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It´s difficult to say something about the story elements without spoilering or subjectively misinterpreting the real hidden intent of the actions, so I´ll drivel about some facts about this novel and the authors works
Close to impossible to put and assign this in a genre convention, it´s as if the strange, mostly badly written, European fantastic realism trash is executed well written, competent, and funny by an author flexing his muscles to show how much he can put in one work of average length.It´s difficult to say something about the story elements without spoilering or subjectively misinterpreting the real hidden intent of the actions, so I´ll drivel about some facts about this novel and the authors works in general meta as usual.
Ruff suffers from the same problems with audiences as TC Boyle, he writes in an irritating and strange way that doesn´t appeal to mainstream audiences and deals with some too heavy and complicated topics to be real, pure entertainment, it´s a bit exhausting too. That it are kind of hybrid crossover new genre chimeras doesn´t help either, but it gets better with the later works of his careers.
It´s Ruff´s first work, sharper and filled with many ideas, not as good as his later books, but still an outstanding debut. One of the main reasons why his mainstream or at least general success isn´t comparable to other, strange, weird, and unconventional writing authors such as the mentioned Boyle and Tom Robbins might be that it´s disturbing in a way difficult to put the finger on. There is something lurking behind the lines that makes reading it an adventure, but also fills the mental room with a presence close to some strange mental magic.
I´m absolutely no esoteric, but I remember reading this novel years ago and still having some kind of creepy shadow popping up. Ruff is mutating and evolving over his career, while this one is n tour de force homage to culture, literature, and mythology, some of his other novels are kind of comedies, social criticism, disturbing thriller crime style exploring the past of a protagonist with amazing twists, each one is different. Hey, I just found another reason why he still isn´t that popular, he doesn´t deliver the same with each book, the reader doesn´t really know what to expect from this artist.
All of this sadly results in the pretty unfair ratings for his works Bad Monkeys and The Mirage, both not as good as his masterpieces, but still astonishing and mindblowing.
Give this author a try, read one of his 4 best rated novels, maybe you like it if you are into strange and unfamiliar narrative styles and can afterward dare to begin one of the other, even more, unconventional ones. It´s totally worth it, because alternative writing styles with hidden treasures anywhere are rare exceptions and should be honored.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Matt Ruff is smart. Not Nabokov smart. Not Pynchon smart. Not Dave Foster Wallace neurotic, tortuously smart. In fact, maybe he's not quite so smart after all.
Matt Ruff has read a few books. Tolkien. Who doesn't like Tolkien? Greek and Norse mythology is fun, too. And V.! I love V. Wait, though; besides the pun (Benny Profane and the V-necks, a college band) there's no substance to that reference. Nor most of the others
A few of my thoughts on the author, having read only this, his debut effort:Matt Ruff is smart. Not Nabokov smart. Not Pynchon smart. Not Dave Foster Wallace neurotic, tortuously smart. In fact, maybe he's not quite so smart after all.
Matt Ruff has read a few books. Tolkien. Who doesn't like Tolkien? Greek and Norse mythology is fun, too. And V.! I love V. Wait, though; besides the pun (Benny Profane and the V-necks, a college band) there's no substance to that reference. Nor most of the others (see: Bradbury). In fact, this all looks more like namedropping than anything else.
Matt Ruff is young. Painfully young. His entire world shares a tedious, undergraduate attitude towards sex. Good thing the story is set on a college campus, where at least most of the world actually is an undergraduate. Or a dog. Turns out dogs are a lot like undergrads.
Matt Ruff has a hard time thinking up names for his characters.
Matt Ruff is pomo. It's too bad that his biggest "don't forget that there is a person writing this story that you're reading" effort comes writing himself in as God. And as the hero. Both. Shit!
Negative enough for you? The writing is pretentious without the stylistic flair, broad knowledge, or deep complexity of story that would allow me to put aside the pretension and really enjoy myself. But my friends love him so! And, for all his juvenile flailing, Ruff spins a decent yarn. There's promise; probably worth trying a more mature effort of his. [Book:Set This House in Order|71847]?
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I enjoyed this romp of a story with gods, demi-gods, magic, enchantment, heroes, anti-heroes, talking dogs & cats, fighting rates, sprites & fairies. You name it...this book has it somewhere in the pages.
Matt Ruff wrote an interesting fantasy world for Cornell University. It's a fun romp of a coming-of-age/maturation story where the main characters fight their demon
I enjoyed this romp of a story with gods, demi-gods, magic, enchantment, heroes, anti-heroes, talking dogs & cats, fighting rates, sprites & fairies. You name it...this book has it somewhere in the pages.
Matt Ruff wrote an interesting fantasy world for Cornell University. It's a fun romp of a coming-of-age/maturation story where the main characters fight their demons, both internal & external, and learn to trust themselves & let others live in their hearts. It's also a story of gods manipulating everyone at their whims. And it's a story of Evil versus Good.
Its all here. It's not perfect but it is interesting and fun. There are a few places where things get a bit drawn out (debut mistake) so a bit of editing would have helped.
All this said, Matt Ruff is a good author and one I enjoy. This is the third of his novels that I've read and I've enjoyed them all, including this one. I don't recommend starting with this one. It's young; it's not as tightly written or polished as his others. I recommend starting with Set This House in Order or Bad Monkeys.
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She had me at talking dogs.
It's a treasure trove for fans of literature, mixing quest sagas, fairy tales, Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Richard Adams, not to mention cinematic Westerns, epic battles, zombie-like attacks, and motorcycle mayhem
This book was first lent to me by a coworker and fellow Cornell alum who said, "I don't know quite how to describe this book. It's kind of out there, with fairies and talking dogs, but it's set at Cornell and somehow I just know you will like it."She had me at talking dogs.
It's a treasure trove for fans of literature, mixing quest sagas, fairy tales, Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Richard Adams, not to mention cinematic Westerns, epic battles, zombie-like attacks, and motorcycle mayhem. Place that all in a setting I know and love dearly, in roughly the same era as my own college experience, and I couldn't help but adore this book.
Now I have bought my own copy so that I can share it with my son - the next generation Cornellian in the family - and my husband, who is not a Cornellian but does appreciate weird stories.
And by the way, they are sprites, not fairies.
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Yep - it's a good one!
I described it to my son, as he asked what my book was about - "There is this old, eternal man who is writing a story which brings the people, animals and sprites of Cornell together to fight an epic battle with words, fairy tales,swords and magic" Cool, he said.Yep - it's a good one!
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I'm certainly intrigued enough by this to read more of Matt Ruff's books, but how come they aren't available on Kindle? So annoying.
Been a while since I've read any "contemporary fantasy" and it's pleasant to disappear into something so whimsical and pleasant, makes a nice change from reading about junkies, or people getting worms shoved in their ears.... it was strange to read something so lacking in snark... and I recommend reading this without any spoilers.I'm certainly intrigued enough by this to read more of Matt Ruff's books, but how come they aren't available on Kindle? So annoying.
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Since then, though, Matt Ruff's first novel been reissued in trade paper
I had a hard time even finding Fool on the Hill the first time I tried to do so, several years ago, spurred by the "Also by Matt Ruff" list in his brilliant later novel Set This House In Order (which you really should read—and I should reread, for that matter). I never saw it in bookstores, and eventually ended up snagging a copy to read through Inter-Library Loan. (ILL's a great service, by the way—you should check it out.)Since then, though, Matt Ruff's first novel been reissued in trade paperback format (with, I fear, a rather unfortunate cover). I finally picked up my own copy at City Lights in San Francisco, and have since seen it on a couple of other bookstore shelves. Which is all to the good—while this is definitely a first novel, contrived as all hell (sometimes it's hard to figure out just how many different demigods and minor mages are meddling with the unwitting characters), pretentious and awkward in places, with frequent Capitalization of Common Nouns to indicate their Significance, it's also a lot of fun, especially if you've ever been a role-playing college student. (Another book in a somewhat-similar vein: Neal Stephenson's The Big U, which is also a first novel that spent a fair amount of time out of print before relatively recently becoming widely available.)
The college in this case is a real one, though heavily filtered through a pair of Tom Robbins-colored glasses. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, is the setting for Ruff's complexly intertwined plot, with skeins that involve a pair of far-from-starcrossed lovers, a war between fairies and rats, another war between dorm students and frats, and the unlikely entente between dogs and cats. Its central human character is an improbably successful young author named S.T. George (yep, he does eventually have to face a Dragon, too) who's at Cornell to teach. Of course, he gets kinda sidetracked... not least by Calliope, a young lady who may well be his perfect Muse. And then there are the Bohemians, a crew of horseback- and motorcycle-riding warrior-students, as well as the mysterious denizens of Tolkien House; against them, the spoiled children of privilege who've pledged Rho Alpha Tau, magical forces of chaos like Rasferret the Grub, and the occasional misguided Ithacop.
This is one of those "kitchen-sink" novels, stuffed full to bursting with Big Ideas and tiny grace notes—it actually took me longer to get through the second time, because I kept noticing bits like Ruff's nod to early George R.R. Martin that I rather liked—but somehow Ruff manages to keep the excitement going, keep juggling those chainsaws and Molotov cocktails, right up to the end.
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That I felt that there was some wish-fulf
Is it ever a good idea for a magician to explain his tricks? When you find out the mechanics behind an illusion, it leaves you feeling disappointed when you realize there isn't really any magic involved. Even worse to be shown how a hot dog is made. There are some things man was not meant to know. It should come as no surprise, then, that when Matt Ruff shows us the ugly workings of how a story is made in his novel Fool on the Hill, he gets mixed results.That I felt that there was some wish-fulfillment going on in this book would be an understatement. S. T. George is a multiply-published, rich and famous author who has a writer-in-residence post on the campus of Cornell University. He slays a dragon by story's end and gets the girl, and no, I am not revealing any spoilers by saying this. Along the way he gets to have fantastic sex with a goddess. George is too much of a dork to accomplish any of these things by himself, so we get to see the god Apollo manipulate events in his life into the shape of a story.
Fortunately, the side characters – and the prose itself – are good enough to make up for a bland leading man and love interest. (Her name is Aurora and she's a Daddy's little princess – three guesses as to what happens to her.) This alternate Cornell is populated by pixies, a possessed mannequin, and Ragnarok, the Black Knight. Ragnarok is an undergraduate haunted by his past in the Klan and interesting enough to be the main character of a book in his own right.
Matt Ruff is a master of the throwaway reference, rivaling Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics and perhaps even besting him for the sheer density of the things. One of the characters (he's a talking dog) approaches a pair of canine philosophers to ask them about the nature of the divine. They inform him that they are waiting for Dogot, and ask him whether he has seen him. No mention of this incident is ever made again. There is also the case of the best scene of the book, when the villain's rat army is preparing to take over Cornell's dining hall. They forgot to account for the hall's head chef:
"Vermin?! Vermin in my kitchen? DUH-HYUN!"
The chef is Swedish, in case you were wondering.
Ruff is also capable of writing beautiful prose … when he feels like it.
"Are you real?" he asked her, still dizzy from the fall.
"What?" Myoko glided up to him. "You been into something heavy tonight, Li?"
He didn't answer, but reached out gently to touch her, as if fearing that she too might whirl and vanish. He clasped her hand in his, marveling at the feel of solid flesh and bone; he brushed his fingertips against her cheek.
True, there are so many gonzo occurrences in this book that it can only be called a WTF book, but it's a good kind of WTF book. The plot is contrived. Ruff acknowledges that it's contrived, and even goes to lengths to show us how he … I mean Apollo … contrived it. As a writer, I'm quite familiar with the manipulations that Ruff/Apollo undergoes to get characters in the right places so that coincidences can happen. I'm just not sure if it belongs in a finished product. When an author tells us he's about to employ a deus ex machina, it's not as much fun anymore.
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i make sure to read every other year again.
I cringed during the opening chapter in which we learn the protagonist is a writer and god is a writer and writers are the only ones with immortality and.. yeah the reek of self-indulgence was very strong. But it picked up over the next few chapters and I got into it.
Then the laziness kicks in and the three plots (sprites, humans,
Hands down the laziest written book I have ever read. By the end I realized I could not care less what happened and just wanted to finish it because I was almost done.I cringed during the opening chapter in which we learn the protagonist is a writer and god is a writer and writers are the only ones with immortality and.. yeah the reek of self-indulgence was very strong. But it picked up over the next few chapters and I got into it.
Then the laziness kicks in and the three plots (sprites, humans, dogs) never meaningfully intertwine or even conclude. The whole thing turns into a snore-a-thon because author Matt Ruff decided to make sure he met his deadline by using a frame narrative of a god who is actually sculpting the whole story. That means anything can happen and it doesn't have to be remotely believable or logical. This is exactly what happens as the flow just completely disappears and each plot comes to a brutally lazy and unsatisfying conclusion.
What was the deal with Luther seeking heaven? Was he really just trying to get to Ithaca college after all?
What is the point of the sprites considering they have zero impact on the "final battle" with Rasfarret?
What is the point of the Bohemians and Tolkien House - also having zero impact on George's storyline?
And having the character of Aurora do nothing more than be sleeping beauty for the climax is insulting and again, extremely lazy.
Needless to say would not read this author again.
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As a Cornell alumna, I was drawn immediately to the book because it was set in Cornell, though a Cornell that was decidedly fictional, despite the presence of many familiar names and places (Risley, the Arts Quad, West Campus, and McGraw Tower are just a few that are mentioned).
A friend recommended Fool on the Hill a year back. I finished this book today, a little over a week after starting it. What I have wondered from the moment I started to read it is why I delayed picking it up for so long.As a Cornell alumna, I was drawn immediately to the book because it was set in Cornell, though a Cornell that was decidedly fictional, despite the presence of many familiar names and places (Risley, the Arts Quad, West Campus, and McGraw Tower are just a few that are mentioned). Those who know Cornell know that the campus is verdant and beautiful, its buildings are varied architecturally, and each part of campus houses its own share of unique quirks and secrets. I think many Cornellians and visitors sense that there is something magical in much of the campus and surrounding town. What Matt Ruff was able to do was bring the magic to the forefront.
Ruff effortlessly toys with the act of storytelling. Two storytellers, one immortal and the other mortal, tango amid several equally compelling subplots. What I enjoy is how easily he is able to switch between plots and somehow keep the reader riveted despite the change in scenery, characters, and sometimes species. Ruff's confidence and command is imbued in the plot, so that fantasy, when woven into the story, is never questioned and always believed. Students, sprites, dogs, miscellaneous Cornelliana, and a series of unbelievable circumstances come together to create a tale that, though larger than life, feels at home nestled among the buildings and natural expanse that I called home for almost 4 years.
I'm officially a fan, and I can't wait to read his other works.
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I should lead in with the fact that I do like Ruff's work. I read other books by him and enjoyed them quite a lot, which is why I was interested to read this - what I understand to be his first novel. I must say, had this been my introduction to him, I likely wouldn't have read anything more. This is a tiring, slightly confusing, very trite book. Ruff has lumped together several stories which are essentially the same (star-crossed lovers, battles between fairies and rats,
Whew. I got through it.I should lead in with the fact that I do like Ruff's work. I read other books by him and enjoyed them quite a lot, which is why I was interested to read this - what I understand to be his first novel. I must say, had this been my introduction to him, I likely wouldn't have read anything more. This is a tiring, slightly confusing, very trite book. Ruff has lumped together several stories which are essentially the same (star-crossed lovers, battles between fairies and rats, wars/friendships between dogs and cats, conflicts between fraternities) , all basic retellings of other stories, and set them at his (obvious very beloved) Cornell University. This book *could* have been set anywhere, so why all the specific comments and locations other than the author having a deep love for his alma mater? Perhaps some people walk away from this with a desire to visit the campus and see how it matches up to Ruff's painted picture - I did not.
It isn't all bad -- there are some nice written bits and it is passingly interesting to see how many different ways one can tell the same story at the same time, but in the end I just didn't care for it. Honestly, had it not been the only book I had with me on a business trip, I likely wouldn't have finished it
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I would like to be able to summarize what the book is about, but I just don't think that I can. Too much going on. There are sprites and animated rats and Bohemians and Frat Boys and writers and talking dogs and cats, and Calliope, and just too much!
I will point out tha
You know how Tim Gunn is always telling the people on Project Runway that they need to edit? Yea, Ruff could have used an editor on this one. It's about 100 pages too long, and there are at least one or two too many story lines.I would like to be able to summarize what the book is about, but I just don't think that I can. Too much going on. There are sprites and animated rats and Bohemians and Frat Boys and writers and talking dogs and cats, and Calliope, and just too much!
I will point out that I read the whole thing, so it couldn't have been that bad. It started out like gang-busters. So creative, really liked the characters, was intrigued to see how the story would unfold. Then it just started to drag. It slowed way down in the middle, a lot of which I will fully admit to skimming.
Fool is definitely well written, and it's creative for sure, I just think it's a bit too long and complicated for itself.
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But by the time I reached page 162 out of 396, I finally lost interest and stopped reading. There had been some interesting story fragments and a "slice of life" feel, but but there was still no overriding se
I loved Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff, so I thought that I'd give this book a try. The writing style and story structure is completely different in this book. That alone is not necessarily bad, of course. The book starts out with a bunch of crazy characters and situations. I was intrigued.But by the time I reached page 162 out of 396, I finally lost interest and stopped reading. There had been some interesting story fragments and a "slice of life" feel, but but there was still no overriding sense of what this story was all about. That's fine for a while, but I want more by the 41% mark. Also, I didn't care about most of the characters by that time either.
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Many reviews here point out the pretentious nature of the piece where the author figures as both Hero and God, and that assessment is spot-on. But hey, weren't we all pretentious asses at some point in our lives? Many of us just have the benefit of less documented proof. If this irritates you as well, I still recommend trying out some of his later works.
One more note: the book
I really like Matt Ruff's later works (Lovecraft Country, Mirage), so it was interesting to experience his first novel.Many reviews here point out the pretentious nature of the piece where the author figures as both Hero and God, and that assessment is spot-on. But hey, weren't we all pretentious asses at some point in our lives? Many of us just have the benefit of less documented proof. If this irritates you as well, I still recommend trying out some of his later works.
One more note: the book will probably come off as dated to most contemporary readers. This was mostly charming, but I objected to one person of color effectively being fridged.
...moreMy third novel, Set This House in Order, marked a critical turning point in my career after it won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, a Washington State Book Award, and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, and helped me secure a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. My fourth novel, Bad Monkeys, also won multiple awards and is being developed as a film, with Margot Robbie attached to star. My sixth novel, Lovecraft Country, has been produced as an HBO series by Misha Green, Jordan Peele, and J.J. Abrams. It will debut on Sunday, August 16.
In 1998 I married my best friend, the researcher and rare-book expert Lisa Gold. We live in Seattle, Washington.
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