Review: Doodling

Doodling by Jonathan Gould

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Please note: Originally read and reviewed August, 2011; making some minor corrections to the review and adding disclosure.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this novella from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: Surrealism/Parody
Reading Level: YA & up
Recommended for: EVERYBODY!!

My Synopsis:: On its surface, Doodling is a surreal and rather silly story about a man named Neville who, upon losing his grip on the ever-more-rapidly spinning Earth, falls off and winds up in an asteroid field. After meeting several very strange people on different asteroids – and a failed attempt to set up his own country, which he calls Bolivia, on his own asteroid with the large rock 27 meters to his right as president – he stumbles across the lovely Helen. Helen has created a garden on her asteroid, which she tends constantly in order to maintain it against the effects of outer space. She also warns him that the Earth, which continues to increase its insane pace, is about to snap free of gravity and will go through the asteroid field like a bowling ball through pins – but with a much more serious effect, since the Earth will disintegrate everything in its path. Neville must come up with a way to stop this disaster.

My Thoughts: I said “on its surface,” because underneath, Doodling is anything but silly – there are deeper meanings here. There are messages about the dangers of the ever-increasing pace of life; about the need to cease the sort of divisiveness that currently has caused so many wars based upon ridiculous things like who has the better deity; about how the need to constantly win brings nothing but wheel-spinning; about the need for people to learn to put aside their differences, embrace the unique abilities of others, and work together for the common good. And Mr. Gould has squeezed all of these ideas into a very entertaining and well-written novella. My hat is off to this most talented writer, and I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone – if you like to read, you will love this book. BUY IT – NOW! You will not regret your decision.

Exciting new information!: The sequel to this novella, Scribbling, is now available! I will be reading and reviewing it very soon, so watch this space...



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