Through the Arc of the Rain Forest

A very enjoyable read. This book reminds me of those strange and meandering novels (like Tom Robbins) except with an environmental bent, but not with the heavy-laden activist tone of early Carl Hiaasen. It is a great book with several interweaving plots and quite a bit of magical realism. Some parts of it are laugh out loud funny.

Yamashita is an interesting writer; while one of the protagonists is Japanese (and this takes place in the Japanese expatriate community in Brazil), this is not necessarily an Asian-American book. I have heard however her say in interviews that she completely identifies herself as an Asian-American author – I wonder if that is pointing to the new globalism/cosmopolitan trend we’re seeing nowadays.

It’s a show more fun read regardless of your political or racial proclivities so I would pick it up if you’re a fan of Robbins, Pynchon, maybe even David Foster Wallace (lite) and others. It explores interesting ideas in science, religion, and throws in some corporate irresponsibility for good measure. Overall a very memorable book and one of my new favorites. show less

This book wasn't really my thing. It's a fast read - like, really fast - and requires what people are starting to call "hyper-reading" to produce any meaning, which is precisely why I just didn't like it. Life moves too fast as it is. I savor stories that convey wisdom that comes from slowing down and diving deep into an idea. Though in fairness, you can't knock a novel for not doing something it is specifically not interested in doing.

Just like I get annoyed with academic writers who unnecessarily hide behind obfuscated language in order to puff up their authority and "assert the phallus," I get annoyed with books so inundated with alleged significance that they don't actually signify anything. This book, for me, falls into that show more category. It is a superficial read that requires a LOT of work on the part of the reader to come up with meaningful things to say about it. Having said that, I did like White Noise by Don DeLillo, and you could probably say the same thing about that novel (though I don't think you'd have to work as hard for meaning).

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest is incredibly imaginative (steeped as it is in magical realism), and moves at a sprint. If that kind of thing turns you on, and you decided to dig through the material, and you don't mind an author who derives many of her ideas from other, better, novels (100 Years of Solitude, Macunaima) it probably wouldn't be totally in vain. You could have a lot of fun taking a rip on the Yamashita bong and waxing philosophically on the significance of the narrator (a spinning green orb, about the size of a golf ball, that floats in front of the main(?) character's forehead and has magical powers). You just wouldn't come up with anything definitive, nor, in my opinion, meaningful.

Then again, I suppose I shouldn't knock mental masturbation, especially while high. After all, in the words of the inimitable Woody Allen, it's sex with someone you love. show less

This book wasn't really my thing. It's a fast read - like, really fast - and requires what people are starting to call "hyper-reading" to produce any meaning, which is precisely why I just didn't like it. Life moves too fast as it is. I savor stories that convey wisdom that comes from slowing down and diving deep into an idea. Though in fairness, you can't knock a novel for not doing something it is specifically not interested in doing.

Just like I get annoyed with academic writers who unnecessarily hide behind obfuscated language in order to puff up their authority and "assert the phallus," I get annoyed with books so inundated with alleged significance that they don't actually signify anything. This book, for me, falls into that show more category. It is a superficial read that requires a LOT of work on the part of the reader to come up with meaningful things to say about it. Having said that, I did like White Noise by Don DeLillo, and you could probably say the same thing about that novel (though I don't think you'd have to work as hard for meaning).

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest is incredibly imaginative (steeped as it is in magical realism), and moves at a sprint. If that kind of thing turns you on, and you decided to dig through the material, and you don't mind an author who derives many of her ideas from other, better, novels (100 Years of Solitude, Macunaima) it probably wouldn't be totally in vain. You could have a lot of fun taking a rip on the Yamashita bong and waxing philosophically on the significance of the narrator (a spinning green orb, about the size of a golf ball, that floats in front of the main(?) character's forehead and has magical powers). You just wouldn't come up with anything definitive, nor, in my opinion, meaningful.

Then again, I suppose I shouldn't knock mental masturbation, especially while high. After all, in the words of the inimitable Woody Allen, it's sex with someone you love. show less

I'm usually not a fan of books with a "mission," as was the case here with it's critique of human waste and its effect on the environment and humanity. Yet, the magical realism kept me reading and even made me enjoy the political message of the book couched in fantasy.

The repetitiveness (rhyming?) of the plot and character development gets tiring at points, but it is all ultimately in service of a more profound narrative.

An interesting read, it just did not engage my interest.