This first novel was a nifty, tightly written book that was both entertaining and revealing. What happens to the human soul in the cold, in harsh conditions, in the dark? How people snap, fall apart, and find each other... those are the themes of this book. The author has weaved a tale of love and of finding one's self. The only thing I'd complain about was that it flew by so quickly, leaving many aspects of the 'Stark Raving Dark' and the love story unexplored. Its always just out of reach, always elusive. A very good book, I look forward to Griesemer's next book.

Only a few of us will ever visit Greenland for business or pleasure. None of us will be assigned to the secret military hospital at Qanattarsa like Corporal Rudy Spruance, the main protagonist of this beyond the pale tale. But a trip to the frigid island through the magic of this intriguing little novel might be an evening well spent. The author's descriptions of the landscape are foreboding-lonely, other worldly, and bizarre-and offer a tantalizing setting for the outlandish story which the author unfolds.

Anyone who has served much time in the military can recall confreres unconventional enough to become characters in a novel. John Griesemer's are a bit more curious than most. But not by much. I spent some years writing a memoir of my infantry company during World War II and some of my real life colleagues emerged, in memory, only slightly less incredible than Griesemer's fictional inhabitants of Qanattarsa. Their perverse behavior melds well with the locale and plot in which they are placed. That and the mystery surrounding the weird hospital, nay hospice, in full view of icebergs under the midnight sun and goblins roaming in round-the-clock darkness as winter seeps in kept me reading.

The only weakness is the love story. I found it a little contrived and the love scenes less than passionately luscious. But Greenland is not a tropical paradise. After an hour or two at Qanattarsa you will most likely wonder how anyone could make love to another anywhere near that depraved ward of the barely living and award Corporal Rudy and his Sergeant Irene a blue ribbon for trying.

Innovative and frightening, part love story, part black humor. Reminded me more of Johnny Got His Gun than MASH or Catch 22.

But what really got to me was the reminder that the government and the military doesn't tell the truth, that we don't know the truth. As we embark on this "crusade" in Afghanistan, and see our nation filled with patriotic symbols, it's good to be reminded that we don't always get the real story or the whole story.

Note to Terence: Sure you can drop a book after 75 pages...but can you really condemn it? I wrote my review when not quite halfway through the book and now that I'm three quarters of the way through all I can say is that I really am not looking forward to its ending and to my then having to locate a book to replace it. This author is keeping the plates spinning with grace and style and wit...and verve. They will only fall when he wants them to fall. A great read

There is so much packed in this gripping novel: the laying of the transatlanitc cable, the failed launch of the Great Eastern (the world's largest ship at the time); The Civil War, Karl Marx!, the story of a crumbling family in the wake of a child's sudden death, the dawn of the Technological Age, and great, powerful (Dickensian even) writing. I bought this for Memorial Day weekend and finished this morning. Couldn't put it down. Best book I've read since The Corrections.

If this book doesn't manage to get out there reach the many many many MANY lovers of inventive, vividly written fiction...well, it's yet another crime of the marketplace. The writing is superb - both beautiful and direct - and the story itself is wonderfully transporting, like curling up with Dickens, or with a great film of a great Dickens book. I also think 'Ragtime', only with a larger canvas. There are all sorts of thematic things going on here that are fun to ponder as you read...but to spell them out in a quicky review like this would likely make them seem ponderous. Ponderous this book is not. It's a great escape.

While I'm here, let me plug the author's first book as well - No One Thinks of Greenland - wholly different in style and feel from S&N, but equally rewarding in originality. No...even more rewarding in originialty. Talk this guy up. We want writers like this to thrive.