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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
In this series of 117 vignettes, Sachs explores the complex dynamic between fathers and sons. His stories are absurd, philosophical, funny, surreal, clever, quirky and often morbid in nature.
Members of the Surrogate Son Program at an assisted living facility are encouraged to visit less frequently, less willingly, for shorter stretches of time and with more unspoken resentment and physical unease — you know, to increase the authenticity of it. An aspiring screenwriter has his father’s head cryogenically frozen so that he can wake him up once he’s accomplished something. A son seeks out charities that will accept not only the physical possessions, but the mental attributes of his recently deceased father.
Like most story collections, some are much more amusing than others, and with such a large number of vignettes, the themes inevitably became repetitive. It took me some time to really get going and immerse myself in Sachs’ absurd world, but once I did, it really grew on me. There were many occasions when I laughed out loud — and I think you will, too, if you share my twisted sense of humor.
This was a one-sitting read for me, but it’s also the kind of book you can pick up and read intermittently when you’re in the mood for a couple quick, amusing, thought-provoking little stories.
Members of the Surrogate Son Program at an assisted living facility are encouraged to visit less frequently, less willingly, for shorter stretches of time and with more unspoken resentment and physical unease — you know, to increase the authenticity of it. An aspiring screenwriter has his father’s head cryogenically frozen so that he can wake him up once he’s accomplished something. A son seeks out charities that will accept not only the physical possessions, but the mental attributes of his recently deceased father.
Like most story collections, some are much more amusing than others, and with such a large number of vignettes, the themes inevitably became repetitive. It took me some time to really get going and immerse myself in Sachs’ absurd world, but once I did, it really grew on me. There were many occasions when I laughed out loud — and I think you will, too, if you share my twisted sense of humor.
This was a one-sitting read for me, but it’s also the kind of book you can pick up and read intermittently when you’re in the mood for a couple quick, amusing, thought-provoking little stories.
