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Gun, With Occasional Music : A Novel

by Jonathan Lethem

Gun, With Occasional Music : A Novel Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Conrad Metcalf has problems. He has a monkey on his back, a rabbit in his waiting room, and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. (Maybe evolution therapy is not such a good idea.)

He's been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent Oakland urologist. Maybe falling in love with her a little at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the inquisitor's Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse.

Jonathan Lethem's first novel is a science fiction mystery. It's funny. It's not so funny.

Jonathan Lethem was born in New York in 1964. His novel Motherless Brooklyn won the National Book Critic's Circle Award for Fiction. His other books include As She Climbed Across the Table, Amnesia Moon, and Girl in Landscape.

Conrad Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent Oakland urologist--and also maybe falling in love with her a little. When the doctor turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse. A sci-fi mystery with humor and ideas and suspense galore, Lethem's audaciously assured first novel . . . marries Raymond Chandler's style and Philip K. Dick's vision (Newsweek).

Call it tech noir if you must . . . But] this is not an Orwellian future. Lethem allows the reader to inhale another blend of dystopia, a page from a book of Huxley's.--Science Fiction Age

Marvelous . . . A stylish, intelligent, darkly humorous, and highly readable entertainment.--San Francisco Examiner

Sharp, funny, visionary.--Jill Eisenstadt, author of Far Rockaway

Among its smartly delivered first-person narrative and crackling dialogue, even the] tough-talking kangaroo that intermittently tangles with Metcalf seems plausible. An outstanding debut.--Booklist

Review:

"Spare prose and tight plotting create a taut sf thriller that should appeal to both sf and mystery fans." Library Journal

Review:

"Wild, postmodern, and funny... the acclaimed debut of a major new voice... a dazzling debut" Newsweek

Synopsis:

Conrad Metcalf has problems. He has a monkey on his back, a rabbit in his waiting room, and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. (Maybe evolution therapy is not such a good idea.)

He's been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent Oakland urologist. Maybe falling in love with her a little at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the inquisitor's Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse.

Jonathan Lethem's first novel is a science fiction mystery. It's funny. It's not so funny.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Shoshana, December 28, 2007 (view all comments by Shoshana)
It has a kangaroo walking into a bar, see? This was Lethem's first novel and it's just as confident and sharp as the rest. A dystopian noir detective novel of the future, Gun, with Occasional Music hits its tone well and sustains it evenly throughout. Some detail (including the occasional music of the title) is not as well-developed as I'd have liked. The plot develops in the Fahrenheit 451-A Scanner Darkly range, plus the expected Chandler-Hammett twists and complications. The final conceit is a little simplistic and not nearly as effective as the narrator (and perhaps author) seem to think, but if that doesn't bother readers of McCarthy's The Road, neither should it trouble Lethem's fans. If you're planning to read both, read The Yiddish Policeman's Union before this; otherwise, Chabon will be too depressing by comparison.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312858780
Subtitle:
A Novel
Author:
Lethem, Jonathan
Author:
Lethem, Jonathan
Publisher:
Tor Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
California
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Science Fiction - General
Subject:
Science fiction
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural
Subject:
Mystery & detective
Subject:
Private investigators
Subject:
Science / General
Copyright:
Edition Number:
1st Tor ed.
Edition Description:
Tor
Series Volume:
1609
Publication Date:
19950115
Binding:
TP
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
8.25x5.45x.70 in. .66 lbs.

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