Monday, January 19, 2009

Really, really, really quick review of Greener Than You Think by Ward Moore

Because I'm crazy busy but just finished listening to this book from Librivox, read by Lee Elliott who did such a great job that I am going to look for more narrations from that source.

WOW!

I want to do a better review than that later but here's the description from Librivox:
Do remember reading a panic-mongering news story a while back about genetically engineered “Frankengrass” “escaping” from the golf course where it had been planted? That news story was foreshadowed decades previously in the form of prophetic fiction wherein a pushy salesman, a cash-strapped scientist, and a clump of crabgrass accidentally merge forces with apocalyptic consequences. A triple-genre combo of science fiction, horror, and satire, Greener Than You Think is a forgotten classic that resonates beautifully with modern times. This is a faithful reading of a 1947 first edition text.


So timely.

Such a surprise ending.

So very funny! Low key funny but it is there continually and emphasized perfectly by Elliott.

Can't praise this book enough.

1 comment:

  1. I admire Lee Elliott for taking on Greener Than You Think, but I don’t think Elliott’s narration is up to the task. GTYT is a masterpiece of sardonicism and wordplay. Add to that its own narration by Albert Weener, arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. I’m not even sure that GTYT can be successfully narrated … at least, not by one person. Every character is so distinct, their defining trait so perfectly highlighted, that GTYT demands a limited series of its own.

    The closest show I’ve seen that ALMOST gets it right — the sardonicism is there, but it’s weak on the wordplay — is Avenue 5, the HBO Max SciFi comedy with all kinds of mean streaks; the character arcs there, as in GTYT, are mostly nonexistent. But hey, who needs improvement when you’re already all that you can be? IYHO, that is.

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