Come to Kenyon! Our professors can write! (kenyon.edu)
Today’s New York Times (page C4, for you print edition fans) features a book review of The Master Blaster, the lastest novel by prolific Kenyon author and cigar smoker P.F. Kluge. They loved it! Central to the novel is the island of Saipan in the western Pacific, which Kluge has visited many times. Saipan is a U.S. slave labor camp Commonwealth, which allows for the possibility of all sorts of nefarious things like cheap labor and low trade tariffs.
The novel is about a group who come to the island knowing little about it, or each other. Throughout the book, “the main characters explore the island and one another.” The Times also describes The Master Blaster as a “bewitching love letter to an utterly maddening place” and “tinged with thoughts of mortality.” Kluge’s voice, familiar to anyone who has taken one of his popular seminars (or anyone on the Collegian staff) is “seasoned, amused and vibrant.”
For any Kenyon students interested in learning more about the book, Kluge is having a lecture and discussion about it at the Bookstore this Thursday, from 7:30-9:00 p.m.
The Kenyon Thrill 
seriously… its called the master blaster?
is pf kluge writing soft core porno novels now?
Professor Kluge and Janet Maslin – the NYT book critic – are long-time friends. Seems as if she did him a nice favor here.
Kluge’s book hits the nail on the head. It’s funny and engaging, even if you don’t know the island and its denizens. The sense of mortality, pervasive in the novel — and on the island –, captures something special about Saipan, and not necessarily something good. As the author of SaipanSucks.com, who happens to be a bit younger (and better-looking) than the Master Blaster of the title, I enjoyed reading this book. I shall also enjoy the fame and good fortune that will surely come my way as the result of this exposure.
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