Michael Bishop
Count Geiger's Blues
Orb Books 1994
ISBN 0312890087
Monika says:
Critics of our culture don’t have an easy life. They are often
thought snobs and snot-noses and that may well be true in some cases.
Michael Bishop’s hero Xavier Thaxton feels misunderstood by most people.
Comics, soap operas and fast food restaurants almost cause him physical
pain. His personal hero is Friedrich Nietzsche. When his sister asks him
to take care of his nephew Mikhail for half a year, Thaxton has no idea
what he is in for. Together with Mikhail - who insists on being called El
Mick - un-culture moves into his apartment. El Mick not only brings a
collection of CDs that offend Thaxton’s ears but also an extensive
collection of comics and pushes his uncle to the verge of nervous
breakdown when he paints the walls of his room black.
And that’s not all: after bathing in a lake Thaxton undergoes an
alarming change that almost makes him lose his mind. Exposure to the Fine
Arts suddenly causes headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. The only cure for
his ailments is watching soap operas, eating fast food instead of a
gourmet meal or perusing El Mick’s comics and CDs. His "Philistine
syndrome" becomes so strong that only one thing can bring relief:
roaming the streets of the city masked as comic hero Count Geiger.
COUNT GEIGER’S BLUES is a wicked satire for people who get upset
about the elitist attitudes of other people. I’m sure we all have had
dreams about torturing an arrogant critic who just tore apart a favorite
book or movie. Michael Bishop came up with the perfect torture for his
hero. In the end Thaxton has to become one of those hated comic heroes in
order to survive. The bizarre story soon becomes tragic when the reader
learns that Thaxton’s change has come to pass because the lake was
contaminated with radioactive waste from a hospital.
Bishop created a series of likeable and three-dimensional characters
that make this incredible story seem real. It’s extremely entertaining
for the reader to see the opposite worlds of uncle and nephew collide and
they find a new solution for bridging the old generation gap. A book full
of surprises and fun that falls from one extreme into the other and never
leaves you cold. |
