Adam Felber

Summary: This story centers around four friends: Arlene, who's depressed over the recent death of her cat; Deb, who is chronically undepressed and is capable of hour-long orgasms; Grant, a geek who's desperately and hopeless in love with Deb; and Johnny, who accidentally shot himself in the head but may or may not be dead. Also improbably involved are the President of Montana, Bernie the schizophrenic prophet of the Lord and Brenda the homeless counter-historian, the world's largest molecule show more (available in keychain- and belt-buckle-form), Dr. Schrödinger himself (who keeps rambling on about the universe, inviting himself over, and stealing garlic bread), and a strange meowing coming from an unlocateable source.

Review: I really enjoyed this book on a number of levels. It's incredibly funny - to the right reader (I was laughing out loud within the first four pages). You don't need to be an expert on physics or even on science to enjoy this book, although I suspect it's similar to Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels - the more you know about the subject matter (in that case, British literature; in this case, quantum physics and other science), the more of the inside jokes you will be able to appreciate.

This book is structured a little chaotically - initially, you just have to give in and let the story's logic (or lack thereof) take you and carry you along until you start to get the feel of the flow of the book. Not all of the elements tie perfectly into the ending, but enough do so that it's satisfying, and the extraneous elements are funny enough that it didn't feel like they were wasting time by being there. I went in expecting zany, nerdy humor, and I certainly got that. However, on a deeper level, this book's also about how our perception of things shapes reality, and how everything is interconnected. There were also some genuinely sweet and perceptive moments of love and friendship tucked in there, amidst the physics lessons and generally craziness. A very fun read. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Fans of Christopher Moore or Jasper Fforde who also have an appreciation for all things good and geeky will probably like this one as well. show less

Start with the idea of Schroedinger's Cat, which is both dead and not-dead (or alive and not-alive) in its box, because no one's lifted the lid to observe the results of the experiment. Now apply that to a character in a novel. Weave in a second story line about a tax-evading governor who's declared his mansion to be a sovereign nation. Then toss in an occasional piece from a first-person plural narrator complaining about Dr. Schroedinger, who ought to be dead himself, making himself at home show more in 'our' house.

Then make it even weirder. And funnier.

I lent this book to my sister. She read it three times before offering, sadly, to return it.

She still has it. I still mean to replace it. show less

One review blurb said that this book "made quantum physics funny and Cambridge, Massachusetts a place of strange magic." Well, I knew that both of these are quite likely true, but the book is also good, and hilarious. Features a bunch of twenty-somethings on a ordinary weekend, except that one of them might be dead (no-one has observed the body yet, so who knows?), The separatist President of Montana, a few wonderfully written Central Square homeless people, and Dr. Schroedinger himself, who show more keeps trying to explain physics to the narrator, and wishes that he'd never thought up the whole "cat" thing. show less

One of our favorite weekend events is tuning into NPR's weekly news quiz show, "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" The wit and repartee of the rotating panel, host Peter Sagal and the ever amazing Carl Kasel (official scorekeeper, judge and announcer) is really good listening fun. Adam Felber is a frequent panelist, and so when I found this book, I was eager to read it, as he is very entertaining on the show.

The book was not at all what I expected. Quirky, witty, very funny in places, and show more extremely quirky, but it took me a while to grab hold of the different story arcs that twist and wind through this one. Still, in the end, I really did enjoy it. Can't exactly define what I expected it to be, at this point, but the fact the it was something totally different is not a bad thing, just a different thing. It's got (as one reviewer,
Harold Francis Jenkins Jr, over at Amazon, puts it) "absurdist humor, charming and delightful characters (at least one of whom spends most of the story being at once dead and not-dead), a healthy dose of quantum physics, a happy mix of first-, second-, and third-person narratives, and a writing style that easily slips into pseudo-Biblical and faux-Shakespearean and, at least once, breaks down completely."

All of which I concur, but I want to know what happened to the cat. show less