Idiots in the Machine (15th Anniversary Edition)

By Edward Savio

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1631240110
• ISBN13: 9781631240119
• Release Date: April 2017
• Publisher: Babelfish Press
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Some People Just Don't Get It

I found this book to be creative, thought-provoking and hysterically funny. So much so, I got another copy to give to a friend. This dog-earred copy has now been passed around to half a dozen people (my apologies to the author). Out of those six people, five absolutely loved it. The other one, HATED IT! I mean, hated it. I think the comparisons between this book and "Confederacy of Dunces" cause people to read too much into it, and cause people to react violently against anything or anyone that might try to stand up against Toole's brilliant tome. This novel is not "Confederacy of Dunces." Period. It IS, however, strikingly well-written, endlessly entertaining, and well, just plain funny. Even though some people just won't get it.

A Wonderful Find

Every once in a while you pick a book randomly off the shelf at the bookstore (I admit, it was because the cover looked oddly interesting), only to find later that you've stumbled onto to something much more than a little bedtime reading.I fell in love with this book. From the leads to smallest bit players, the characters are hilarious, witty, perceptive, outrageous and sometimes they'll even break your heart. Noel "Satan" Dorobek is the greatest literary anti-hero since John Kennedy Toole's Ignatious J. Reilly. A man at odds with society, cell phones, advertising, and poorly made foil products. Yet unlike Toole, Savio has created a character that is more accessible, more human. In doing so, Savio may have cost himself a Pulitzer Prize, but he's fashioned a work with just as much bite, but one that's more modern, and more endearing. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

An engagingly poignant, highly recommended adventure

Noel "Satan" Dorobek is a thirty-year old eccentric at odds with just about every aspect of society as he vainly attempts to find some peace in his rather disappointing life which he unexpectedly becomes famous for extolling the health benefits of wearing aluminum foil in an increasingly ozone depleted world. Gathering a cult-like following, our reluctant hero is dragged into the media spotlight by a young, beautiful, charming, emotionally bankrupt woman. What follows is darkly funny, engagingly poignant, highly recommended adventure into contemporary pop culture and a very possible tomorrow.

WOW

I thought this was going to be a nothing little book I picked up at the airport. You know the ones. Something to read on the plane, maybe get a laugh or two. Nothing too challenging. I was on vacation, you understand. Well, all I can say is, Wow. "Idiots" is actually a well-written, literate novel that happens to deliver audible laughs on every page and gut-wrenching ones every few pages. It's a modern, hipper, funnier look at the world through the same eyes as Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving. The writing is like Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams only much more literate, while still being just as hilarious. A surprising find.

Finding Humor in the Insanity of Modern Life

This is a very, very entertaining novel. I laughed so hard at some parts of this book, I cried. The characters are wonderful, outrageous and very funny. The situations, priceless. The prose, beautiful. Savio's writing is something to cherish. He looks at the world through the same eyes as Heller and Vonnegut-that dark, satiric view of the world-but twists it further, hitting your heart, your mind, your gut even harder when he adds in a touch of optimism, a sprinkle of love and a dusting of humanity. It's so easy to get desensitized to a world as insane as "Catch-22's", but the world of "Idiots in the Machine" is too close to our own to dismiss. I think this is going to be one of those books, like "Catch-22," like "Confederacy of Dunces," like "Slaughter House Five" that most people will love, some people will absolutely hate, but no one will ever stop talking about.