GONE WITH THE MIND by Mark Leyner

Finished With It- Sa 4/2/16

I started this about ten days ago, and reluctantly struggled to the end. I had it on reserve for a very long time, and the reviews with ecstatic.....but I was massively unimpressed.

The setup is that the author and his mother are at a book reading in a shopping center.

"... theoretically reading from his autobiography in the empty food court of a mall deserted because of flash-flood warnings. The only audience members are his mother and two restaurant workers who insist they’re not there to listen to Leyner — not that they have much choice".


His mother's name is Muriel, and she's

"Coordinating Director of the NonFiction at the Food Court Reading Services at Wood Creek Plaza Mall".

Two Panda Express workers are on a smoke break and barely pay any attention to what Mark Leyner or his mother have to say. I agree with the Panda Express employees.
The book’s main surreal touch is the Imaginary Intern, a figure the fictional Leyner conjures from the pattern of cracks in a restroom’s floor tiles.

Odd flights of fancy and supposed insight that really didn't interest me.

I don't understand what all of the media raves were about. I didn't like it much at all.

Link at amazon-

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Mind-Mark-Leyner/dp/031632325X

Chicago Tribune Review (and, I don't think they were that wile about it either)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-prj-gone-with-the-mind-mark-leyner-20160309-story.html

NY Times review-

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/books/review/gone-with-the-mind-by-mark-leyner.html?_r=0