The Pickup Artist by Terry Bisson

The Pickup Artist Reviews

• 
  Lizz

  I don’t write reviews.
  
  And I haven’t been let down by Terry Bisson. This was a fun dystopian road trip story in a flexible surreal world. Sure this wasn’t Pirates of the Universe, but I was completely satisfied. A dog, clones, a small man who’s also a newborn, trademarked drugs with disturbing results, a dying culture, a glimpse of hope and a man on a journey of discovery.
  
  I swear the character, Mr. Bill, a nerdy, billionaire, false philanthropist with his hands in major culture destruction, was a nod to our own dear Gill Bates. (Yes, I codeword censor because the world is a panopticon hellscape). Nicely done, Mr. Bisson!
• 
  Beverly

  Not what you think, it is the story of a future world in which the govt. decides to clean up the glut of art, books and movies inundating the world and sets up an agency whose workers go around picking up these items from their owners and destroying them.
  It is a very sweet and quirky with our pickup artist being a decent guy who has a sick dog named Homer who can talk, but can only say sentences which begin with, "Something smells. . .", but he is able to communicate quite well with this system; for example, "Something smells spooky." or "Something smells wonderful."
  
• 
  Wendy

  This started out as intruiging, speculative fiction, then got progressively weirder and more like a dream than an alternative future. I mean, these two near-strangers travel from New York to Vegas with a corpse and a dying dog in the back of their van. And both the corpse and the dog occasionally speak. Then they woman has a baby she's been pregnant with for nine YEARS. But he's not a baby, he's a kind of a little man. And there are 47 clones named Bob. See what I mean about the random dreamlike qualities?
  
  I think my single favorite element of the entire book is that when the dog starts to talk, it's only to comment on smells. "Smells good." "Smells cold." "Smells weird." Isn't that just what a dog would have to say?
• 
  Heather

  I read this book because I saw it in the book exchange at my work and thought the cover art was interesting. Well, that is about as far as it goes. The setting of the story is sometime in the future, it really doesn't say in the book. Hank is a government agent, a pickup artist, who collects works of art (books, CD's, paintings, etc) that have been "deleted" to make room for new art. But he somehow goes on an adventure to Vegas with a librarian who wears a bluebird bra that shows her emotions, his sick dog who ends up being able to talk but only says how things smell, and a bunch of cloned Indians named Bob. This book was weird. I think it was meant to make you think about something, but it didn't have that affect on me. The whole time I just couldn't wait to finish it. I was really hoping that in the end it would come together and mean something. But that didn't happen. It was just....weird. Maybe it was too satirical for me or something. I would not recommend this book to anyone unless they are just in to weird, futuristic novels that don't mean anything.
• 
  Carissa Weibley

  Good book. It kind of reminded me a bit of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, only a lot stranger. Has its humorous moments. A fun read.
• 
  Virginia

  Intentar ser justa con La conspiración alejandrina es todo un reto. Y es que, para empezar, ni siquiera se en que género clasificarla. Demasiado normal para ser fantasía, poco tecnológico para la ciencia-ficción y bastante civilizado para ser una obra distópica. Ni siquiera recurriendo a la mezcla consigo algo que pueda parecerse lo suficiente a esto.
  
  El autor, Terry Bisson, es un total desconocido para mi. Aunque visto el resultado de su opera prima, creo que permanecerá en el olvido de mi biblioteca por muchos años. Y no es que piense que es un mal escritor. Bisson se defiende bastante bien, gracias a su estilo funcional y sencillo, lleno de un lenguaje práctico, sin ornamentos y unas descripciones bastante liosas y poco explicativas. Sus personajes tampoco son grandiosos. Excepcionalmente superficiales y poco perfilados, no eres capaz de calibrar sus acciones o dotarlos de algo de sentido. Y ni siquiera el protagonista, Hank Saphiro, se libra. Si me apuras, sus acciones, motivaciones y personalidad resultan más incoherentes que las del resto de personajes, que dicho sea de paso, tienen tampoco peso en la trama que parecen aire.
  
  La conspiración alejandrina narra una historia engañosamente simple a la que no eres capaz de verle un propósito claro. En esencia seguimos a Hank Saphiro, artista de la selección, es decir, una especie de funcionario gubernamental que se dedica a recoger todo el material artístico (Música, literatura, pintura, etc.) obsoleto según una lista que se va modificando todos los años. De repente encuentra un LP de un cantante que le recuerda a su padre y, su afán por escucharlo, le mete en graves problemas, en especial cuando pierde el vinilo. Para recuperar su vida y su trabajo (además del LP), Shapiro deberá viajar al oeste encontrándose durante el viaje diversos personajes a cual más extravagante. Paralelamente el libro te va contando los acontecimientos históricos que llevaron a las sociedades a ir destruyendo las obras de arte. Ambas historias confluyen en el desenlace, que resulta ser muy abrupto, abierto y un sinsentido como el resto de la novela. El problema es que el autor nunca aclara la posición de la trama, así que no sabes si tomártelo como una crítica social o como mera ficción. Y eso que te lo venden como una sátira de la gran novela de Bradbury, Farenheit 451. Pero se queda en el intento por lo confusa y absurda que resulta toda la historia, algo que hace que el libro acabe siendo pesado y sin la más mínima gracia.
  
  Definitivamente La conspiración alejandrina es una lectura decepcionante. No eres capaz de encontrarle el sentido y todo resulta tan confuso que al final dejas por imposible el tratar de comprenderlo. Mi consejo es que lo evitéis si sois muy puristas en lo que a ciencia-ficción se refiere. Y si no lo sois también. No merece demasiado la pena.
• 
  Elysa

  This book was so weird. In the distant future, artists are deleted, and all their works must be destroyed to make room for new art. Pick up artists go out to gather the books, music, and art to turn in for deletion. There are lots of designer drugs that allow you to do all sorts of things. Time has no meaning? Maybe? With every turn of the path, it gets weirder and harder to describe.
  It's like a mash up of Pushing Daisies (the TV show), Fahrenheit 451, and Arthur Dent (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) plus it's totally own unique thing.
  
  It was fascinating for sure. If you're interested in a mind bender, give it a whirl.
• 
  Judy

  What a very odd story.
• 
  D.L. Morrese

  The similarities to Fahrenheit 451 are obvious. The Pickup Artist is set in a near future America in which art in all forms — music, literature, painting, movies — is being purged to alleviate the glut of such things and allow space for new creative endeavors. When a work, author, or artist is placed on the deletion list, all originals and copies of the applicable art forms are collected and destroyed.
  
  The first-person narrator of this story is a pickup artist, a person working for the Bureau of Arts and Information who confiscates (normally with compensation) books, albums, tapes, CDs and the like from those who own them. One day, he collects a vinyl album by Hark Williams. It reminds him of his father, and he becomes obsessed with listening to it, but first he needs to locate a record player. His search for one brings him into contact with two factions of the Alexandrians, both of which have their roots in the movement that brought about the policy of cultural purging but now have diametrically opposed goals.
  
  The first-person narrative is interspaced with short historical bits on how this policy of cultural deletion came about.
  
  The premise almost works as a bit of cultural satire, but it is too absurd to have the impact of a cautionary tale like Fahrenheit 451.There are also elements such as the cloned Indians, talking dog, and mature baby that I assume were supposed to have some symbolic significance but, whatever that was, it eluded me.
  
  The characters are believable enough to evoke some empathy, and the setting is not so bizarre that it prevents suspension of disbelief for the sake of the story. The book is different and interesting, but I can’t recommend it as a particularly enjoyable read.
  
• 
  Jill Elizabeth

  What a great premise - set in the nearish dystopian future, a "Pickup Artist" responsible for collecting artistic works that have been identified for deletion from the canon (because newer artists found it too hard to become successful/popular) becomes disenchanted with his life and job and rebels (in his own unique and somewhat unintentional way). Echoes of Fahrenheit 451 combined with dry wit in the first few pages made this seem like a natural fit for me. Unfortunately, the promise of the premise was never exactly realized. The story fell vaguely flat somehow - I am still not sure exactly where it went south, but just know that somewhere in the middle I realized I no longer cared what happened. Occasional witty bursts of prose combined with the premise kept me reading through to the end, but the story never quite seemed to live up to its potential - and more's the pity, because I really did love the concept.
  
• 
  Zara Sofía

  Supongo que es una fortuna para mí encontrar un libro que combine la ciencia ficción, la distopía, el humor, reflexiones sobre el arte y demasiado surrealismo.
  Precisamente el aspecto surrealista puede ocasionar que ames u odies este libro, ya que en algún momento puede rayar lo absurdo y perturbador. Personalmente recomiendo no tomar este aspecto tan en serio (aunque tal vez yo lo disfruté porque ciertamente me gustan las cosas extrañas).
  No he tenido la oportunidad de leer Farenheit 451 y noto que comparan mucho tal obra con esta novela, pero por lo que he escuchado sobre el libro de Bradbury, pienso que los conceptos adoptan rumbos diferentes. Farenheit aborda el control y la censura, mientras Pickup Artist habla sobre la saturación de información y el valor histórico del arte. Este aspecto me encantó y se desenvolvió bien en la trama, pero pudo ser mucho mejor exprimido. Hasta ahora ha sido el libro más raro que he leído (sin contar algunos cómics, claro está)
• 
  Anotherpath4

  I have read a lot of mixed reviews regarding the book "The Pickup Artist." I have to say it made me smile and even chuckle a little out-loud. Reading this was sorta like a guilty pleasure (what I imagine romance novels must be like for those who read that genre). I couldn't wait to sneak away and dive into this completely fantastical world of nonsense.
  
  I've heard lots complain about the cloned Bobs. I loved them! I thought the use of every Indian stero-type was funny (not in a mean way). The mother who had no interest in being a mother to her "little man" child. The mysterious bug with the red eyes that seems to go from enemy to ally. And by the time the dog started to talk, I thought "of course, why wouldn't the dog talk?!?"
  
  Such a fun road trip. I wish I was trippin with them!
• 
  Jes. Cavanaugh

  This was the first Terry Bisson book that I read. It wasn't until later that I realized this is the same person who wrote "They're Made of Meat", which is one of my favorite science fiction short stories.
  
  The only problem I had with this book was that it just didn't ring true. The world didn't seem like one that would stem from the world we live in. A quick check of the copyright date gave me the answer as to why... it was written pre-2001, and published right around the 9/11 attacks.
  
  For a pre-9/11 story, it's excellent, but it was also really interesting to see just how much the world has changed, and how that affects my perception of futuristic sci-fi.
• 
  Jessica

  I really enjoyed this book. It was a Fahrenheit 451 take on art, instead of books. In order to make more room for new art and artists, old art is taken and destroyed. The pick-up artists is the man who is in charge of rounding up all the old art - ranging from paintings to music. He become enthralled with a record he picks up and wants to listen to it, so he sets out to find a record player.
  
  Even though it has been over a year since I read this book, I still think about the story and the characters in it.
• 
  Robert Nolin

  An amusing black comedy of a novel that reminded me of Vonnegut and Tom Robbins (back when he was funny). One star off for the alternating chapters format, with one chapter of story followed by a chapter of ongoing infodump about why art and music and books are being deleted. All of that info should have been condensed into about two paragraphs within the story, IMHO. Of course, then you'd end up with a novella, I suppose. A fun road-trip story with clones named Bob, a talking dog, trash mining, and dead people saying "Oh no!" Yup.
• 
  Robin

  a futuristic look at the world and how to deal with the continuting production of art, music and literature. Hank is a pickup artis, who picks up art, music, movies and books to be destroyed in orger to make room for new coming in. This protrayal of our world is similar yet vastly different with emphasis on our increasing disconnect with others and our consumerism that threatens to drown us. an interesting spin on it.
• 
  Ridge Cresswell

  This book takes place in the near future, wherein it has been decided that older works of art must be destroyed in order to make room for new ones. It's an interesting and often times amusing read, but ultimately the fake history segments outshine the actual plot. It all comes together eventually, but it takes a while to get going. Overall I enjoyed it.
• 
  Ana Kobayashi

  Sometimes it's annoying when someone is trying to be Ray Bradbury. This time, it works really well - Bisson has the same clean writing style and unassuming way of taking you straight into the another time and place.
• 
  Jeff

  This is a really watered-down, unfulfilling version of "Fahrenheit 451." It's a great satirical premise that just doesn't ever build enough momentum to support it's full-length format.
• 
  Liz

  If you want bleak futuristic destruction of arty stuff, read Fahrenheit 451. If you want freaky gross stuff, read Chuck Palahniuk. This one isn't really work the trouble.
• 
  Bruce

  More like a 3.8. Clever and entertaining satire, moves well, no bog spots, but at times a bit proposterous.
• 
  Martha Lerner

  I gave up on this one. I tried for about 50 0pages and wasn't feeling it.
  
• 
  kevin l harding

  Interesting
  
  my first Bisson book. picked up Voyage to The Red Planet. clearly, I liked this one. makes worry when I watch the evening news.