As with all of Ron Currie's novels, this one veers off into directions unknown and impossible to predict. I mean this in the best way possible. Everything Matters!, his first novel, really had an effect on me, and I have such a fondness for his prose. The One Eyed Man is no exception. You never know what's coming next. Every once in awhile the characters can can seem a little more like archetypes than actual people at first, but bit by bit the reader is given information that shapes the how and why and what of it all. I preordered this book last year, and when it showed up at my desk I was overjoyed - and thankfully, now after reading it, am not disappointed. ( )

In the brutally funny, yet warmly human tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders, this sharp eyed satire explodes American culture and reassembles the pieces into a crazy quilt of politics, celebrity, crime, love, and death that makes perfect sense. Fans of Don Delillo's White Noise and John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces are 99.9% sure to enjoy! ( )

In the brutally funny, yet warmly human tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders, this sharp eyed satire explodes American culture and reassembles the pieces into a crazy quilt of politics, celebrity, crime, love, and death that makes perfect sense. Fans of Don Delillo's White Noise and John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces are 99.9% sure to enjoy! ( )

I swear I'm losing my marbles because every book I read is inspired by Kafka. I can't be wrong here when the main character's name is K and he mentions Kafka early in the book. But I can live with it, I like this book. K seems like he has a different mind that is more literal after his wife dies and that death is heartbreaking here. K is all about the facts and clarity after reading Einstein's biography -- especially the bit on relativity. This book seems way too prescient, as the plot takes place in 2014. I feel like most of the incredibly fist-smashing-in-face truths could only happen post November 8, 2016. The world is different now than it could have been in 2014 (though the end might place it in 2018, so there you go). Currie is not out to make friends here. Everyone is lambasted here. K doesn't take sides, neither does Currie. The book is cynical but real as hell. Currie sees the absurdity in everything, like K. Though I feel like, scarily enough, I was already half getting there with the thoughts that Currie had on the page. K's need for truth lands him a reality show confronting people with a secret camera on his glasses. This doesn't end well. But I'm not sure the book does either. A little more clear-cut like the rest of the book would have worked better. Currie says it like it is and I will be reading his other books. I like his way of thinking and I like how he constructs those thoughts.

This one reminds me of: 'A Confederacy of Dunces', 'Wise Blood', 'The New & Improved Romie Futch' by Julia Elliott and 'Parasites Like Us' by Adam Johnson... and probably a few more. ( )