“Ellenberg’s offbeat premise gives rise to plenty of witty and
absurd situations that recall masters like Tom Robbins and Kurt
Vonnegut…Campus novels often tend toward the parochial or the
arcane, but Ellenberg breathes fresh air into the
genre.”—Publisher’s Weekly
“It is Ellenberg’s keen sense of humor and propensity for drawing
out the absurdity in collegiate obsessions that takes center stage
in this very strange and over-the-top but amusing novel.”
—Booklist
“Slate.com journalist Ellenberg, a well-known Princeton
mathematician, debuts with this tale of a deranged scholar out west
who devotes his life to the study of the worst poet in
history…Nicely done and genuinely funny.” —Kirkus Reviews
“The Grasshopper King is a traditional comic academic novel,
complete with deranged deans and crass coaches and desperate
professors trapped in the hinterlands…Light, amusing, and carefully
crafted as it is, The Grasshopper King is a cautionary tale about
the perils of precision.” —The Washington Post Book World
“…a delightful little novel…” —American Book Review
“A zany send-up of campus life.” —The New York Sun
“The Grasshopper King is a breezy discovery for readers…In this
madcap novel, the grasshopper-like characters croak, leap, and butt
heads—ostensibly over academic fortune, but really in an effort to
understand the meaning of love.” —The Boston Phoenix
“[T]he Grasshopper King is engaging. Sam’s self-deprecating
narration is witty and satisfyingly melancholic, Ellenberg’s
characters genuinely likeable, and there is an undercurrent of
conspiracies and machinations that keeps the narrative moving.”
—Baltimore City Paper
“Ultimately, it seems everyone is touched by this poet, or the
professor, or the language becomes miserable and mad…and in turn,
more honest in describing how woefully funny the world truly is.”
—Minneapolis City Pages
“The funniest campus novel in ages, and a slippery, serious-minded
investigation of what happens when good languages go bad.” —Rain
Taxi Review of Books
“Following in the tradition of Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim and Richard
Russo’s Straight Man, Jordan Ellenberg’s The Grasshopper King tells
the story of Sam Grapearbor, a sullen ambitious grad student, and
Higgs, a professor obsessed with an obscure European poet…Ellenberg
really shines when he scrutinizes, with hilarious insight, and the
relationship between Grapearbor and the relationship between his
girlfriend Julia…It’s here, in the imperfect romantic sphere, that
Ellenberg shows off his terrific, formidable humor.” —Rockland
Journal News
“Like reading Murakami, readers will find themselves in a world
that is so absurd, yet so palpable. Writing with wit and
cleverness, Ellenberg moves deftly among moments of poignancy,
satire, and slapstick comedy to make The Grasshopper King an
entertaining and worthwhile read.” —Manitou Messenger
"The funniest send-up of academia since Jane Smiley’s Moo.”
—ForeWord magazine
“Zany campus satire about a university with a lame basketball
program whose only residual claim to fame is its Gravinics
Department, dedicated to the study of an obscure European country’s
only notable export—the possibly world-saving poet, Henderson.
Speedy, smart, and winsome meditations on immortality and
obscurity.” —The Believer
“The Grasshopper King is clever without pretentiousness, filled
with enduring absurdity, bittersweet feelings and quirky
characters.” —Ripsaw News
“The Grasshopper King is a quirky story which is warmly appealing
in a rich tapestry of unfolding hidden secrets…very highly
recommended reading and a novel which clearly documents Jordan
Ellenberg as an author to keep track of!”
—Library Bookwatch
“The Grasshopper King is an exceptionally silly book. It’s also
quite brilliant. These two things might sound mutually exclusive
but, in mathematics professor and genius Jordan Ellenberg’s hands,
they’re simply delightful.” —January Magazine
“Nicely presented, by turns wistful and amusing, realistic and
absurd, The Grasshopper King is full of small delights. An
enjoyable, never predictable romp which doesn’t quite settle for
merely going for laughs but actually manages considerably more.”
—Complete Review
“From Coffee House Press comes The Grasshopper King, Slate
columnist Jordan Ellenberg’s wryly funny Boyle-cun-Borges satire
about a crabby, untalented, yet mysteriously important Kafka-like
poet and the two academics who wreck their lives by trying to
explain him. We laughed more than a few times, and crown King as
the best thing we’ve read all month.” —The Rake
“Very funny, laugh-out-loud funny at times, and yet still had a
very serious point to make as well as an interesting, complex
storyline. I love fictional poets, and fictional Eastern European
countries, so a fictional Eastern European poet, especially a
hilariously grumpy, hostile, and untalented one, was just my cup of
tea.”
—Caleb Wilson, Davis-Kidd Booksellers
“A brilliant debut: Jordan Ellenberg’s The Grasshopper King is
perhaps the funniest and best-written ‘college’ novel I’ve read
since Pale Fire—with a considerably more appealing cast of
characters than Nabokov’s.” —John Barth
“Jordan Ellenberg’s one of the funniest, flashiest, zaniest,
cleverest and also one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable
new young writers around. His first novel, The Grasshopper King,
sometimes seems to have been written by the Marx Brothers; other
times it’s just strong, sharp satire and a good story. If it brings
half the laughs and enjoyment to the reader as it did to me, it’ll
be pure pleasure.” —Stephen Dixon
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