[NIF]≡ Libro Andrew Brain A Novel EL Doctorow 9781400068814 Books

Andrew Brain A Novel EL Doctorow 9781400068814 Books

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Andrew Brain A Novel EL Doctorow 9781400068814 Books

I received an advanced, pre-publication edition of this work, free of charge, in exchange for providing a review. SOME SPOILERS HEREIN.

E. L. Doctorow is apparently a very intelligent, highly regarded author and writer. I've never read any of his other efforts, so I can't speak to his body of work, but this roughly pamphlet sized effort is little more than a throw away attack on the Bush Presidency.

When I received the book in the mail, the package was so thin I couldn't imagine what was in it. Lo and behold, it was a paperback book, little more than a pamphlet. It has 200 numbered pages, but the "novel" starts on page 5 and there are roughly 30 blank pages scattered throughout the text. With fewer than 200 words a page, the work clocks in at under 35,000 words. It is easily readable in less than three hours.

The book is told in the form of the protagonist, Andrew, explaining his unfortunate, sad sack life to a therapist. Poor Andrew has lived a life of tragedy and misfortune. It is not until midway through the book that we discover the source of his misfortune. It was George Bush! You see, George Bush was to blame for the attack of 9/11 in which Andrew lost his loving wife. To make matters worse, we find out that Andrew was actually the college roommate of Bush and he is subsequently sucked into the Bush White House, where we get a first-hand look at the bumbling incompetence and abject evil of that administration. Through college remembrances, we are afforded a description of Bush's college experience (you can imagine). In fact, Andrew is being held in some form of extra-judicial, secretive custody, supposedly to protect the administration from damaging information he may have against the President.

There are parts of the book that are mildly entertaining, but Doctrow's obvious purpose in writing the book (almost a purgative) and the extent to which he pursues his political agenda detracts from the story. This, from someone who while no Democrat, is no fan of President Bush or the record of his administration. If you hate Bush, you might enjoy the pokes and jabs, but their simplicity and embellishment are beneath the reputation of someone of Doctorow's stature.


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Andrew Brain A Novel EL Doctorow 9781400068814 Books Reviews

For someone like myself who loved the great Doctorow novels of the 70's and 80's, this was a major
disappointment. Hate to say it, but it was barely worth reading. Never thought I'd say that about
E.L. Doctorow. Stick with Ragtime, World's Fair, Billy Bathgate, Loon Lake, Book of Daniel or
The March.
I’ve read most of his works but this is a stunningly new Doctorow. It’s not that I didn’t like his novel, it’s just that I, like a lot of you, was confused. But of course that was the author’s intent.

In the beginning, it appears that Andrew is having a conversation with a therapist, friend or psychologist. We go from first person, to third, the other character referring to “my friend, Andrew,” then speaking directly to him. Andrew, in turn speaks in the first person, then in third person speaking of himself. We learn about his two marriages, his professional life as a cognitive scientist who has gone from academia to teaching in a high school. Later, we’re told he is brought to the White House as an advisor to the president, his old college roommate. Here, he refers to himself and is referred to as “Android” by the president, a remarkable parody of George W along with his faithful cohorts, Chaingang and Rumbum.

Towards the end of the book, we realize that Andrew is in prison. We know this through references to “walls,” “the exercise yard,” and the fact that “no lawyer has been appointed,” “being held without trial,” etc., etc. Perhaps his confidant is a government prosecutor or perhaps, Andrew is stir crazy and is talking to himself!

After all the ills befallen Andrew, including the loss of his wife, Briony, a gymnast and health activist, as she jogs through the streets of New York while the buildings come down on 9-11, he is now being accused of threatening the life of the president (the college roommate) because of an insane display of standing on his hands in the middle of the Oval Office, a sudden and intuitive tribute to Briony. He has just revealed to Rumbum and Chaingang that they were “prime examples of human insufficiency.” And that he had been playing the “holy fool” to the president’s “Pretender.” They do not feel kindly towards him.

The book nears its end discussing another loss – that of Willa, his daughter with Briony, who is about to be adopted by his first wife who has cared for Willa over the last twelve years and now demands that the child never knows her real parents, alive or dead. He is being asked to sign the papers to that effect.

What happens to Andrew and where he goes now, is anyone’s guess. And his brain, I think, may have already taken off.
In some ways I think this is he best of E.L Doctorow. It is more concentrated and less historically sweeping than some of his work which I found both challenging and satisfying. Doctorow's departure last year is a great loss to us all.
Not the best thing he ever wrote that Ive read. It suffered a bit from creepy old man writer syndrome where old men authors who miss the good old days where they could pick up young attractive girls write unilkely relationships between older males and younger women. On another note, pardon the pun "Andrew's Brain" was cerebral.
I received an advanced, pre-publication edition of this work, free of charge, in exchange for providing a review. SOME SPOILERS HEREIN.

E. L. Doctorow is apparently a very intelligent, highly regarded author and writer. I've never read any of his other efforts, so I can't speak to his body of work, but this roughly pamphlet sized effort is little more than a throw away attack on the Bush Presidency.

When I received the book in the mail, the package was so thin I couldn't imagine what was in it. Lo and behold, it was a paperback book, little more than a pamphlet. It has 200 numbered pages, but the "novel" starts on page 5 and there are roughly 30 blank pages scattered throughout the text. With fewer than 200 words a page, the work clocks in at under 35,000 words. It is easily readable in less than three hours.

The book is told in the form of the protagonist, Andrew, explaining his unfortunate, sad sack life to a therapist. Poor Andrew has lived a life of tragedy and misfortune. It is not until midway through the book that we discover the source of his misfortune. It was George Bush! You see, George Bush was to blame for the attack of 9/11 in which Andrew lost his loving wife. To make matters worse, we find out that Andrew was actually the college roommate of Bush and he is subsequently sucked into the Bush White House, where we get a first-hand look at the bumbling incompetence and abject evil of that administration. Through college remembrances, we are afforded a description of Bush's college experience (you can imagine). In fact, Andrew is being held in some form of extra-judicial, secretive custody, supposedly to protect the administration from damaging information he may have against the President.

There are parts of the book that are mildly entertaining, but Doctrow's obvious purpose in writing the book (almost a purgative) and the extent to which he pursues his political agenda detracts from the story. This, from someone who while no Democrat, is no fan of President Bush or the record of his administration. If you hate Bush, you might enjoy the pokes and jabs, but their simplicity and embellishment are beneath the reputation of someone of Doctorow's stature.