Shall We Gather at the Garden? by Kevin L. Donihe

Shall We Gather at the Garden? Reviews

• 
  Dustin Reade

  so strange. I mean. this book is so strange. Kevin Donihe is so strange. Circus Midgets attempting to bring about the apocalypse with a book? People dancing for millions of years?
  ??????????
  Phony zen?
  ?????
  What?
  ?? ???????
  So strange.
  
  At heart, this seems to be a book about a book. The book was accidentally published as a romance novel....nevermind. I couldn't do it. There is no way to describe this book. It is the single most original piece of writing I have ever encountered. It was so strange that, at times, I thought I had fallen asleep while reading and dreamt the last two hundred pages. Then I flipped back through and discovered it had all really happened! So strange.
  
  I want to call Mr. Donihe up and thank him. Or try to punch him through the phone. Or sing him to sleep.
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
  Something.
  I don't know.
  ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
  It is a scathing scathing scathing critique of all things wrong with American culture. Like Doug Stanhope, Mr. Donihe has a unique way of presenting a problem with society that makes you scratch your head and feel like an idiot because you didn't think about it that way before.
  Religion. Check.
  Politics. Check.
  Economy. Check.
  Humanity. Check.
  
  It is a full scale assault on preconceived notions of reality that will leave you feeling...uh...crud...I can't think of the right word.
  Something like "Crazy" or "Enlightened".
  
  I'm not sure which.
  
• 
  Douglas Hackle

  This book is a dense, multilayered satire targeting American consumerism, religion, economics, and politics, written with an erudite sarcastic flare and entrenched in brain-bending surrealism.
  
  In its pages you’ll find an eschatology wherein enlightened, god-like midgets determine the cyclical destruction/rebirth of humanity.
  
  You’ll find lots of other fun things there too.
  
  Like, for example, the aeons-old skeletal remains of Lionel Richie worshipped as a holy relic.
  
• 
  Kelly

  I don’t know what drug Kevin L. Donihe was on when he wrote this, but he needs to share the wealth! No seriously, this has to be one of the most sick, twisted, and inventive books I have ever read. An extreme story written in an abrasive way, I guarantee you will either love or hate it. Starting off with an Introduction to an Introduction, an Introduction, and a justification to the Introduction, this book promises to be a loud-mouth satire that will make you think.
  
  To describe the plot and subplots is impossible, and would deplete any sanity I have left. Vile and intoxicating, the story is original. It may take awhile to adjust to, but before you know it the insane will start to make sense! Written in three parts, each story interconnects with the other, exposing corporate America for all of its contradictions and self-appointed martyrs. The delivery of the tale is surreal, turning existence into an absurd play filled with symbolism, Donihe challenges you to think and re-think your own reality.
  
  The pace is rapid, moving posthaste. You will get no chance to play catch up and take a breather. So, before you start the book go potty, get a drink, do whatever is needed, because once you sit down I promise you won’t move until it’s over. Donihe’s style is antagonistic and noncompliant, he writes with a sarcastic hand, revealing truths others are too intimidated or too oblivious to pay attention too. Although his perspective seems to be jaded and his subtlety lacking, his direction is awe-inspiring. His prose is strong and piercing, suggesting that the establishment’s greed and societies morally flexible attitude is so pervasive that that the extremes really aren’t anything out of the norm. In other words, he’s the antichrist to conventionalist worldwide. Loved it!
  
  Constantly changing and morphing, the atmosphere is a chaotic mess. Sadly, the result of this action may make you feel irritatingly disoriented; I suggest a pillow to scream into or a bag to throw up in. Caricature-drawn imitations of what Donihe sees everyday, The characters are melodramatic. Their basis is realistic, but their actions are over-exaggerated in order to point the finger and straight-out blame mankind as a whole for the loss of our ethics. Normally I need more depth, but for this story, it worked. You know these people, and if you can’t think of even one – it’s you.
  
  -As posted on Horror-Web
• 
  Jeremy Maddux

  Donihe's first effort here was a watershed moment for underground fiction as he subverted every convention at the time to bring us a tale about circus clowns who are safeguards for the universe. They have their own societal laws, cultural exchanges, language and traditions. There is always a sense of ancient and cryptic secrets percolating throughout this text. Like a chameleon, Kevin is constantly changing the colors of his palette here as he breathes life into something with very improbable life.
  
  David Crosby and Rick James duke it out under the torrid pretenses of a religious crusade. A man falls in with a secret order of clowns so mysterious as to be on the level of the darker lodges of Freemasonry. Then the man wakes up a century or two later still trying to make sense of what he's seen. Along with all of this, there is also a metafictional device of the book within the book within the book, a sort of literary mise en abyme, or painting within the painting.
  
  And if all that wasn't enough, there's also that distinctly Donihe signature sadness where you're compelled to laugh where normally you would cry or at least lament the story's snowballing misfortunes. Nobody does melancholy quite like Donihe. If it comes from experience, he has certainly carried the burden with poise and dignity.
  
  If you want to read the Bizarro equivalent of Infinite Jest minus the plethora of obsessive footnotes, take this one on.
• 
  Bradley

  Most novels make me feel as if their main characters are taking many long, tedious, and uneventful bus trips to get to and from the interesting parts in their story. This often causes me to skim and ask myself why I'm wasting my time.
  
  "Shall We Gather in the Garden?" doesn't fall under this category. It is an example of condensed storytelling at its best and never fails to entertain, induce laughter, and thrill with its imagination. It's the sort of book that you can start reading at any random page and still get a kick out of it.
  
  I read the ebook edition, and it was even able to hold the attention of my bleeding eyes.
• 
  Pedro Proença

  The Bizarro CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
• 
  Simon

  What a weird book.
  I can see some of the symbolism, the metaphors and the critique on modern society/lifestyle/religion/whatnot. However, I did not understand the book, at all. This might be too far out for me, to be honest. I might understand more of what is going on, or how the novel works with subsequent readings, but I cannot say that it fascinated me enough to read it again...
  What I can say is that the writing was really good. After reading a lot of Carlton Mellick's works, and some other bizarro novels, I did not expect this.
  Which means I'll check out more of Donihe's novels in the near future.
• 
  Derek

  Shall We Gather at the Garden? is certainly a Bizarro tale. In fact, I'm not even sure as to how to briefly summarize, so I will do so as the book does on the back cover. Included are: circus midgets, time travel, gore, flaming swords, donut kiosks, sexual plants, warring church factions, and much, much more!
  
  As I started reading this book, I kept having vivid recollections of my time spent reading and laughing at Nikolai Gogol. For some reason, I was specifically reminded of "The Nose" and "The Viy"; they kept circling in my mind as I dug into the first section of Donihe's work. I was intrigued and delighted to see unusual text organization, constant connection between seemingly-unconnected events, and hilarious scenes (I so desperately desire a t-shirt with a logo that says: "Bottled Barbed Chains!!!").
  
  However, as I continued, this delight faded. I descended into sheer boredom in the second and third sections of this book. Shall We Gather at the Garden? plods along at a snail's pace. Occasionally it stops to tickle the reader's funnybone, but these moments are few and far between.
  
  As I was thinking about the text as a whole, I couldn't help but think of Donihe's other works. This book pre-dates Donihe's obsession with the quest of life and horrible jobs, as later explored in a much stronger work, The Traveling Dildo Salesman. In truth, I'm not particularly sure what to think about . On one hand, I loved the style and organization of the text; on the other, I didn't find the story to be all that interesting. To be frank, I had to force myself to finish this book, and it took all the willpower I could muster. I suppose, overall, I felt the work was just 'okay'.
• 
  Danger Kallisti

  Midgets creep me out. Enlightened super-human circus midgets are a bit better. Still, the lack of editing got to me even more this time around, and I felt like the book went on too long, with an highly unsatisfying ending. It just left me wanting to smoke pot and listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, which I guess is okay... sorta. I dunno, I'll probably read it again sometime. It's not like it was very long or anything. At least it was original?
• 
  Nihil

  Kevin Donihe's first book. it's a trip. not AS good as his later writing, but you can tell he has budding talent here.
• 
  Amanda

  this book has been on my wishlist for so long i almost forgot about it