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Rating: 
Summary: Profound and Original
Review: Donald Antrim is a wonderful original writer who takes the novel to a new and dark place unlike any book you will ever read. Black humor mixed with painful insights on us all it explores the paradoxical world of insanity and real suburban life in a very funny way.
Rating:
Summary: pure fun...comic, original, daring
Review: Donald Antrim may quickly become one of my favorite authors of recent years. In this depraved satire of perverse civic duty in a subtropical-wasteland suburbia, Antrim delineates a story from the unbridled perspective of Pete Robinson, former third grade teacher--after a tax payer revolt has discontinued the public schools--medieval torture weapon maven, and horny husband. The story is redolent of postmodern work by Donald Barthelme and Thomas Pynchon. If you are a reader who enjoys darkly comic lampoons that poke fun at the seemingly mundane minutiae of American suburban lifestyles, you will get a kick out of this story. Antrim is so original and daring, where he dreamt up some of this chaos is beyond me--for example, the ex-mayor gets executed by the town denizens by way of drawing and quartering...with Toyotas and Subarus in place of horses. Truly fun and original writing.
Rating:
Summary: pure fun...comic, original, daring
Review: Donald Antrim may quickly become one of my favorite authors of recent years. In this relentlessly depraved satire of perverse civic duty in a subtropical wasteland suburbia, Antrim delineates a story from the unbridled perspective of Pete Robinson, former third grade teacher--after a tax payer revolt has discontinued the public schools--medieval torture weapon maven, and horny husband. The story is reminescent of postmodern work by Donald Barthelme and Thomas Pynchon. If you are a reader who enjoys darkly comic lampoons that poke fun at the seemingly mundane minutiae of American suburban lifestyles, you will get a kick out of this story. Antrim is so original and daring, where he dreamt up some of this chaos is beyond me--for example, the ex-mayor gets executed by the town denizens by way of drawing and quartering...with Toyotas and Subarus in place of horses. Truly fun and original writing.
Rating: 
Summary: another bull's eye shot at an easy target
Review: Suburban life is barbaric. I think John Updike and a bunch of other guys (and a few women) told us that a long time ago. Mr. Antrim's twist is to juxtapose brutish, post-apocalyptic behavior with the repressed mannerisms of the self-satisfied bourgeoise. The protagonist has a fascination with medieval torture devices and <ahem> never *dreams* that when his advice is sought on the matter that it will be put to practical use. He runs into one of his former star students in the middle of a public park ... that has been landmined by neighbors that have literally declared war on each other.The most interesting part of the book was the regression therapy theme. Mr. Robinson's wife regresses quite comfortably down the phylogenetic ladder to her aboriginal coelocanth-essence. Mr. Robinson rather messily reverts to bison-essence, but his co-dependence on his wife is manifested by his bison's near-drowning in her coelocanth ocean. This is all wonderfully bizarre and animistic. By contrast the sort of sans-superego Freudian society that is portrayed in the rest of the book is a joke that gets kind of old.
Rating: 
Summary: Relentlessly Bleak.
Review: Such unpleasantness! And to what end? The same old, "Yea, the deepest ring of Hell is Suburbia" nihilism; (the pet musing of all college freshmen away from home for the first time). And that over-the-top, gross-out violence -- written in the pat ironic tone, of the guy who's SEEN IT ALL, and you have NO IDEA of the depths of human depravity... Well I'm a little maxed out on this theme, and the nastiness at the end seems pointless, grotesque, and redundant. Still, it had some nice bits, and I like the start of the '100 brothers', so I'll try that; but overall I'd say: this particular 90's trend/theme must be almost used up, right?
Rating:
Summary: Relentlessly Bleak.
Review: Such unpleasantness! And to what end? The same old, "Yea, the deepest ring of Hell is Suburbia" nihilism; (the pet musing of all college freshmen away from home for the first time). And that over-the-top, gross-out violence -- written in the pat ironic tone, of the guy who's SEEN IT ALL, and you have NO IDEA of the depths of human depravity... Well I'm a little maxed out on this theme, and the nastiness at the end seems pointless, grotesque, and redundant. Still, it had some nice bits, and I like the start of the '100 brothers', so I'll try that; but overall I'd say: this particular 90's trend/theme must be almost used up, right?
Rating: 
Summary: A bizarre yet familiar portrayal of suburban life
Review: This is one of those books that keeps doing its work long after the last word has been read. Antrim makes his art like he observes his life: contradictions galore. Mr. Robinson's loyalty to his wife and to his ideals regarding education don't seem as if they should fit within the general paranoid isolative nature of his community, and yet they do, in a very real way. Mr. Robinson attempts to make a real difference in his community while neighbors build vastly deep moats equipped with lethal spikes to surround their homes. There is a haunting similarity to the entire town's psyche here in this image, and Mr. Robinson is not immune to this. Characters seem to proceed with a wide knowledge of life and its intricacies, yet are unable to make the connections between things: to see how interest can breed obsession, how love can inspire violence. There exists the danger of falling through these cracks and understanding and this is indeed what happens.
The novel creeps toward an unsettling climax that you always know in the back of your mind is coming, yet can't quite let yourself believe it to be true. The cliched neighbor response to the latest small town horror on the six o'clock news comes to mind. "He seemed like a nice man. The perfect neighbor. Basically kept to himself." "Elect Mr. Robinson For A Better World" is touching and unsettling in the way that little art is and most life can be. Despite jacketflap trumpeting, few novelists seem willing to be brave enough to address the pockets of darkness that exist in the well-lit homes of the upper middle class. Don't expect the feel good book of the year, but if you're looking for something thought-provoking, this might very well be what you need to read.
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