Just a Couple of Days Pa - Softcover

Vigorito, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156031221 ISBN 13: 9780156031226

Publisher: Mariner, 2007

Synopsis

Blip Korterly kicks off a game of graffiti tag on a local overpass by painting a simple phrase: "Uh-oh." An anonymous interlocutor writes back: "When?" Blip slyly answers: "Just a couple of days." But what happens in just a couple of days? Blip is arrested; his friend, Dr. Flake Fountain - a molecular biologist - is drafted into a shadow-government research project conducting experiments on humans. The virus being tested - cleverly called "the Pied Piper" - renders its victims incapable of symbolic capacity; that is, incapable of communication. Is this biological weaponry? What would happen if it were let loose on the world? Does a babbling populace pose a threat or provide an opportunity for social evolution?This novel's absurd, larger-than-life characters speak in exuberant prose that is as satirical as it is playful, as full of implications as it is full of mirth. It's no wonder "Just a Couple of Days" has become an underground cult classic.

About this title

Review:

"Like a technologically savvy modern-day Rabelais, Vigorito gives humanity a swift, playful, and long overdue slap on the ass."--Chris Genoa "author of Foop! "

"This novel is "folk heroic" and should be read by anyone who still values their capacity to think for themselves."--Kris Saknussemm "author of Zanesville "

"A Dr. Strangelove for the biotech century. Just a Couple of Days is savvy, wickedly funny, and profoundly disturbing. " --Richard Heinberg "author of Powerdown "

PRAISE FOR JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS

"Just a Couple of Days may be the most unusual, the most original novel I have ever read. It reminds me of my own first novel, Another Roadside Attraction, in that it almost completely defies what we've been taught that a novel ought to be... If philosophical ideas were harpoons, Tony Vigorito could turn every whale in Ahab's ocean into floating pincushions..." --Tom Robbins

"A lyrical, thoughtful, viral meme of a book. Read it!"--CHRISTOPHER MOORE, author of LAMB and A DIRTY JOB

"This is the kind of literary enjoyment so many people say you shouldn't have, and then worry about when you start to draw larger conclusions from . . . I'd go so far as to say that this novel is 'folk heroic' and should be read by anyone who still values their capacity to think for themselves."--KRIS SAKNUSSEMM, author of ZANESVILLE

"Just a Couple of Days is a lyrical, thoughtful, viral meme of a book. Read it!"--Christopher Moore "author of You Suck "

"Irreverent, whimsical. The final apocalyptic vision is a twist not seen since Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Recommended."--Library Journal

From the Back Cover:

WELCOME TO THE PARTY AT THE END OF TIME!
A mischievous artist kicks off a game of graffiti tag on a local overpass by painting the simple phrase "Uh-oh." An anonymous interlocutor writes back: "When?" Someone slyly answers: "Just a couple of days." But what happens in just a couple of days? Professor Blip Korterly is arrested; his friend, Dr. Flake Fountain is drafted into a shadow-government research project to develop the ultimate biological weapon, and a bit of a leak turns into a merry-hearted, babble-inducing apocalypse that will either destroy humankind or take it to the next step in evolution.
FROM DEVOTED FANS OF JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS
It rocked my boat, tickled my fancy, jabbered my wocky (?!) I find myself looking not only at America, but the whole universe in a new and exciting way. Sublime. A wake-up call to society. Mind-expanding. Magical. I'm still smiling--it made me feel better about humanity, just knowing that there might be a little hope, and that it can start with me. Sparks contagious laughs. Transcendent. Visionary. Full of laughter, song and dance, fun and love... Cosmic, and profoundly optimistic. A consciousness-expanding, life-changing experience. Dancing, laughter, the spiritual life of dinner plates. If the end of the world (really, the beginning) is anything AT ALL like Mr. Vigorito imagines it to be, I can't wait for it to come. Read it and dance...

TONY VIGORITO earned a Ph.D. at Ohio State University and taught social theory at Ohio University and Antioch College. He nowsplits his time betweenAthens, Ohio and Austin, Texas."

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0156031221
• ISBN 13: 9780156031226
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400