Aloha

by Mark Christensen

When the wacked-out Crawford boys inherit a massive family fortune in construction and nuclear power, older brother Frank, who is prone to grandiose ideas, dreams up the ultimate scheme - to raise their own private island, just beyond the territorial waters off Hawaii.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671870238
• ISBN13: 9780671870232
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 285 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Uncanny Masterpiece

No, this is not hyperbole. Ignore the near-sighted comments of those who didn't grok this book. It clearly passed over their heads. This brilliant, stunning novel starts in hyper-drive and never lets up. It simultaneously creates and inhabits its own unique, intoxicating realm, and cannot be judged by conventional literary standards. Its uncanny style is a savant-like feat, in my opinion. Not showing off. Not style disrupting story. Not even eccentricity. This is writing from the Zone. I was continually enthralled by the prose, I fell in love with the characters, the story gripped me from start to finish, and the mind-blowing denouemont was one of the most exquisitely beautiful and tragic I have read. This book cannot be overpraised. It deserves a wide audience. And I do believe one will catch up with it eventually.

A masterpiece--hip, ultra-witty, revolutionary prose.

Aloha is an utterly original, searing, brilliant masterpiece that transcends all genres. It stands alone and ranks with the best of William Gibson (which means Neuromancer)and William Burroughs (which means Naked Lunch. No kidding.) Aloha is breathtaking, poignant and outrageously funny by turns, with never a misstep or false note.What left-field galaxy Christensen pulled this one out of I don't know, but I read it in awe. (I can't believe the obnoxious review by Kirkus...what is their standard of excellence, Harold Robbins? Get a clue, Kirkus. Expand your minds a little beyond the conventional pap. This book clearly went over your heads.)Aloha is five stars by any standards. I'm reading it again for the second time and it still takes my breath away. (And no, I do not know the author personally.) Keep it up, Mark Christensen, there are people out there waiting for your next book. And even if the present earth population isn't yet hip to your work, it's surely being read in the next realm.

Cyberpunk for the Surfer Set

Imagine a gazillionaire hemmed in by governments, other multinationals, his family and the physical deterioration of the planet. What to do? Build your own island! An offshore haven that leased back to other tax-escaping entities will add substantially to your immense wealth. Unfortunately this is not that story. This is the story of the meglomaniac's brother, a less than bright surfer whose only ambition is to own the punk bar where he works. Meanwhile, his brother sends him around the world (Mexico, Russia, etc.) to track down the missing piece (hardware? software? nuclear?) that will enable the island (created from molten lava just itching to escape near the Hawaiian islands). Will the surfer get his bar, will the brother get his island, or will the world end in a flash? If you like fast moving, never-a-dull-moment books with tons of near future speculation, this is for you. However the book doesn't quite end as much as simply "drug out". This is style over substance and I loved it.