Giles Goat-Boy

I frequently order a book based on the reviews I read from readers here and from "professional" reviewers. This book, and this author, was praised to high heaven. I ordered this book and a shorter novel (?) as well. I found his prose to be impenetrable. I haven't a clue what the man is talking about from paragraph to paragraph. I am no stranger to Avant Garde literature, but this just left me shaking my head. After about... Read Full Review

This was my first exposure to Barth but based on this it certainly won't be my last. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but what I can understand I find myself liking quite a bit. For those who have no idea about this book, it's basically the "quest" of Giles to reprogram the evil WESAC computer that is messing with the New Tammany College campus and even that brief blurb isn't enough to give this book ample justice... Read Full Review

Giles Goat-Boy (or the Revised New Syllabus) By John Barth (or maybe WESCAC) "A-Plus!"This tremendous book opened with a "message from the publisher", declaring that two of their five associate editors quit over the decision to publish this book and included a written statement from each editor about their opinion of the book. Even though that set up the book (in my mind) to be much more raunchy and heathenistic than I... Read Full Review

This is an amazing book once you've committed to it. The energy in the prose comes from the clash between a forced, post-apocalyptic perspectives and rosy-eyed romanticism. The most twisted, most brilliant reworking of the mythological paradigm, tackling along with it the cliches of authorship and modern society.

First, let it be said that John Barth's work is hilarious and that Giles Goatboy is his best, in my opinion. Much of the humor is rooted in his insightful view of life, love, and the seeming futility of it all. Giles Goatboy offers up the microcosm of academia as the stage upon which the Greek tragedy of all our lives is played. The only real redeeming features in Barth's worldview are the laughs he rummages out of the... Read Full Review