Numbers Don't Lie - Terry Bisson Book Review

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Review Summaries

"Three outrageously funny stories are carefully interwoven around the narrator, Irving and his flaky, but impressively brilliant friend Wilson Wu. Irving is cast into 3 separate misadventures all the while being guided (or lead astray) by Wu. Initially, Irving hunts for brake parts in Brooklyn, for his Volvo only to stumble upon an interplanetary illegal dumping ground from used tires and a city seemingly full of guys named Vinnie. He returns with Volvo enthusiast Wu who discovers a fold in the time-space continuum whereby he devises the difficult recovery of a lunar rover. Irving, now moved to Huntsville, Alabama, the home of his bride-to-be Candy, observes curious behavior exhibited by a discarded beaded auto seat cushion as well as his racist, senile, and dangerous father-in-law, Whipper Will. With the help of Wu and a two-by-four board he manages to temporarily stop the collapse of the universe; that has been the cause for random objects in time to reverse their decay, all while casually studying for the Alabama bar exam and ordering double bags of chips with his lunch order. Finally, Irving and Candy return to his boyhood home in Brooklyn for a pre-wedding honeymoon at the home of his aunt. Strangely, all means of conveyance are running on time. Wu, contacting Irving by any electronic means imaginable from the rain forests of South America, formulates a theory of spare time being drained off to create a new universe. The culprit is a former Nobel Prize winner in Real Estate (since discontinued) abetted by Irving's childhood friend and former neighbor. Surreal and offbeat, Bisson's silly tales of science and technology gone haywire involving Irving and Wu end much too soon."
David Fletcher, Resident Terry Bisson Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - humorous or laughable
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Parody Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - natural phenomena
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.

Setting
Terrain - Planet surface, need spacesuit
Which planet? - Earth's Moon
Earth setting: - current (early 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Not Earth, in Solar System? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - an average amount of scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille by Steven Brust
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
Cycling the Moon by Ron Baxley

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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