'Shadowbahn' by Steve Erickson

[Spencer T. Campbell]

As it happens, I just finished this. I'm a medium-to-huge fan of Erickson,
depending on the book (Zeroville, in particular, is a masterpiece), but my
disappointment with this one turned to anger and annoyance as I continued
reading. I know not to expect a linear narrative from Erickson, and to
expect instead a dreamy patchwork of American myth, but the symbolic
touchstones here (9/11! Elvis Presley! JFK!  Route 66! Warhol!) seemed so
obvious that they approached parody. And then a self-deprecating avatar for
Erickson himself enters the novel after, for me, it was already way past
the wall-throwing point.

What's odd to me is that I seem to be alone. Reviewers I tend to trust
really gush over this one. So maybe I'm wrong, or it just hasn't clicked
into place yet. It's certainly not all bad. There are moments when the
various symbolic winds come together, and these are the points at which it
feels most Pynchonesque. But I can't help but feel I was reading a shadow
version of the masterwork everyone else was praising.

I do strongly recommend other Erickson novels, though, if you're
interested. Days Between Stations and Zeroville are both great, as is Our
ecstatic days.



On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 2:15 PM, Matthew Taylor <matthew.taylor923 at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Has anyone checked this book out? It came out in paperback today so my old
> pal Charles Taylor shared his review again: https://
> lareviewofbooks.org/article/it-takes-two-shadowbahn-by-steve-erickson/
>
> To me, seems that it might appeal to the sensibilities of the Pynchon
> crowd. Might be picking it up from the library soon, though I could be
> swayed to make it sooner if someone here loves it, or perhaps to delay
> indefinitely if anyone is persuasive in that direction.
>
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