In Watermelon Sugar was a bizarre but fascinating book. I started to read this, and couldn't put it down. It is a very unique book, and definitely different from most books that I've ever read. It has a distinct style that I don't quite know how to describe. I've read it described as Beat Generation, and whether that is true or not I'm not sure, but it definitely has a unique rhythm. I think of the offbeat styles of Kurt Vonnegut or Haruki Murakami, but a little bit weirder.
In iDeath the sun shines a different color every day, watermelons grow in different colors, tigers talk, and there are places like the Forgotten Works. My favorite part of the book was when the narrator is talking to the tigers while the tigers are eating his parents. After asking the tigers why they are eating his parents, he seems content with the answer that they had to, and asks the tigers for help with his arithmetic, and the conversation went like this:
"You could help me with my arithmetic," I said.
"What's that?" one of the tigers said.
"My arithmetic."
"Oh, your arithmetic."
"Yeah."
"What do you want to know?" one of the tigers said.
"What's nine times nine?"
"Eighty-one,' a tiger said.
"What's eight times eight?"
"Fifty-six," a tiger said.
I asked them half a dozen other questions: six times six, seven times four, etc. I was having a lot of trouble with arithmetic. Finally the tigers got bored with my questions and told me to go away.
"OK," I said. "I'll go outside."
This was a fun book to read, and I enjoyed it a lot.
My rating: 5 stars
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