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Enigmatic Pilot: A Tall Tale Too True
Enigmatic Pilot is Kris Saknussemm’s outrageously brilliant yet profoundly moving exploration and excavation of the American dream—and nightmare.
In 1844, in a still-young America, the first intimations of civil war are stirring throughout the land. In Zanesville, Ohio, the Sitturd family—Hephaestus, a clubfooted inventor; his wife, Rapture, a Creole from the Sea Islands; and their prodigiously gifted six-year-old son, Lloyd, whose libido is as precocious as his intellect—are forced to flee the only home they have ever known for an uncertain future in Texas, whence Hephaestus’s half-brother, Micah, has sent them a mysterious invitation, promising riches and wonders too amazing to be entrusted to paper.
Thus begins one of the most incredible American journeys since Huck Finn and Jim first pushed their raft into the Mississippi. Along the way, Lloyd will learn the intricacies of poker and murder, solve the problem of manned flight, find—and lose—true love, and become swept up in an ancient struggle between two secret societies whose arcane dispute has shaped the world’s past and threatens to reshape its future. Each side wants to use Lloyd against the other, but Lloyd has his own ideas—and access to an occult technology as powerful as his imagination.
In 1844, in a still-young America, the first intimations of civil war are stirring throughout the land. In Zanesville, Ohio, the Sitturd family—Hephaestus, a clubfooted inventor; his wife, Rapture, a Creole from the Sea Islands; and their prodigiously gifted six-year-old son, Lloyd, whose libido is as precocious as his intellect—are forced to flee the only home they have ever known for an uncertain future in Texas, whence Hephaestus’s half-brother, Micah, has sent them a mysterious invitation, promising riches and wonders too amazing to be entrusted to paper.
Thus begins one of the most incredible American journeys since Huck Finn and Jim first pushed their raft into the Mississippi. Along the way, Lloyd will learn the intricacies of poker and murder, solve the problem of manned flight, find—and lose—true love, and become swept up in an ancient struggle between two secret societies whose arcane dispute has shaped the world’s past and threatens to reshape its future. Each side wants to use Lloyd against the other, but Lloyd has his own ideas—and access to an occult technology as powerful as his imagination.
362 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Kris Saknussemm
31 books117 followersKris Saknussemm is a cult genre bending novelist and multimedia artist. Born and educated in America, he has lived most of his life abroad, primarily in Australia and the Pacific Islands.
His science fiction themed novel ZANESVILLE, published by Villard Books in 2005, was hailed by critics as a revolutionary work of surreal black comedy. It has attracted the devotion of outsider artists like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and was the inspiration for Michael Jackson to want to have a giant robot of himself constructed to roam the Las Vegas desert. It has become a cult hit in Russia as well.
Another novel, an erotic supernatural thriller PRIVATE MIDNIGHT is set in a noir crime world of jazz, junkies and shadows from out of time. It became a bestseller in France and Italy.
He has now in total published ten books that have been translated into 22 languages.
The Rumors
Soon after the publication of ZANESVILLE, reports began circulating around Hollywood that the actor Kevin Costner was furious about being featured as the “voice” of Dooley Duck, one of several animated hologram characters in the story, who serve as advertising vehicles in the fictional world of the novel. Under the magical influence of the protagonist, Elijah Clearfather, Dooley not only comes to life and breaks free of his commercial masters (a monolithic children’s day care empire) he develops a penis and becomes an advocate for sexual enjoyment and the leader of a social and political reform called The Surprise Party.
A second rumor that began making the rounds that ZANESVILLE had actually been written by the late David Foster Wallace under a pseudonym, while another related and more detailed story had it that Kris Saknussemm is not an individual author at all, but rather a name taken by a collective of writers who wrote the book as a collaborative experiment, in something of the same spirit as Nicholas Bourbaki phenomenon amongst mathematicians.
This latter view gained some extended support as Saknussemm had written about the “Bourbaki Conspiracy,” and an earlier published story was based on the premise that the reclusive Thomas Pynchon was just a composite entity—an on-going project and artistic prank which such writers as Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger had participated in.
Appearing at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle in 2006, Saknussemm fielded questions about the rumor, remarking, “As ZANESVILLE has much to do with the idea of the Conspiracy Theory as the folk religion of our time, I’m somewhat amused. But I’ve heard something similar about Poppy Z. Brite. I think we all just like hoaxes and rumors. They reassure us that we can actually participate in the manufacture of reality. But as one of my characters says, ‘I’m real enough.’” A series of readings in New York and appearances on public radio and at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers helped to dispel the rumor.
His science fiction themed novel ZANESVILLE, published by Villard Books in 2005, was hailed by critics as a revolutionary work of surreal black comedy. It has attracted the devotion of outsider artists like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and was the inspiration for Michael Jackson to want to have a giant robot of himself constructed to roam the Las Vegas desert. It has become a cult hit in Russia as well.
Another novel, an erotic supernatural thriller PRIVATE MIDNIGHT is set in a noir crime world of jazz, junkies and shadows from out of time. It became a bestseller in France and Italy.
He has now in total published ten books that have been translated into 22 languages.
The Rumors
Soon after the publication of ZANESVILLE, reports began circulating around Hollywood that the actor Kevin Costner was furious about being featured as the “voice” of Dooley Duck, one of several animated hologram characters in the story, who serve as advertising vehicles in the fictional world of the novel. Under the magical influence of the protagonist, Elijah Clearfather, Dooley not only comes to life and breaks free of his commercial masters (a monolithic children’s day care empire) he develops a penis and becomes an advocate for sexual enjoyment and the leader of a social and political reform called The Surprise Party.
A second rumor that began making the rounds that ZANESVILLE had actually been written by the late David Foster Wallace under a pseudonym, while another related and more detailed story had it that Kris Saknussemm is not an individual author at all, but rather a name taken by a collective of writers who wrote the book as a collaborative experiment, in something of the same spirit as Nicholas Bourbaki phenomenon amongst mathematicians.
This latter view gained some extended support as Saknussemm had written about the “Bourbaki Conspiracy,” and an earlier published story was based on the premise that the reclusive Thomas Pynchon was just a composite entity—an on-going project and artistic prank which such writers as Vladimir Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger had participated in.
Appearing at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle in 2006, Saknussemm fielded questions about the rumor, remarking, “As ZANESVILLE has much to do with the idea of the Conspiracy Theory as the folk religion of our time, I’m somewhat amused. But I’ve heard something similar about Poppy Z. Brite. I think we all just like hoaxes and rumors. They reassure us that we can actually participate in the manufacture of reality. But as one of my characters says, ‘I’m real enough.’” A series of readings in New York and appearances on public radio and at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers helped to dispel the rumor.
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April 16, 2011
Perhaps book reviewers are meant to relegate themselves to commenting on what's inside a book. Yet there are times the publishing process plays a role in a book. Unfortunately, that process damages Kris Saknussemm's latest novel,
Enigmatic Pilot: A Tall Tale Too True
. (Full disclosure: Saknussemm is a "Facebook Friend" of mine but I know nothing of the editorial and marketing decisions for this book. Likewise, he won't know the theme or content of this review unless and until he reads it.)
I was introduced to Saknussemm's writing five years ago when I reviewed Zanesville, the first book in a proposed series called The Lodemania Testament. Enigmatic Pilot is the new installment in that series but while Saknussemm's writing remains strong, the book suffers not only from being an installment in a series but from the fact those unfamiliar with Zanesville may not realize it is part of a series. For some inexplicable reason, nothing in the book and none of the written or online promotional material from Del Rey, Random House's science fiction and fantasy imprint, tells readers this story of Lloyd Meadhorn Sitturd is about a key character of The Lodemania Testament. As a result, portions of the book that draw out detailed information about Lloyd's background and influences may strike those who have not read Zanesville as lengthy diversions that slow down the story.
More important, newcomers may have valid complaints that they feel they major, or even minor, plotlines are never completed. For example, the book opens in Dakota Territory in 1869 with a Seventh Calvary lieutenant involved in an almost hallucinatory event. After 15 pages detailing that experience, we never return to the scene or the lieutenant's story. Instead, the balance of the book follows part of the exodus the Sitturd family from Zanesville, Ohio, to Texas in 1844, when Lloyd is six years old. Then, the conclusion produces a fascinating plot twist but one that newcomers will feel simply leaves them hanging. While readers may not need a detailed road map, to leave them without any of the background that informs the story or that Enigmatic Pilot is part of a series is to leave them feeling as if they have been on several detours to nowhere. Yet the book design and marketing don't even hint that Zanesville might give readers insight into some of the symbolism and plot threads in this book. In fact, Saknussemm's bio on the Del Rey website makes no mention of Enigmatic Pilot even though it does say Zanesville is the first in The Lodemania Testament series. Depending on the editorial process, the possibility also exists that Saknussemm bears a share of the blame as the book itself takes a reverse approach, making no reference to it being part of the series or to Zanesville.
There is no doubt, though, this is part of the series. Zanesville opened with Lloyd's birth in 1838 and described him as “one of the most neglected geniuses in history.” As a child, Lloyd is whisked up into a tornado in Dustdevil, Tex., only to be returned to the exact spot unharmed some 20 minutes later. In July 1913, after a life as an inventor, businessman, recluse and cult leader, Lloyd again disappears in another tornado in Dustdevil, this time never to be heard from again. The bulk of the book then focused on a post-apocalyptic America (making it seemingly more appropriate for the Del Rey imprint than Enigmatic Pilot, which remains in pre-Civil War America).
Although Enigmatic Pilot is replete with tornado and whirlwind symbols, they are foreshadowings only readers of Zanesville will grasp. Here, the focus is not on Lloyd's future but how he embarked for Texas as a child. We learn that Lloyd was not just a neglected genius when he died but a genius from his earliest years. Saknussemm's eye for history and historical fiction is as keen as his observations on the human condition and his at times trenchant humor. We follow Lloyd's adventures/quest as he and his parents struggle through what was then part of the western frontier to reach Texas, where Lloyd's uncle has invited them to live with him on 300 acres of land he has named Dustdevil. As the family travels from Zanesville to Cincinnati to Louisville to St. Louis and St. Joseph, Lloyd becomes friends with and learns from riverboat gamblers, medicine show charlatans and escaped slaves and encounters primitive androids and perhaps even extraterrestrials. Many of his adventures take on the sense of tall tales in Mark Twain's Missouri but involving forces not found in Twain tales.
Although only six, Lloyd assumes leadership of the family on the journey as his father, a blacksmith and failed inventor, falls into alcoholism and his mother, a Sea Islands Gullah with a voodooish touch to her, is almost distraught by the seeming disintegration of her family. Saknussemm's portrayal of her dialect, though, ranges from difficult to nearly unintelligible, creating an occasional small roadblock for readers. Lloyd supports the family and the story is built around his preternatural talents in science and technology. (He also discovers a libido and carnality far beyond his years.)
At the age of five, Lloyd is advising his father on the best way to build a time machine and himself builds a mechanical beaver that convinces Zanesville he has crossed the line. His talent for inventing flying machines leads to his adventures in manned flight in St. Louis in a major storyline. These exceptional abilities also bring him to the attention of and in touch with secret societies that, as in Masonic or Illuminati conspiracy theories, control the course of human history. Here, the battle for control of the world is centered in America between the Spirosians and the Vardogers, both in possession of seemingly occult powers and lost knowledge and technology far beyond that known to the 19th century. Both sects want Lloyd on their side, one openly and the other far more secretively. While Lloyd resists the invitation to access hidden knowledge, serious question exists whether he -- or anyone -- can ultimately remain neutral in this ultimate struggle for control behind the scenes.
For those familiar with Zanesville, Enigmatic Pilot provides clues, insight and in-depth background for the series arc. Unfortunately, those reading Saknussemm for the first time may well feel he has short-changed them. Enigmatic Pilot is structured such that it can not really stand on its own. Many readers will guess that at least another book will be coming but, again, there is no indication anywhere that this is part of an intended series. While it certainly is not imperative to read Zanesville first, readers unaware of the background of that book or the series as a whole may miss the point of much of the book. Newcomers should at least be told that Enigmatic Pilot is just a step in a novelistic journey in America's past and potential future. Both they and the book are done a disservice because someone failed to do them that courtesy.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
I was introduced to Saknussemm's writing five years ago when I reviewed Zanesville, the first book in a proposed series called The Lodemania Testament. Enigmatic Pilot is the new installment in that series but while Saknussemm's writing remains strong, the book suffers not only from being an installment in a series but from the fact those unfamiliar with Zanesville may not realize it is part of a series. For some inexplicable reason, nothing in the book and none of the written or online promotional material from Del Rey, Random House's science fiction and fantasy imprint, tells readers this story of Lloyd Meadhorn Sitturd is about a key character of The Lodemania Testament. As a result, portions of the book that draw out detailed information about Lloyd's background and influences may strike those who have not read Zanesville as lengthy diversions that slow down the story.
More important, newcomers may have valid complaints that they feel they major, or even minor, plotlines are never completed. For example, the book opens in Dakota Territory in 1869 with a Seventh Calvary lieutenant involved in an almost hallucinatory event. After 15 pages detailing that experience, we never return to the scene or the lieutenant's story. Instead, the balance of the book follows part of the exodus the Sitturd family from Zanesville, Ohio, to Texas in 1844, when Lloyd is six years old. Then, the conclusion produces a fascinating plot twist but one that newcomers will feel simply leaves them hanging. While readers may not need a detailed road map, to leave them without any of the background that informs the story or that Enigmatic Pilot is part of a series is to leave them feeling as if they have been on several detours to nowhere. Yet the book design and marketing don't even hint that Zanesville might give readers insight into some of the symbolism and plot threads in this book. In fact, Saknussemm's bio on the Del Rey website makes no mention of Enigmatic Pilot even though it does say Zanesville is the first in The Lodemania Testament series. Depending on the editorial process, the possibility also exists that Saknussemm bears a share of the blame as the book itself takes a reverse approach, making no reference to it being part of the series or to Zanesville.
There is no doubt, though, this is part of the series. Zanesville opened with Lloyd's birth in 1838 and described him as “one of the most neglected geniuses in history.” As a child, Lloyd is whisked up into a tornado in Dustdevil, Tex., only to be returned to the exact spot unharmed some 20 minutes later. In July 1913, after a life as an inventor, businessman, recluse and cult leader, Lloyd again disappears in another tornado in Dustdevil, this time never to be heard from again. The bulk of the book then focused on a post-apocalyptic America (making it seemingly more appropriate for the Del Rey imprint than Enigmatic Pilot, which remains in pre-Civil War America).
Although Enigmatic Pilot is replete with tornado and whirlwind symbols, they are foreshadowings only readers of Zanesville will grasp. Here, the focus is not on Lloyd's future but how he embarked for Texas as a child. We learn that Lloyd was not just a neglected genius when he died but a genius from his earliest years. Saknussemm's eye for history and historical fiction is as keen as his observations on the human condition and his at times trenchant humor. We follow Lloyd's adventures/quest as he and his parents struggle through what was then part of the western frontier to reach Texas, where Lloyd's uncle has invited them to live with him on 300 acres of land he has named Dustdevil. As the family travels from Zanesville to Cincinnati to Louisville to St. Louis and St. Joseph, Lloyd becomes friends with and learns from riverboat gamblers, medicine show charlatans and escaped slaves and encounters primitive androids and perhaps even extraterrestrials. Many of his adventures take on the sense of tall tales in Mark Twain's Missouri but involving forces not found in Twain tales.
Although only six, Lloyd assumes leadership of the family on the journey as his father, a blacksmith and failed inventor, falls into alcoholism and his mother, a Sea Islands Gullah with a voodooish touch to her, is almost distraught by the seeming disintegration of her family. Saknussemm's portrayal of her dialect, though, ranges from difficult to nearly unintelligible, creating an occasional small roadblock for readers. Lloyd supports the family and the story is built around his preternatural talents in science and technology. (He also discovers a libido and carnality far beyond his years.)
At the age of five, Lloyd is advising his father on the best way to build a time machine and himself builds a mechanical beaver that convinces Zanesville he has crossed the line. His talent for inventing flying machines leads to his adventures in manned flight in St. Louis in a major storyline. These exceptional abilities also bring him to the attention of and in touch with secret societies that, as in Masonic or Illuminati conspiracy theories, control the course of human history. Here, the battle for control of the world is centered in America between the Spirosians and the Vardogers, both in possession of seemingly occult powers and lost knowledge and technology far beyond that known to the 19th century. Both sects want Lloyd on their side, one openly and the other far more secretively. While Lloyd resists the invitation to access hidden knowledge, serious question exists whether he -- or anyone -- can ultimately remain neutral in this ultimate struggle for control behind the scenes.
For those familiar with Zanesville, Enigmatic Pilot provides clues, insight and in-depth background for the series arc. Unfortunately, those reading Saknussemm for the first time may well feel he has short-changed them. Enigmatic Pilot is structured such that it can not really stand on its own. Many readers will guess that at least another book will be coming but, again, there is no indication anywhere that this is part of an intended series. While it certainly is not imperative to read Zanesville first, readers unaware of the background of that book or the series as a whole may miss the point of much of the book. Newcomers should at least be told that Enigmatic Pilot is just a step in a novelistic journey in America's past and potential future. Both they and the book are done a disservice because someone failed to do them that courtesy.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
September 22, 2011
Perhaps Kris Saknussem is too smart for my own good. The novel's prologue is set in 1869. Chapter 1 takes up the tale in 1844. At that point, I think that the tale will cover 25 years and explain the rather fascinating "enigmas" contained in the prologue. Not so. Chapter 1 introduces a family in Zanesville, Ohio that receives a letter from the adult male's brother in Texas, urging them to join him there and discover something amazing. The family sets out on the journey. The novel takes them as far as somewhere slightly west of Independence, Missouri, and dumps them there, in a tepee with a sharpshooting woman with a nascent beard and a beast of some sort she refers to as "Senator." The great bulk of the novel is written in a shifting third person/omniscient point of view, until page 358, where it becomes a first person narrative for the last three pages. The main character is a six year old boy named Lloyd, who is not only a child prodigy but also gifted enough to have an erection, and sex, at that tender age, first with a mature woman on a river boat, and later with a pre-teen escaped slave girl who has had her sexual organs damaged (female circumcision?). Along the way, Lloyd debunks a religion as a sham while most of what he does and witnesses is supernatural in the extreme.
If any of this makes sense to you, then, by all means, read the book. I wish I hadn't. The only saving grace for me is that I didn't spend any money on Enigmatic Pilot. A friend encouraged me to read his copy. I will not accept any future recommendations from him.
The blurb writers who likened Saknussem to Twain, Melville, and Pynchon should be rounded up and executed in public.
If any of this makes sense to you, then, by all means, read the book. I wish I hadn't. The only saving grace for me is that I didn't spend any money on Enigmatic Pilot. A friend encouraged me to read his copy. I will not accept any future recommendations from him.
The blurb writers who likened Saknussem to Twain, Melville, and Pynchon should be rounded up and executed in public.
March 15, 2025
Felt like one long run on sentence while making the best attempt to achieve the word count. The language the mother occasionally used slowed the already garbled flow to a crawl. Cover art is the best part of this book.
Read
April 18, 2021I started it, but I got lost somewhere around the 3/4 mark. It was enthralling up until that point, after which I was unfortunately no longer interested in finishing it.
August 16, 2015
I picked up this book in the same way I've made a lot of my most cherished literary discoveries- grabbed it for .25 at a library book sale just because the cover looked interesting. One of my greatest joys is opening a book up with no expectations and then having my mind blown by what I find inside.
"Enigmatic Pilot" hit so many of my "buttons" it was almost as if it was written with me specifically in mind. A bizarre amalgam of genres- steampunk mashed up with magic realism and laced with acid western. Filled with energetic prose and dark humor, every page brimming with invention- a book stuffed with so many ideas that it threatens to break loose from the binding. I know a lot of readers find that sort of thing exhausting, but for me it's exhilarating.
In pre-Civil War America, the scientifically (and sexually) precocious six-year-old Lloyd Sitturd manages to get his family (almost as eccentric as he is) expelled from their home in Ohio. Lured by an Uncle's vague and uncertain promises of riches and wonders to be found in Texas, they set off on a journey across a surreal American frontier. Their adventures are filled with anachronistic invention, mystical encounters and confrontations with the brutal violence and racism that marked that period in American history. I couldn't tear through it fast enough.
A lot of the other reviews I've read on Amazon and on Goodreads have complained that this is apparently a middle book in a longer series- and that this fact is not noted anywhere on the book's cover. I did suffer some panic as I neared the end and realized that there was no way all the dangling threads of plot could possibly be resolved. But overall, this didn't bother me much. I accepted the story like I did the film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," which also played in a similar "Book 2 of 5 or 6" fashion.
This book ranks among my very favorites. I haven't read any other Kris Saknussemm, but I certainly will read more very soon.
"Enigmatic Pilot" hit so many of my "buttons" it was almost as if it was written with me specifically in mind. A bizarre amalgam of genres- steampunk mashed up with magic realism and laced with acid western. Filled with energetic prose and dark humor, every page brimming with invention- a book stuffed with so many ideas that it threatens to break loose from the binding. I know a lot of readers find that sort of thing exhausting, but for me it's exhilarating.
In pre-Civil War America, the scientifically (and sexually) precocious six-year-old Lloyd Sitturd manages to get his family (almost as eccentric as he is) expelled from their home in Ohio. Lured by an Uncle's vague and uncertain promises of riches and wonders to be found in Texas, they set off on a journey across a surreal American frontier. Their adventures are filled with anachronistic invention, mystical encounters and confrontations with the brutal violence and racism that marked that period in American history. I couldn't tear through it fast enough.
A lot of the other reviews I've read on Amazon and on Goodreads have complained that this is apparently a middle book in a longer series- and that this fact is not noted anywhere on the book's cover. I did suffer some panic as I neared the end and realized that there was no way all the dangling threads of plot could possibly be resolved. But overall, this didn't bother me much. I accepted the story like I did the film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," which also played in a similar "Book 2 of 5 or 6" fashion.
This book ranks among my very favorites. I haven't read any other Kris Saknussemm, but I certainly will read more very soon.
March 28, 2012
Imagine the cover of this novel in motion, beckoning the reader into this one of a kind story of folklore and mystery. A pandora's box in disguise, it is the coveted book that lives in the storage room of the library. I cannot help but wonder what it would be like to be the reader who finds a copy in 100 years. Yes, it is that cool.
Reading "Enigmatic Pilot" is a wet dream for both philosophers and conspiracy theorists, as this book unleashes realities that stack upon themselves like Russian nesting dolls. One cup of past lives, three teaspoons of higher powers, a healthy dose of evil with a dash of deja vu. Truly, to question the tangibility of the soul is to grasp the beauty of this one of kind gem.
Aside from being a philosophical conundrum, "Enigmatic Pilot" is a novel full of victorian gothica, western tomfoolery, sadistic violence and delightful whimsy. Using the American slave trade, New World Order, dysfunctional love and ultimately a giant identity crisis as it's flesh, Saknussemm's novel made me feel as though I was dreaming of past lives and tripping on acid. All centered around a loveable young prodigy that truly embodies the emotions needed for a "flesh and blood" protagonist, this book comes together in a way that could unsettle the traditional reader. Obviously, I adored every page.
Reading "Enigmatic Pilot" is a wet dream for both philosophers and conspiracy theorists, as this book unleashes realities that stack upon themselves like Russian nesting dolls. One cup of past lives, three teaspoons of higher powers, a healthy dose of evil with a dash of deja vu. Truly, to question the tangibility of the soul is to grasp the beauty of this one of kind gem.
Aside from being a philosophical conundrum, "Enigmatic Pilot" is a novel full of victorian gothica, western tomfoolery, sadistic violence and delightful whimsy. Using the American slave trade, New World Order, dysfunctional love and ultimately a giant identity crisis as it's flesh, Saknussemm's novel made me feel as though I was dreaming of past lives and tripping on acid. All centered around a loveable young prodigy that truly embodies the emotions needed for a "flesh and blood" protagonist, this book comes together in a way that could unsettle the traditional reader. Obviously, I adored every page.
May 6, 2011
This tall tale too true chronicles the mixed breed family Sitturds' migration South in response to a letter sent by the father Sitturd's brother. This is their story, but it is truly Lloyd's story, the six year old genius whose schemes deliver his family from woe, but also brings them out of the frying pan into the fire more often than not.
The plot traces through historical events as we know them to have happened, with a bit of strange hoodoo thrown in. Saint Louis, Riverboats, escaped slaves. Abject poverty, questionable victuals, the gold rush.
The last twenty pages change everything.
Everything you knew is thrown into confusion, and there's the glimmer of understanding at which you feebly grasp. You realize what you have been reading all along is just a dot in a wall sized pointillist painting. I don't think there's anything like Enigmatic Pilot anywhere out there.
It turns out this is actually a sequel to Zanesville: A Novel, in which the Sitturds' tale is a very short prologue in the longer narrative of Elijah Clearfather... but the way Zanesville is going, it might just be a prequel as well?
The plot traces through historical events as we know them to have happened, with a bit of strange hoodoo thrown in. Saint Louis, Riverboats, escaped slaves. Abject poverty, questionable victuals, the gold rush.
The last twenty pages change everything.
Everything you knew is thrown into confusion, and there's the glimmer of understanding at which you feebly grasp. You realize what you have been reading all along is just a dot in a wall sized pointillist painting. I don't think there's anything like Enigmatic Pilot anywhere out there.
It turns out this is actually a sequel to Zanesville: A Novel, in which the Sitturds' tale is a very short prologue in the longer narrative of Elijah Clearfather... but the way Zanesville is going, it might just be a prequel as well?
August 1, 2011
In the last book I review on goodreads, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, I complained that I was not always convinced of the narrator's age and that he seemed just a little too precocious. The same complaint could certainly be made of the main character of Enigmatic Pilot, Lloyd Sitturd, but I'm not going to make it.
Enigmatic Pilot steers it's reader so quickly and so deeply into a strange land that his antics seem just right for the [very] pre-teen 19th-century robot-building uber-genius protagonist. While Lloyd character demanding highly-hyphenated descriptors, particularly his man-sized libido and multiple-men-sized intelligence, his mistakes as well as his innocence make his character surprisingly sympathetic.
Despite it's diminutive length Engimatic Pilot is jam-packed with mystery, adventure, magic, tragedy, and growth. I finished this book about a month ago, but I'm still turning many of the mysteries over in my head.
Enigmatic Pilot steers it's reader so quickly and so deeply into a strange land that his antics seem just right for the [very] pre-teen 19th-century robot-building uber-genius protagonist. While Lloyd character demanding highly-hyphenated descriptors, particularly his man-sized libido and multiple-men-sized intelligence, his mistakes as well as his innocence make his character surprisingly sympathetic.
Despite it's diminutive length Engimatic Pilot is jam-packed with mystery, adventure, magic, tragedy, and growth. I finished this book about a month ago, but I'm still turning many of the mysteries over in my head.
September 13, 2011
Another book that started off so strong and hopeful and then just fell apart! I loved the first two chapters and then spent the rest of this extremely slow read waiting to get back to that place. It was long, confusing, frustrating, and not at all what it set out to be. After dedicating countless hours to the characters and plot, I can honestly say, "I have no ideas what this book is about and not a clue what happened in the end." I also found it difficult to read about a six year old who was sexually active, thought he understood the nature of love, and was a baby genius. Most of the time I forgot how young he was, then there would a comment about it and I would get angry all over again. It was just all WAY TOO MUCH.
April 14, 2016
It's clear the author is a talented writer, but I didn't care for frankly anything in the book other than it was set in 1840s. The main character Lloyd is a sexually-aware six year old genius, and his costars club-footed papa Hephaestus and impossible-to-understand-without-reading-her-dialogue-out-loud Voodoo mama Rapture ..... well, while they are weird, they are also pretty flat and boring. The best characters in this book are the side-characters. And the plot is about as slow as a snail moving uphill in molasses in January.
The author may be trying to be smart and edgy, but it came across as just weird and shock-factor-for-the-sake-of-shock-factor
The author may be trying to be smart and edgy, but it came across as just weird and shock-factor-for-the-sake-of-shock-factor
March 10, 2014
Definitely a tall tale. One so tall I gave up..twice. The first time after the intro. The second time I made it to mid-book. Good stories, even the most fantastic, are those that have a clear narrative and at least some believability at their core. Pilot has neither. Galore by Michael Crummey is an example of what this novel could have been. Where Galore is mythic like Moby Dick, Pilot feels like the kind of wild story you hear in bar that after ten minutes you lose interest in, say "excuse me" to the author and go in search of other company.
September 2, 2012
This started off with a great kick but decended into an odd story about and odd family rambling through the US in the 1840s. From what I have read about the book, I need to read Zanesville to appreciate some of the characters. It was a fun read. Zanesville is on my list.
January 25, 2013
Well - wow. This looked like it was going to be another quasi-steampunk-ery alt-history thing, and in a sense I guess it is.. but with some weird occult overtones and an ending I *really* didn't see coming. Which I greatly admire.
Read
August 3, 2011I really enjoyed this book, until the end. I don't understand how it ended.
Thinking back on the story, I'm still not sure I understand the Prologue or the last 2 chapters.
Thinking back on the story, I'm still not sure I understand the Prologue or the last 2 chapters.
Want to read
October 17, 2011Sounded interesting, but started it right before a book dry spell and didn't feel like going back to it.
Sorry book! Maybe some other time.
Sorry book! Maybe some other time.
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