Life Expectancy. (Bantam Books)
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Description
Jimmy Tock comes into the world on the very night his grandfather leaves it. As a violent storm rages outside the hospital, Rudy Tock spends long hours walking the corridors between the expectant fathers' waiting room and his dying father's bedside. It's a strange vigil made all the stranger when, at the very height of the storm's fury, Josef Tock suddenly sits up in bed and speaks coherently for the frist and last time since his stroke.
What he says before he dies is that there will be five dark days in the life of his grandson—five dates whose terrible events Jimmy will have to prepare himself to face. The first is to occur in his twentieth year; the second in his twent-third year; the third in his twenty-eighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.
Rudy is all too ready to discount his father's last words as a dying man's delusional rambling. But then he discovers that Josef also predicted the time of his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly—the unexplained anomal of fused digits—on his left foot. Suddenly the old man's predictions take on a chilling significance.
What terrifying events await Jimmy on these five dark days? What nightmares will he face? What challenges must he survive? As the novel unfolds, picking up Jimmy's story at each of these crisis points, the path he must follow will defy every expectation. And with each crisis he faces, he will move closer to a fate he could never have imagined. For who Jimmy Tock is and what he must accomplish on the five days when his world turns is a mystery as dangerous as it is wondrous—a struggle against an evil so dark and pervasive, only the most extraordinary of human spirits can shine through.
Book Information
Posts
I did not know what to expect when I was handed this book and the story couldn't have been more wild. If I have read at least a snippet I wouldn't have gone through reading it. But I started it and I'm no quitter. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is a fictional autobiographical tale told in first person, primarily by the lead character. Most of the story was set in the 90s but the book read like it was midcentury with how everything was constructed by Dean. I don't know how to describe this book but it was whimsical to me, a bit like Forrest Gump. It read like a Republican fairy tale I guess with all the conservative energy radiating from every page. Why am I rating this low? The decision making of Jimmy was just ludicrous. It just didn't make any sense to me. Yes it advances the story but it wasn't passable most of the time to make it slide. Also, I felt like I was reading a long humble brag of a white man. I mean please. Enough! Lastly, it also felt like I was reading a longish storybook meant for someone on the fifth grade. Minus like two SOB bombs the book was quite vanilla. It really came across as reading practice, something a primary school teacher would assign as homework. The last part I've said is not necessarily a bad thing but something I was not looking for at the moment. Read the book while listening to the audiobook. The audiobook's narration was like those 50s instructional videos so I think it helped me imagine that things were happening much earlier than the 90s. I intend the read more Dean inspite of not liking this at all.
Description
Jimmy Tock comes into the world on the very night his grandfather leaves it. As a violent storm rages outside the hospital, Rudy Tock spends long hours walking the corridors between the expectant fathers' waiting room and his dying father's bedside. It's a strange vigil made all the stranger when, at the very height of the storm's fury, Josef Tock suddenly sits up in bed and speaks coherently for the frist and last time since his stroke.
What he says before he dies is that there will be five dark days in the life of his grandson—five dates whose terrible events Jimmy will have to prepare himself to face. The first is to occur in his twentieth year; the second in his twent-third year; the third in his twenty-eighth; the fourth in his twenty-ninth; the fifth in his thirtieth.
Rudy is all too ready to discount his father's last words as a dying man's delusional rambling. But then he discovers that Josef also predicted the time of his grandson's birth to the minute, as well as his exact height and weight, and the fact that Jimmy would be born with syndactyly—the unexplained anomal of fused digits—on his left foot. Suddenly the old man's predictions take on a chilling significance.
What terrifying events await Jimmy on these five dark days? What nightmares will he face? What challenges must he survive? As the novel unfolds, picking up Jimmy's story at each of these crisis points, the path he must follow will defy every expectation. And with each crisis he faces, he will move closer to a fate he could never have imagined. For who Jimmy Tock is and what he must accomplish on the five days when his world turns is a mystery as dangerous as it is wondrous—a struggle against an evil so dark and pervasive, only the most extraordinary of human spirits can shine through.
Book Information
Posts
I did not know what to expect when I was handed this book and the story couldn't have been more wild. If I have read at least a snippet I wouldn't have gone through reading it. But I started it and I'm no quitter. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is a fictional autobiographical tale told in first person, primarily by the lead character. Most of the story was set in the 90s but the book read like it was midcentury with how everything was constructed by Dean. I don't know how to describe this book but it was whimsical to me, a bit like Forrest Gump. It read like a Republican fairy tale I guess with all the conservative energy radiating from every page. Why am I rating this low? The decision making of Jimmy was just ludicrous. It just didn't make any sense to me. Yes it advances the story but it wasn't passable most of the time to make it slide. Also, I felt like I was reading a long humble brag of a white man. I mean please. Enough! Lastly, it also felt like I was reading a longish storybook meant for someone on the fifth grade. Minus like two SOB bombs the book was quite vanilla. It really came across as reading practice, something a primary school teacher would assign as homework. The last part I've said is not necessarily a bad thing but something I was not looking for at the moment. Read the book while listening to the audiobook. The audiobook's narration was like those 50s instructional videos so I think it helped me imagine that things were happening much earlier than the 90s. I intend the read more Dean inspite of not liking this at all.