Through the Arc of the Rain Forest — Karen Tei Yamashita

Yamashita “blends the . . . surrealism of Garcia Marquez, bizarre science fiction . . . à la Stanislaw Lem, and a gift for satirizing . . . that recalls Heller of Catch-22” (Publishers Weekly). This freewheeling black comedy features a bizarre cast of characters, including a Japanese man with a ball floating six inches in front of his head, an American CEO with three arms, and a Brazilian peasant who discovers the art of healing by tickling one's earlobe with a feather. By the end of this hilarious tale, they each have risen to the heights of wealth and fame, before arriving at disasters -- both personal and ecological -- that destroy the rain forest and all birds of Brazil. “Fluid and poetic as well as terrifying.” -- New York Times Book Review “Dazzling . . . A seamless mixture of magic realism, satire and futuristic fiction.” -- San Francisco Chronicle “Impressive . . . A flight of fancy through a dreamlike Brazil.” -- Village Voice “Surreal and misty, sweeping from one high-voltage scene to another.” -- LA Weekly “Amuses and frightens at the same time.” -- Newsday “Incisive and funny, this book yanks our chains and makes us see the absurdity that rules our world.” -- Booklist (starred review) “Expansive and ambitious . . . Incredible and complicated.” -- Library Journal