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A review by lkedzie
Sewer, Gas & Electric by Matt Ruff
5.0
Much like The Blues, Sewer, Gas & Electric () cannot be explained, only experienced.
There is no other book that I have read as many times that during each read I have a moment of "oh, I forgot about the lesbian car," where I realize that there is some segment of the plot that I forgot about until that moment. I mean that as a compliment. The story has so many moving parts, yet they all fit, making what might stand out as a delightfully humorous tangent in some other book as one more bit of gearing to the grand operation. This is a funny book, perhaps the funny book, in part for the same reasons of it having every sort of comedy within it. The temptation to iterate on all my favorite jokes is strong.
The only bad things I can say about it is that it is one of the Author's early works, and I think that shows in it being rougher in general. I like this. I think that it fits with the general hyperactive vibe of the book and gives it a sort of early punk album feeling. I also think that the book has some spicier takes than us Current Year people would consider acceptable...come to think about it, the 'early punk' analogy holds here, also. I've wondered how Ruff thinks about it. But I do think that if taken in the spirit that they were intended, they hold.
Spoiler
both the ampersand and the lack of the serial comma are important, actuallyThere is no other book that I have read as many times that during each read I have a moment of "oh, I forgot about the lesbian car," where I realize that there is some segment of the plot that I forgot about until that moment. I mean that as a compliment. The story has so many moving parts, yet they all fit, making what might stand out as a delightfully humorous tangent in some other book as one more bit of gearing to the grand operation. This is a funny book, perhaps the funny book, in part for the same reasons of it having every sort of comedy within it. The temptation to iterate on all my favorite jokes is strong.
The only bad things I can say about it is that it is one of the Author's early works, and I think that shows in it being rougher in general. I like this. I think that it fits with the general hyperactive vibe of the book and gives it a sort of early punk album feeling. I also think that the book has some spicier takes than us Current Year people would consider acceptable...come to think about it, the 'early punk' analogy holds here, also. I've wondered how Ruff thinks about it. But I do think that if taken in the spirit that they were intended, they hold.