The Whole

By John Reed

Book Overview

In this hip supernatural tale, a blonde, surgicallcy-enhanced MTV VJ named Thing finds herself unemployed when ratings on her show fall. Thing loses herself in the New York party scene, where her mind is anesthetized by a continuous flow of pink cocktails administered by an always lurking "Black Rabbit". Meanwhile, a small boy named Bobby Peterson in America's heartland is digging in his backyard sandbox when the hole suddenly starts funneling inward, sucking up Bobby, his parents, and most of his house, then stopping as abruptly as it began. As the media covers this phenomenon, the hole expands, sucking in reporters, policemen and anyone else standing nearby. Thing has always felt she has a higher purpose, so when her replacement is lost in the hole as well, she takes back her old job and begins a search around the country for the truth behind the hole. Leaving a trail of new holes in her wake, Thing realizes she has a powerful connection to the phenomenon, and she may be the only one who holds the key to the meaning of the hole.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743485017
• ISBN13: 9780743485012
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: MTV
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Romping through pop culture

This book can be read as a simple story, or you can delve into many layers of parody and meaning. It's a searing indictment of pop culture... published by MTV books. Other people have written some nice reviews of it, so I'll be brief. I'm getting it as a gift for my teenage niece in Los Angeles. I think she'll understand it quite well.

a smooth climb to absurdity

John Reed (A STILL SMALL VOICE) makes fantastic, thought-provoking use of the English language in a way that few are able to. His irony and humor bring absurdity to everyday observations of pop culture (and the ultimate irony? It is published by MTV books!), to the point that one laughs out loud (LOL!), when similarities to one's self are noted. At first judgement-by-cover, it appears to be a fun, light read put out by MTV, but Reed's use of language, irony, and insight make it anything but. And the ending?? Oy, ve! The image created will forever remain in my mind. What animal are YOU?

Brain-melting, playful, absurdist fun

There's a great review of this book online -- there's a good one at PopMatters -- so I'm limiting my comments to the book's use of language. Reed makes use of double entendre and malapropism to great effect here, and he slowly ramps up the level of absurdity to a point where meaninglessness might actually turn into meaning. It kind of melts your brain, this book, but that isn't a bad thing.

Ripping quick

And weird, weird weird. A black rabbit and pink cocktails, and an MTV Blonde. Funny, but leaves you shaking.

Funny Book Tackles Burning Question

Is there an ethical paradigm in cataclysmic geologic disaster?John Reed's newscaster protagonist Thing(das Ding?) spins out the querie as she broadcasts television coverage of the Whole in a story that comes at you like a frizbee.Language dances in every direction spewing hilarious puns and deliberate misnomers to boost an uncanny satirical plot.