I keep reading the T.C. Boyle writes biting satire but the two books by him that I've read so far (this and Drop City) certainly don't give that impression. Or maybe I just don't get it. Well, I actually enjoyed Drop City very much bit didn't really find it bitingly satirical. I thought it was an earnest and realistic look at all that hippie goodness. But that's another book, one that isn't part of the Cannonball.I've finished this quite a while ago but only got to writing the review now. Anyway, it's about this young student who got involved with Alfred Kinsey and sex research. AND sex research, if you know what I mean ;) (that's a winkey smile, people!) The books follows John, a sort of bland corn-fed American as he slowly becomes immersed in Kinsey's research and in Kinsey himself. There's a lot of sex between everybody, male and female. The inner circle, was after all, the vanguard of sexual liberation. Sex was merely physical, biological and should be indulged in whenever one felt the urge. But at the same time, the members of the inner circle of researchers had to appear respectable in order to give an appearance of professionalism and to look all scienc-y. The book narrates how this sort of lifestyle affected John's marriage with a girl that he truly truly loved.
I found the book to be a quick read, however, I cannot get over how creepy the Kinsey character was. He was very sexual harassy and controlling of every facet of John's life. Stuff he should have butt out of. That was the actually John's main dilemma, in that Kinsey was his idol, and he would do practically anything that Kinsey asked, sexual or otherwise, while his wife just wanted Kinsey to mind his own goddamn business.
That's bout it.
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