A fascinating, although very disturbing, examination of Africa's post-colonialism history.  If you want to understand why The Congo is the most dangerous place on the planet, or why Somalia has no functioning government, or why Botswana is a relatively stable country, read this book.  

I absolutely love this book, a ludicrous tale of a fisherman named Gus and his journey towards understanding life through fishing.  Is it a bit over the top?  Yes.  Is it silly?  Yes.  But it's also a wild ride, with moments touching, absurd, eye-rolling and laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes on the same page.  I read this book almost 15 years ago, but have never forgotten the characters or the story.  The images in my mind of Gus, his oddball parents, his brother Bill Bob, Abe the drowned fisherman, and the love of his life, whom he eventually chases down with a personal ad in the paper, are as fresh today as they were 15 years ago.

This is not an easy book to read, at least it wasn't for me.  A rambling, seemingly inchoate narrative of Greek mythology, immense in scope, this book reveals its genius slowly, page by page.  Having never studied Greek mythology, I eventually bought a "primer" book, Edith Hamilton's "Mythology," to help me fill in the many blanks.  Armed with my trusty reference, I began to see the threads Calasso was pulling together.  Greek mythology is so layered, complex and tangential it seems impossible to conquer.  By the end of the book, though, I hated to exit the world I'd entered so, of course, I read it again. 

See above.