This book just wasn't for me. ( )

"Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the Earth." Albert Schweitzer
This book's main character was so much like me, it was amazing. "He didn't seem to see the same world that others did. He saw a place desperately in need of help and which seemed to be getting worse by the minute. And no one appeared the least bit concerned about the state of things...the simple physical state of the planet where they lived." (p.277)
This book was deeply satisfying in parts where capitalists who are especially into destroying the planet for their gain are tortured, dismembered or other satisfying ways of being hurt and/or terminated, and done so in particularly fitting manners.
The only thing holding me back from giving this 5stars was the strange attitude towards vegans/vegetarians. The Fitzhugh seems to think that they are deeply undernourished and weak. Obviously not a vegan/vegetarian himself, he is a strange sort of ecology-friendly writer. ( )

Pest Control was a thoroughly enjoyable book. This was not.

There was a fundamental problem with this book. I found it hard to care about any of the characters. I thought the evil businessman was too over the top, and the environmental activist to be a whiny and self-loathing wimp. For everyone's info, I could not finish the book.

The story itself was also pretty bad. There was no sense of pacing. There would be pages upon pages in which the main character is describing the woes of his childhood, and then suddenly he goes to collect signatures for a petition. It really hurt the continuity, and as a result, the readability of this book.

I cannot recommend this book. If you want to read something by Fitzhugh, go read Pest Control. ( )

Some time ago, I read Pest Control, Bill Fitzhugh's first novel and liked it. I have no idea why it took me so long to get to his second but this one is even better. This guy can flat turn a phrase - about every 10 pages, his wording alone made me laugh out loud. Medical technology meets big business in this book and the results are really really funny. Plus, Fitzhugh already has 2 more out that I haven't read yet! ( )

The Organ Grinders begins as hapless hero Paul Symon, 15, is humiliatingly ushered into adulthood by venture capitalist Jerry Landis. Budding environmentalist Paul has prepared--and been invited to present in person!--a proposal suggesting alternate uses to a pristine wilderness area that Landis intends to develop. After a long, hot bus ride and a two hour wait he is ushered in to his appointment, only to discover that it is but a photo op for the billionaire. As he is leaving Landis's office Paul turns back for a moment, only to see his proposal being unceremoniously dumped in the trash as Landis laughs with the photographer about it.

Fast forward twenty-three years. That experience, we quickly learn, informed the course of Paul's life, and he is now an environmental activist: he pushes petitions, stages pathetic protests, and attends rallies for every cause that comes his way. Paul really wants to change the world. But more than that, he really, really, really wants to bring down Jerry Landis.

And in his quest to do so Paul stumbles upon a truly egregious operation: a giant compound in the backwoods of Mississippi in which baboons are genetically engineered and selectively bred to produce giant specimens with organs big enough to transplant into humans.

It seems Jerry Landis is dying of an extremely rare disease which accelerates the aging process, and his plan is to have a stock of organs available for transplant as his own die. Oh, and to make a serious profit selling organs as well.

The Organ Grinders is a satirical examination of the depths of human depravity, and what people will do to make a buck. The action is antic and the characters wacky. We chase around the world a failed physician operating most successfully as a black market organ procurer. We now and then cross paths with an ecoterrorist who, acting as jury and judge, sentences the guilty to gruesome and oh, so appropriate deaths. And then there's the relentlessly cheerful Arty whose only talent is his ability to heal quickly and who is piece by piece selling off his body parts, and his friend Bonedigger who is only to happy to help him in his endeavor.

In this book, the good guys--with the exception of Paul--are pretty much as bad as the bad guys...but all are hilarious. Bill Fitzhugh has a seriously skewed and grotesque sense of humor, and for this I salute him. ( )