florida, the book spirals into a surreal gumbo of tooth-breaking violence, tin-eared dialogue, and every "Suhthun" stereotype known to man. Being a Floridian myself, the factual discrepancies rife in this book were jarring and distracting. How disappointing.