From Publishers WeeklyAn archeological find sets off an apocalyptic epidemic in this first novel by Johnson (Emporium), an erratic, overstuffed satire that tracks the antics of a South Dakota academic. Anthropology professor Hank Hannah studies the Clovis people, a prehistoric tribe of hunter-gatherers. His theory is that their hunting habits helped kill off 35 species of large mammals. The discovery of a Clovis arrowhead helps substantiate his claim, but disaster strikes when Hannah and two graduate students, publicity hound Brent Eggers and formidable Trudy Labelle, try to dig up the remains of a Clovis male. The police appear and Hannah is arrested for assaulting the officer who defiles the grave site. His stint at a luxury low-security prison, Club Fed, is interrupted by the outbreak of a deadly epidemic, transmitted from pigs to humans and triggered when Eggers and Labelle use the Clovis arrowhead to kill a pig. The prehistoric contagion litters the Midwest with dead bodies, ushering in a bleak new age. Johnson's fertile imagination produces plenty of innovative speculation about the connection between prehistoric and modern customs, and Hannah's bumbling charm can be endearing. But wading through the chaff of the unfocused narrative-including an ineffective romantic subplot in which Hannah woos a Russian botany professor-is an arduous task. Johnson shows some of the outrageous flair here that made the stories in Emporium a critical success, but his elaborate concoction sags under its own weight.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistAs the North American culture ends and the only study is that of humanity, Dr. Hank Hannah, a tenured anthropology professor who's coasting along at the University of Southeastern South Dakota after publishing The Depletionists, about the prehistoric Clovis people, leaves this book as a record for future colleagues. Having contended that the Clovis' sharpened spear points were responsible for eradicating 35 species, Hannah is drawn to the site at which his grad student Eggers finds a Clovis point, and grad student Trudy makes a spear of it. Their testing of the point on a 4-H hog helps land Hannah in a cushy federal prison, leaving the excavation site not properly protected, a situation that soon proves disastrous for all civilization except dogs and a few strangely protected humans. Yet though individuals and species die, the need for human connectedness remains strong. Johnson displays the same inventiveness, black humor, and penetrating insight that marked his short story collection Emporium (2002) in this weird but masterfully written debut novel. Michele LeberCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved A fantastically twisted and terrifying first novel. (Esquire)A grim romp of a first novel... great ingenuity and bravado . . . an artifact of real ambition and originality. (The New York Times Book ) what is a book enthusiast Parasites Like Us: A Novel
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. At times genius, tries too hardBy vodkasauceI read this book after reading Adam Johnson's second novel, the Orphan Master's Son, which won the Pulitzer. I was interested in seeing how he got to that book, which I thought was incredible. To be honest, I was kind of surprised. Parasites Like Us takes place in a much less interesting setting, South Dakota. Narrator Hank Hannah is a self-absorbed professor trying to come to terms with the death of his step-mother and the fact that his career is quickly becoming something of a joke. He has two star pupils to look after, one of whom seems to be trying to get a PhD in extreme camping, and the other whom Hannah wants to sleep with. Things in this South Dakota, however, are not entirely as they seem. The book opens with a tricky narrative conceit: Hannah is writing from the future, describing the immediate history before the fall of America and seemingly the start of a new Ice Age, directed at future anthropologists. This narration at times makes the story more interesting, adding a necessary intrigue because for the first 150 pages the story tends to drag, and perhaps like the characters themselves, isn't quite ready for the action of the second half.The second part of the story is a major, and jarring, gear shift. The first half implies that there is something dangerous and cold about it's present day, but the second half catapults into pure end-times pandemonium. However, despite the sharp left-turn, the melancholy considerations of age and death pay off beautifully in the second half.There is a lot in Parasite's Like Us which show the kind of author Johnson would become, both books have clear first and second parts, an affinity for juxtaposing absurdism with profound emotion, and distinct first-person narrators. However, in this early work it simply doesn't always come together, and is at turns frustrating and bewildering, but where the novel works it is gorgeous, and more than makes it worth the read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great summer read.By CustomerIt's a great summer read.A creative variation of the long-frozen plague reactivated to "plague" us.Believable characters and plot.I'm not at all sure what the checkboxes (plot, mood, pace, characters, and sometimes sex) have to do with anything.I'd love to review the reviewing process....0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I found the characters superficial and hard to believe. ...By Minor CragerI found the characters superficial and hard to believe. The writing was sometimes overdone--for example, characters tromped or stomped, not simply walked. A man was arrested for suspicion of murder, and then committed to a federal prison with no hearing before an impartial magistrate. And the characters were people I did not care about. I stopped reading a bit more than halfway through the book.