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Product Description
Product Description
Floorboard George Gastin is part of an insurance scam to wreck a pure white, mint condition '59 Cadillac originally intended for The Big Bopper as a token of an admirer's love. But Floorboard George has other ideas and when he disappears with the car, gangsters and cops are soon in hot pursuit. On the road, the crazy characters, hitch-hikers and demented preachers he meets provide the high-octane entertainment as George covers many miles -- and states of mind -- in his quest to find the true spirit of rock 'n' roll.
About the Author
JIM DODGE is a poet and novelist. He lives on an isolated ranch in western Sonoma County and has been by turns an apple picker, a carpet layer, a teacher, a professional gambler, a shepherd for five years and a woodcutter. He is working on a new novel.
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First Sentence
I'm glad you want to hear about my pilgrimage, but I should warn you it's a real ear-bender. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I'm glad you want to hear about my pilgrimage, but I should warn you it's a real ear-bender. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the story of Floorboard George, a roaming pick-up driver with a story to tell.
Written in a fantastically readable style, Dodge certainly knows how to grab the reader's attention and hold on for dear life. Every nuance of George's colourful life is covered in a first person narrative where you can almost BE George - embracing rock 'n' roll and its trappings to help explain just why a dodgy insurance scam metamorphosises into a beautiful road trip.
Meeting some fascinating characters along the way,such as the eccentric inventor, Joshua, and the to-hell-and-back preacherman Double-Gone Johnson (if this book ever hit the big screen, a role more than suited to Samuel L Jackson) George tells of his burning desire to take a pristine '59 Cadillac to the grave of the Big Bopper, as per the dying wish of an obsessed fan.
Guzzling tinnies and bennies along the way, the frazzled mind of George plays ludicrous tricks on him (check out the story of the little orange man and his big jigsaw puzzle piece, and of jiving cacti for starters !) and leaves him in a bigger hole as the frenzied Scumball's mad mob charge after him to catch him with his prize haul.
Whilst not as wired as Hunter S Thompson's road trip to Hell, 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas', this foot-to-the-metal, rollercoaster of a ride is instantly likeable and fantastic entertainment. Has anyone got a raft of money they could lend me so I can make the film please ? De Niro as George, definitely !!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Firstly I love the beat generation and books about counter-culture in general and I was also very impressed with 'Fup', but I just think Jim Dodge tried a bit too hard to create an homage to the likes of Jack Kerouac and didn't quite pull it off. It's an entertaining read in the main and it has its moments but I certainly agree with the author who thought it dragged towards the end and I found myself racing through the final pages in order to combat the terminal dullness into which the novel descends. Check out the real thing rather than this slightly pale imitation.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is just like reading a road movie. The plot described in the synopsis, while accurate, does not do justice to this novel. Read if for the style, the humour, and the lifestyle. The author's voice is incredible: you can just hear it - and the appropriate accent - in your head. At the end I was left thinking "so what?" but this is a minor quibble.
"He dances to his own music."
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A trip through Americana at breakneck speed
Rich with references and written in Dodge's familiar wry style. A great shame that Dodge was not a more prolific author. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Miss Moon
Tripping!
The greatest literary road trip ever? Chill out to the sounds of the big bopper & cruise across the US meeting an assortment of "characters" along the way. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Bama70
All speed limits are exceeded ...
Floorboard George Gastin takes us on one hell of a ride. From the hip late fifties San Francisco jazz scene of the Beats to a rollicking, straight up crazy, yarning homage to the... Read more
Published on 12 April 2010 by bressons_puddle
Not as good as Fup or Stone Junction
I really liked Stone Junction and enjoyed FUP but this was almost as if it was from a different writer. Read more
Published on 27 July 2009 by C. McKernan
Old rock and roll stars never die...
A novel with a dose of psychotropic drugs and a sound track only available on collectors' edition vinyl, Dodge's story takes unlikely hero Floorboard George Gastin on the ultimate... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2006 by Madly Bobbington-Blythe
good but a bit long winded
its a good book and entertaining but it drags on at points and some characters are pathetic and only thrown in because they are "cool" fup is much better, in this book dodge tries... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2006 by Man With No Name
read this book read this book read it
As you may have guessed from the title of this little review I thought this book was quite good. Perhaps a better way to put it is when I read this book I was gripped, addicted... Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2004 by "i_am_lemur"
One to pass on to all your friends
I have now lost count of the number of copies of this I have given to other people. It is one of the most delightful things I have read in the last ten years. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2002 by doublegone
An excellent rewrite of early beatnik road books -dig it!
This book is a personal favourite so beware of my recommendation. I was blinded by the need to see so much of me in the hero "Ghost" that i cannot even begin to descibe... Read more
Published on 11 Nov 1999 by Mr. S. G. Maskell
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