Gun, With Occasional Music : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A very interesting take on the mystery genre
Review: As stated frequently by others, GUN is a stylistic marriage of distopian sci-fi and noir mystery. I think the results are fairly successful... for the most part.

Firstly, let me say that I'm not necessarily too knowledgeable, or even a fan of the mystery genre. The PKD / Aldous Huxley-styled take on the genre is basically what interested me in this book (my first Lethem read). Lethem's writing is excellent in my opinion... he has a humorous, hip, and dark style that really keeps your attention. The plot-work, on the other hand, left something to be desired. Maybe it's because I'm not really a mystery/crime/detective type of fan... but, I found myself often times focusing on the writing style and not really caring too much about the plot. It was almost as if the plot events were just a flimsy, forgettable vehicle for Lethem's stylish wording. Not to say that the plot was bad by any means... it's definitely interesting enough.... it just didn't really captivate me too much. Not sure if that statement is really a credit to Lethem's excellent style, or if it's a criticism of his plotting. Either way, I would still recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A cyborg, a kangaroo and a gumshoe walk into a bar....
Review: If you're going to write hard-boiled detective noir, you'd better be Raymond Chandler. Unless you're Jonathen Lethem. I was suspicious of the review tagging this book as a combination of Phillip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler--how can anybody make that joke stretch for a book? But Lethem plays it straight, and the noir prose is his own, not a pastiche.

Rating:
Summary: accept-all. regret-all.
Review: "Gun, with Occasional Music" is confusing at times; I never did figure out the "babyhead" thing. For the sin of obtuseness, "Gun" is docked one star. But, there's an awful lot to like, too. The narrative voice drips noir's style and deftly negotiates Lethem's strange world. The plot has all the usual twists and turns one might expect of the detective novel. The characters are all interesting in one way or another. Metcalf, a PI, is a drug addict (Acceptol, with just a touch of Regrettol for that bittersweet edge); the requisite gunsel is a talking kangaroo. "Gun, with Occasional Music" somehow manages to use all the tools of the detective novel (cynicism, murder, twisty plot) and a certain kind of non-space-setting science fiction (dystopian future, bizarre uses of technology). The marriage is stronger, and stranger than any book has a right to be.