Sock

Rating:
Summary: Put a Sock In It
Review: With an endorsement from Kinky Friedman that "Sock" is the best novel since "A Confederacy of Dunces," I eagerly dove into Penn Teller's mystery. Initially impressed with his clever construct of non-human narrator, this "inanimus ex machina" quickly evolved into a gimmick, and eventually into a propagandist for Teller's brand of nihilism.
Teller employs rock and roll lyrics as riffs to wrap up (rather than introduce) almost every paragraph, another device that is meant to, but fails to tie his ramblings into a larger American cultural heritage. This structure, however, like the sock-narrator, makes "Sock" a novel of intentionally visible construction, rather than one of story.
By the midway point of the book, Teller -- who shuns all dialogue as being a bad imitation of television shows -- resorts to pages on end of vulgarity and gratutitous sex, eagerly imitating bad cinema himself in order to ensure that the 18-30 year old male film audience reads his book. Since Teller is the only person mouthing off throughout the book, I suggest he put a "Sock" in it.

Rating:
Summary: GOAT HAIR
Review: An unblinkered sort of book, "Sock" entertains while it instructs. There's a little bit of Martin Amis here, angry and funny and dark. There's a decent refutation of Pascal as well -- if you like that sort of thing there's another good one by Stanislaw Lem you might look up. The pop culture references are sometimes a bit forced, but more often than not it's fun to think about how the individual references relate to the story itself: a nice, concise way to dimensionalize the narrative. The references have a great reach, along the lines of early Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It starts with the Rolling Stones (great re-purposing of existing material) and manages to reach as far back (out?) to Safe as Milk / Trout Mask Replica vintage Captain Beefheart. Click Clack.

As a novel, "Sock" is really somewhat basic, it transposes traditional stock elements of "mysteries" into a more abstract set of events. The technique could be interpreted as a gimmick, if it weren't for the fact that the whodunit aspects aren't the real driving force of the narrative. That said, the prose is the thing and it remains fully charged throughout (honestly: no let down in the second act). In fact, in many ways the story itself could easily be considered secondary. The real driving force is some pointed stabs at capital "F" faith, god and all that comes with it. You'll find an undressing of the notion of being agnostic and a strong call for atheism. Rats, rats lay down flat.

This orientation does manage to depart, again, from the typical novel form and end our little story with a sort of essay in unmitigated and convincing favor of sanity over faith. Sock lets you know in no uncertain terms that it's time to put god on the shelf with the rest of your toys and start living like a thinking adult. Given the current tone of life in the good old U.S., this is a brave act and I think we owe Mr. Jillette our of thanks for adding to the ever more urgent literature and ideas capable of getting us out of the dark ages and into touch with a more real world. Time to replace superstition with a more genuine sense of ourselves and the world we live in. Hey! If you still need something to believe, believe in Sock. La Rossa extends her hand.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Wammer Jammer Sock Monkey
Review: Bad = Good of course. I don't have anything to add to what everyone else said. I just wanted to say that this book was amazing. Penn should totally star as Little Fool in the movie. And just for kicks, Teller should play the killer. They might have to do a voice-over though ...

If any fellow non-believers need some good philosophical ammunition for those religious debates that we love so much, get this book and buy a yellow high-lighter as well. Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, Penn - too dark for my taste
Review: Here's the story - I like Penn and Teller. I like Penn Jillette in general, even his old columns in PC Computing magazine. I think he's a bright and funny guy.

And I'll grant that this book is pretty well written. It has a quirky style, but that's not a real drawback.

But I can't say I enjoyed the book. It's dark. And I mean much darker than a typical Sam Spade type mystery. Depiction of what bodies feel like when they're fetched from the river, for example... yeah, it fit the story, but it's just darker than I want to read.

It's not like anything else I can think of, but I suppose the best common ground I can come up with is Dean Koontz. I don't like reading him either, for the same reason. So if you like Dean, this might be right down your alley.

With Jillette's background, you might be looking at this as a potential comedy buy. But if you're looking for comedy, look somewhere else, unless you like your comedy dark indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Sock it to me
Review: I found Jillette's (has anyone ever referred to him that way?) novel on a table of books marked "You CAN judge a book by its cover." The bookstore's attempt to be clever I assume. I read the back cover and was immediately intrigued. Having now finished reading it (a task accomplished in about a day and half), I can honestly tell you there is no way you can judge this book by its cover.

The hyperkinetic style draws you in immediately. But it's more than just razzle-dazzle. Insight, wit and clever observations leap off every page. Jillette knows how he feels and he's not holding back. Nobody else with the possible exception of Michael Moore has cajones this big. If PC is your bag, this book is NOT for you. If you voted for W, this book is NOT for you. If you think there is too much sex and violence on TV, then put the book down, walk away and ask the nice man at the bookstore where the Danielle Steel novels are. If you think the world is pretty [expletive deleted] up and sometimes it makes you want to scream, then buy this book right now and savour every word.

The book is told in the first person from the point of view of a sock monkey. The sock monkey is owned by an NYPD diver who pulls dead bodies out of a river. After he winds up fishing out his ex, he and a gay hairdresser friend take it upon themselves to solve catch the killer. It's an interesting story, though WHO dunnit is not what is most important here; what is important is why--and the journey along the way. If you can turn off your mind, relax and float down stream, then you might want to let Sock take you on that journey.

Rating:
Summary: excellent despite the not-so-hidden agenda
Review: I had a hard time getting into Sock at first because it is so darn weird (a stream-of-consciousness narration by a sock monkey peppered with more pop culture references than you can shake a stick at), but it picked up pretty quickly, and I soon got pulled into the story and finished the book in one afternoon. It's a murder mystery, but not like anything Agatha Christie ever wrote (did she even have a sock monkey, I wonder?). It's a well-crafted mystery, though, with well-crafted suspense, and not at all predictable. I found myself mildly disappointed in the end, because while the solution is a satisfying one, mystery-wise, it also reveals that the whole book was nothing but a fable designed to push the author's moral agenda. It happened to be an extremely entertaining fable, and I happen to generally agree with most of the author's agenda (I mean, hey, it's everyone's favorite Libertarian magician Penn Jillette!), but I was disappointed that the author broke character after the big reveal and explicity made his point (and I'm paraphrasing here): "Hey, I wrote this book because I think [spoiler redacted], so don't do it, mmkay?" But I enjoyed the rest of it immensely, and years of reading Neal Stephenson has made me able to enjoy good books with crappy endings by pretending the endings don't exist.

(Advocates of positive portrayal of queers in the media will appreciate the book's normal, everyday treatment of a principal gay character, and the fact that his burly masculine heterosexual police officer friend doesn't get defensive or even care when people mistake them for being partners.)

Rating:
Summary: Sock Monkey? Brilliant!
Review: I just finished reading this book after being intrigued by the title alone and I must say I was more than pleasantly suprised! This novel is not only compelling, but aside from the story itself, it sums up almost every paragraph with a song lyric or movie quote that leaves you smiling or guessing or clawing at your brain to figure out where you know it from. This is a brilliant piece of literature and a great pop-culture statement. Penn Jillette, if he keeps this up, is on his way to William S. Burroughs respectability and Sock just may become one of those off the wall classics like Trainspotting or American Psycho. Highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good read in any genre.

Rating:
Summary: Does it get any better?
Review: I must admit that it takes a certain type of person to read this book and enjoy it.You really need to pay attention to the story line at times because if you don't it could loose you. I loved the book, I thought it was well written and kept me wanting to come back and read more even though there were a few nights I was up till well after 1 AM due to the fact I just couldn't put it down.Penn Jillette is a wonderful writer and I am hoping he finds the time in the near future to grace us with another book.

Rating:
Summary: Sock Monkey hate stupid reviewer...
Review: I'd have to suggest to the "Put A Sock In It" reviewer that he pay attention to the actual name of the authors, when he's reviewing the book.
Teller is the one that never does the talking.
The guys name is Penn Jillette, ya dope.
Good book. The lyrics got a bit tediuos half-way through the book, but somehow by the end it became fun again, they sort of triggered a subconcious sountrack to accompany the reading.
Yeah, there's sex and violence, but it never seemed over the top, and I've always been a fan of both. The previous reviewer should read a children's book.

Rating:
Summary: In a crossfire hurricane, wanting an axe to break the ice.
Review: If you're reading this, most likely you're either a fan of the P&T show or linked to this from Teller's book "When I'm Dead...". The aggressive style and rock and roll references are possibly familiar to the show's audience or anyone who has read of Jillette's tastes in music, but the tale itself is almost defensively harsh - there's a lot of emotional pull to this story.
The scattergun discourse of the main narrator comes from a sock-puppet called 'Dickie'(apparently this novel stems from a short story contributed to the anthology "Sock Monkeys: 200 out of 1,863"). This toy of sweat and blood, a 'predator monkey', doesn't shy away from telling the effect of death upon his owner, the 'Little Fool', a diver for the NY police. Many novels about murder almost glamorise the effect of death with long evocative passages about dead bodies, mourning relatives and stoic detectives. This has more of a sense of desperation about it, a narrative that rips up like a chainsaw and barrels through Little Fool's manic search for a killer whose pious gift of death means another love lost to a fool who has faced enough. This is obsession and revenge rage, not Cornwell or Rendell - if you can't handle the staccato, get out of the rhythm section.
As another reviewer pointed out, it's difficult to get a handle of some of the peripheral characters - Nell, the murder victim doesn't come across as being particularly vital but that's possibly because to the empty-hearted sock monkey, she isn't important to him. Tommy, the gay hairdresser who was a friend of Nell's, comes across as a more likeable foil to the Little Fool's fixations.
It's not an easy-put-down read with its short chapters and barrelling pace. The ending certainly doesn't hide the author's beliefs about rationalism in a godless universe. It's distinctly different and this may be it's best drawcard, if you don't know the history of the author.