Rating: 
Summary: Suppose the rest of us are crazy?
Review: There is something about anti-depressant drugs that brings out the gonzo in novels - Walker Percy had them in the water supply in a Southern town, and the result was a hoot. Andrew Solomon (Noonday Demons) apparently tried an animist ritual involving at least one dead chicken, but I could not hear him laughing.Kramer is far too literary and rooted in word-pictures of personality... to use Percy's scifi plot device, or perhaps to communicate with readers who like to skim, without stopping to savor (in passing, he zings such readers, but has far more zingers about his own profession). I wonder if he wrote himself into the story, or at least a send-up with a bit of the true Kramer or his dreams? I can't add much to the other reviews about the "bloodless terror" strand, though it does seem to help him flesh-out some of the most esoteric, opaque bits of French writings about revolution. It may be a bit easier to "walk a mile in the shoes" of a non-murderous anarchist? Personally, 9/11 did not get in the way.
Rating:
Summary: This book is fun, even if you don't know Bakunin
Review: This book is a great read. As pro reviewers note, Kramer's narrative is well-peppered with all manner of layering, reference and discourse. No doubt, many will love the book just because of that stuff. For me, the pleasure was in the story. Good stories, especially new ones like this one, are hard to find. The mind-movies created in this novel are worth watching and chuckling over. Veterans of the sixties, like myself, immediately recognize where Kramer's protagonist, Chip Samuels is coming from. But, they will be be surprised and amused at where he ends up.
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