“I liked this more than Fortress of Solitude, but only so much. It's shorter and therefore more streamlined (mostly) and Lethem's dialogue is more permeant. (Lethem really is one of the master's of modern day dialogue in my opinion.)
There's a lot of interesting stuff about copyrights, where art comes from, and who owns it. When the book is about this, it's pretty good.
That said, I still felt a bit ambivalent toward it, especially when it strayed from rock 'n roll about a 1/3 into the book. I'm guessing the affair between Lucinda and the complainer is symbolic of the conflict between artist and the industry. The complainer represents the industry and the desire to make it. He's literally obese and aging and somehow also sexy. Still, when the mutual attraction descends into misogany, it became a little to much for me and I felt my sympathy with the protagonist dwindle.
There's definitely some interesting stuff going on here, I just wonder if it could've been even more streamlined than it was.”