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Fool on the Hill
Fool on the Hill
Author: Matt Ruff
It is a literary event when a genuinely new fictional voice comes along. When that voice achieves its newness not through a certain formal facility but through the freshness of its vision, there is truly something to celebrate. Matt Ruff was only twenty-two when Fool on the Hill was first published, but with his novel he gave us a story that won...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780802135353
ISBN-10: 0802135358
Publication Date: 12/8/1997
Pages: 400
Rating:
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 26

4.3 stars, based on 26 ratings
Publisher: Grove Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Fool on the Hill on + 14 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
"This exuberant first novel unfolds at Cornell University, the alma mater of its 22-year-old author, who has re-imagined his school as the center of a violent and funny modern-day fairy tale. Stephen Titus George is a young writer longing for true love and a great story to tell. With the mysterious appearance of Calliope, a sorceress who can transform herself into anyone's vision of female perfection, both of his dreams begin to come true. Ruff shapes an adventure for his protagonist that includes everything from poisoned apples to winged dragons, all set on a campus where there isn't a professor in sight and where the actions of dogs, cats and invisible sprites are as meaningful as those of the students. On its way to a certain happy ending, the story falls short of its own ambitionsit's vastly overpopulated with extraneous characters (human and otherwise), and packed with self-conscious, punning references to everyone from Beckett to A. A. Milne."
reviewed Fool on the Hill on + 407 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This was a sometimes strange, but always magical book about storytelling and how it feels to discover that you're part of someone else's story. My favorite characters included George, Aurora, Luther the dog, Blackjack the cat, and the sprites Puck and Zephyr.
Read All 3 Book Reviews of "Fool on the Hill"


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