Karoo

by Steve Tesich

Book Overview

Oscar-winning writer Steve Tesich masterfully creates and destroys the sad, mad world of Saul Karoo. Karoo is an alcoholic who can't get drunk, a loving father who can't bear to be alone with his son,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151002959
• ISBN13: 9780151002955
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Buy it, Steal it, Read it!

Quite simply, one of the best books I have read. Tesichs' insights, observations, and descriptions of situations are so disturbingly real, you find yourself alternately hating/loving Saul Karoo, the subject of the novel. Karoo is described as something of an anti-hero, however 'Everyman' would be more apt as I defy anyone who reads this book not to identify with him in any number of situations - some humorous, others poignant, but all of them true to life. Follow the trail of (ex?)alcoholic Karoo from parties to restaurants to meetings and try and NOT see yourself in at least one of these cleverly written pages - some 'laugh out loud', others a bit close to the bone, but always an eye-opener in his slightly surreal world. A real page turner. One of those books that you hate to finish.

True Masterpiece

"Karoo" portrays a character with no core, a gambit which could easily become tiresome. But this book is more than a great portrait of a self-destructive character, which it certainly is. It manages to be a deep, thoughtful and heartfelt meditation on our media culture and how it affects our lives. Even the way "Karoo" is written challenges the way we accept the simplistic portrayals of life that bombard us daily. Often in life there is no neat resolution. This narrative, likewise, constantly confounds our expectations, just as life constantly confounds Saul Karoo's. Nothing is neat in this book, and we never know what to expect next. Minor characters come and go. Plot lines are left dangling. Things don't work out. Still we follow Karoo through his ill-fated plans and still we care for him. And Tesich makes it all make sense somehow. Something of a post-modern "Babbitt" (Tesich does mention that novel's author, Sinclair Lewis, late in the book), the power and depth of this book are considerable. I couldn't recommend it more highly. It's a shame that Steve Tesich is no longer with us to give us more thought-provoking, relevant fiction like "Karoo".

Wonderful read

If you can't find parts of yourself in Saul Karoo, you're taking yourself too seriously. Look harder. I'm here buying copies for my friends.

A great and funny book

this book reminded me of a young Woody Allen. the characters are sharply drawn. I felt as if the protagonist was the ultimate modern tragi-comic man. A modern Job who can not achieve human intimacy or attain a simple minded drunkeness and yet who seeks redemption

i stayed up all night

this is one of those books that you'll stay up until 3 in the morning reading even though you know you're going to be hating yourself the next day when you have to get out of bed. Topics covered: marriage, divorce, deceit, addiction, love, hate, sick interdependencies in relationships, parenthood, abandonment...