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Author Jim Knipfel has completly drawn me into his little world with his past two offerings "Slackjaw" and "Quitting the Nairobi Trio". His most recent offering, "ruining it for everybody" has sarted out a bit trite but is quickly gaining momentum as a shead the expectations and begin reading it in its own light.
In his first book he talks of the damage done to his body after years of abuse and bad genetics, the second looks at the concurring psychological damage and this most recent book attempts to follow suite with spirit.
Though reading the book with just that prejudace will dissapoint even the most far fetched reader. Instead it is good to wipe the mental slate clean and veiw the book as a fe antics about a guy that is amazingly honest in his veiws on life.
So far the I have been down a path of reflection with Knipfel leading the way. We travel back to a time in his life when Nihlism grips his soul. This is a common occurance among philosophy majors and usualy ends in memories that one regrets but feels just in having been agent to and now regreting. I too had my Nietschze phase and it has left scars upon my life that I'm glad to have had the chance of fixing.
The stories themselves are entertaining but like a Simpsons episode also provide for further and deeper sustinance. Basicly this is the story of a RL greifer and a trip down his mental (spiritual?) justification or apathy of these acts.

well thats it for now, may post more as it comes to me....

Interesting premises for a series of books. I will keep my eye open for them at the library (I am somewhat limited by what is available). Interesting about the sequence of the books, it is much like life. Youth and physicality, early adulthood and learning all those things they never taught you in school, and the later years remembering and reflecting.

How do the books and writing style compare to say Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance or Catcher in the Rye?

What sorts of observations have you taken from the stories told by Mr. Knipfel?

I never read Catcher. During the years when I should have either read that or been rebeling in much more main stream way I found myself rebeling by trying to show how off keelter I realy was in my music and literary selections.

However I did read ZatAoMR and I gotta tell you both books where rather profound upon there impact on my psychi. I'm some what of an adaptive personality, movies, books, games, people, I tend to adapt and subtly morph what is around me into a persona. This is how I know I have or am enjoying something, it impacts me. Boring things just dont effect me.

At any rate Knipfel is unique to a degree that one could say he is truly one of a kind. He is dark and morbid and yet hilarious and unnashamidly(is that a word) honest at the same time. I do not remember the opening to slackjaw, but the opening to Nirobi was him waking up straped to a hospital bed screaming in german.........and internaly wondering what had lead to this state.
I'm not a very fast reader, takes me a week or two to get through a decent book that I'm enjoying........I literally read Nirobi in one sitting, I could not put it down, I passed on sleep and took hand held meals until I finished it. (I did this with one of the Dark Elf books by RA Salvator and also Neuromancer by Gibson, its rare I find books like this)

His deep honesty can aid readers in examining their own lives and actions without the coloration of morality and polotics. At least I think.
I usually assume that any educated person can make logical jumps and self observations without any prior training but often I find that I am wrong. Its when I find that Im wrong that I realize my training in philosophy actualy had a pay off.

But you asked if the books where worth reading, if they were thought provoking. For me, yes they were

Neuromancer was a good and challenging read, and certainly very dark. I know and enjoy that "can’t put it down" feeling too. The God Father, Dune, Shogun, The Source, The Green Mile all carried me away like that. A good story always does and I am a dyslexic 100 wpm reader.

I was always able to put down the Rand books, even though I enjoyed them so much. For her work I think the story is really secondary, to the thesis.