Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely, astonishingly bad
Review: A true sign of a work's worthlessness is the amount of venom and bizarre conspiratorial ravings that its followers heap on anyone who criticizes it. See the Ayn Rand writings, the torture that is L. Ron Hubbard, and now this offering of garbage.This book posits itself as rescuing literature from "postmodernism", but it is the sort of rescuer who kills the hostage in the attempt. For what is "Drake Raft" -- with its ceaseless, horrific non-jokes, its inept syntax, its groaningly obvious allegories, its artless, pathetic prose style, its witless "plot" -- if not a brutal, ugly murder of literature? McGucken is a verbicide and his book is terrible.
Rating: 
Summary: Beyond Postmodernism--Interesting Prophecy
Review: Do postmodernists think that postmodernism will last forever? McGucken's book got me thinking. In a postmodern world, a book with plot and character would be considered illegal, or at least rude. And yet this book understands postmodernism enough so as to be polite in its tempered assault upon the postmodern Gods. For once again words are beginning to mingle with morality.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book! (Great read too!)
Review: From the first page this book approaches from so many directions--with true, deep satire that's born by natural wit. It looks straight into postmodern nihilsm and comes away smiling, with Timber and Cliff having the last laugh on all the pretentious self-styled literary experts. I enjoyed all the subtle tributes to the American Dream (which is still alive and well), and the mingling of the references to popular culture and classical literature. This book is written in a deeper context, and it's that deeper context that in the end makes a book worth reading--with words and sentiments that augment the spirit. As an English major headed on Spring break, it's traveling with me, and I bet it's a huge hit on Daytona Beach! But really, it's not meant for everyone--and it's about time someone parted ways from MTV to serve the deeper soul. On with the renaissance!
Rating:
Summary: Blowhard from Killdevilhill
Review: Perhaps it only deserves four and a half stars, as it needs some editing. But I gave it five because the story is funny, deep, and profound. It is a modern day Hamlet, wherein Drake Raft's classical mentor has been murdered by a vindictive feminist, and Drake must seek revenge. Try getting that sentence past anyone in the herd of contemporary postmodern critics, literary agents, directors, and editors. The moral vantage point presented in the book places it alongside the rest of the classics. It stands in stark contrast to so many contemporary books, centered about child abuse, doom and gloom, and the usual ironical suspects. It pokes fun at the contemporary literary establishment, which puts it ahead of its time. We'll have to wait for the blockade of contemporary "in" critics and editors to find real jobs, before the book gains the popular following it deserves. But with eternity on his side, I imagine McGucken will write more, and I look forward to them.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read--Classic for Our Times
Review: Perhaps it only deserves four and a half stars, as it needs some editing. But I gave it five because the story is funny, deep, and profound. It is a modern day Hamlet, wherein Drake Raft's classical mentor has been murdered by a vindictive feminist, and Drake must seek revenge. Try getting that sentence past anyone in the herd of contemporary postmodern critics, literary agents, directors, and editors. The moral vantage point presented in the book places it alongside the rest of the classics. It stands in stark contrast to so many contemporary books, centered about child abuse, doom and gloom, and the usual ironical suspects. It pokes fun at the contemporary literary establishment, which puts it ahead of its time. We'll have to wait for the blockade of contemporary "in" critics and editors to find real jobs, before the book gains the popular following it deserves. But with eternity on his side, I imagine McGucken will write more, and I look forward to them.
Rating:
Summary: So, so many passgages touched by deeper soul.
Review: There's a laugh on every page, which lightens all the heavy, heavy topics this book tackles. Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin, and McGucken has a talent for capturing and expressing both. This book is so complete in breadth and scope. I kept feeling that it's almost out of context form the pop culture, despite the hilarious references, but I guess that's partly because it's also got a lot of classical elements, and the classical things (T.S. Eliot's Permanent Things) have been temporarily dismissed by the postmodern cultural czars. When tomorrow's teachers of Truth assign their students books to read from the turn of the millenium, I expect that this one shall rank fairly high. And did I mention it was funny (ha-ha funny)?
Rating:
Summary: The Comedy of Drakeraft.com
Review: This book should have been named, "The Comedy of Drakeraft.com," as the humor and satire are at the forefront, with the tragedy and darkness in the backdrop, much like "Catch 22." I loved Timber and his best friend Cliff who are two high school kids who end up founding a fake secret society at Princeton. As a student at a private school, the satire all rang very true! And I love the way McGucken has of weaving the classical themes into the text--I spotted Hamlet, Moby Dick, The Heart of Darkness, Plato's Republic, Jefferson, and a lot more. Sad to say, though, but this book is written in a context deeper than popular culture, and thus it might have difficulty gaining popularity in the present popular culture. But that's OK--Hamlet's not playing at the local megaplex either.
Rating:
Summary: Frighteningly Small, Unforgivably Ignorant, Rather Repulsive
Review: This is worth reading, as it seems set to become a cult classic (as a result of self-generated hype of the sort it pretends to despise), but it's a puny thing. Really, despite a glimmer of lightheartedness here and there, it's poorly written (to put it mildly), poorly edited, and above all narrow. Narrow in ideas, narrow in learning and narrow in any sense of history, which is odd, as it claims to be reclaiming history. Another odd thing is that while the author sets out to defend 'the western canon', there's little evidence that he's actually read that many books, much less looked at many paintings, etc, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Finally Someone's Living up to The Hype
Review: Well, surpassing it actually, as there isn't all that much hype for this book in the literary world, but I fell in love with The Tragedy of Drakeraft.com. And you're either going to love it or hate it. If you're a pomo hipster novelist or creative writing workshop pupil sitting in Starbucks, studying David Foster Wallace's and Eggers' random, putrid, ramblings, working on your homework for your MFA, sitting quietly and passively while literature dies, you're going to hate the book, as well as the Renaissance. But if you're a fan of Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, The Odyssey, and Hamlet, as I am, then the book will rock your world as it did mine. The plot is borrowed from Hamlet, only the evil king is played by an evil feminist deconstructionist at Princeton--Professor Sycorax. She murders the last classical scholar and assumes his post as the chairman of the English department. And Drake Raft is called upon to avenge the hideous crime. The book is chock full with deep and profound insights into the nature of popular culture--it sinks one deeper than the mediocre pomo intellectual will feel comfortable with, but the MFA's reign of terror is about over. From high-school shootings, to Guns'n'Roses, to teh Founding Fathers, to Shakespeare, to Rush Limbaugh, this book covers it all. On with the renaissance boys!
Rating:
Summary: What Drek
Review: Were it possible to give a book half a star, an eighth of a star,one-one-hundredth of a star, that would suit it better. The onlycomment I can make is that McGucken might have been served very well by a sense of humor. Postmodernism, much like communism is dead and gone.... If you want sonnets, read Shakespeare. Drakeraft is way too long for a joke, so skip it entirely. END
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