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Review title: It's almost great . . . but in the end it's just not.
Product review: Don't succumb to the hype! Erickson is a skilled writer, but he is no Pynchon or DeLillo, at least not yet. This book is clever, and vastly ambitious, both in its subject and in its shear temporal scope . . . but it's often over-written and un-focused, with a self-conscious significance that feels forced and unnecessary. Erickson's writing is often provocative and daring, but just as often it's pretentious and obtuse; the characters are intriguing, but the story is so aloof from them that it remains unmoving. Erickson's constructed a good novel, but it's nowhere near as good as some people say it is. He's a promising writer, and you should read this book to see what he's up to -- but wait for the paperback version first. If you want intellectual writing about the postmodern world, read _Infinite Jest_ instead.
