America Fantastica

A Novel

By: Tim O'Brien

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

“O’Brien’s first novel in two decades was well worth the wait. . . . In the age of ‘mythomania,’ O’Brien takes aim at the lies that power this country, and how and why they sustain us. America Fantastica peers straight into the dark heart of the American psyche, and it's unafraid of the comedy and tragedy staring back.” — Esquire, Best Books of the Fall

An American Master returns: the author of The Things They Carried delivers his first new novel in two decades, a brilliant and rollicking odyssey, in which a bank robbery sparks “a satirical romp through a country plagued by deceit” (Kirkus, starred review)

At 11:34 a.m. one Saturday in August 2019, Boyd Halverson strode into Community National Bank in Northern California.

“How much is on hand, would you say?” he asked the teller. “I’ll want it all.”

“You’re robbing me?”

He revealed a Temptation .38 Special.

The teller, a diminutive redhead named Angie Bing, collected eighty-one thousand dollars.

Boyd stuffed the cash into a paper grocery bag.

“I’m sorry about this,” he said, “but I’ll have to ask you to take a ride with me.”

So begins the adventure of Boyd Halverson—star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JCPenney manager—and his irrepressible hostage, Angie Bing. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd has one goal before the authorities catch up with him: settle a score with the man who destroyed his life. By Monday the pair reach Mexico; by winter, they are in a lakefront mansion in Minnesota. On their trail are hitmen, jealous lovers, ex-cons, an heiress, a billionaire shipping tycoon, a three-tour veteran of Iraq, and the ghosts of Boyd’s past. Everyone, it seems, except the police.

In the tradition of Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain, America Fantastica delivers a biting, witty, and entertaining story about the causes and costs of outlandish fantasy, while also marking the triumphant return of an essential voice in American letters. And at the heart of the novel, amid a teeming cast of characters, readers will delight in the tug-of-war between two memorable and iconic human beings—the exuberant savior-of-souls Angie Bing and the penitent but compulsive liar Boyd Halverson. Just as Tim O’Brien’s modern classic, The Things They Carried, so brilliantly reflected the unromantic truth of war, America Fantastica puts a mirror to a nation and a time that has become dangerously unmoored from truth and greedy for delusion.

©2023 Tim O'Brien (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Reader is awful

I don’t know what I think of the book, because the narrator made everyone in the story seem idiotic and un interested. It was like Rod Serling or Robert Stack reading the story, and for me, it made it hard to listen to and impossible to connect to.

The sarcasm regarding the new Ethos of Lying. And the not so subtle references to a certain ex-president and other politicians.

Pretty good, some funny moments, but it went on a bit too long. Also they added some characters which was a bit confusing.

An amazing satire of our society

I loved this book. It hit a home run for me on so many levels. I think it's a must read for everyone in today's challenging world.

Humor on the Sinclair Lewis style … and that ain’t a bad thing.

I can’t find anything wrong except that Tim O’Brien will be very busy trying to top this one.

A tale of our times.

Not really but it does a nice job of capturing the zeitgeist. We now must deal with reality.

Welcome Back Mr. O’Brien

I have been waiting for so long for another novel by Tim O’Brien. It was worth the wait. As he did for Vietnam and the 1960’s, he more than accomplishes with the troubled and psychotic political and social backdrop of the road to Covid with no one driving.
Not a single totally honest uncorrupted soul in the book and yet you keep fighting for them, although not necessarily at the same time. He may have replaced Kurt Vonnegut and the author to hold the mirror up to society. And in AMERICA FANTASTICA it’s a normal mirror with an unrecognizable funhouse reflection.
Oliver Wyman is absolutely superb, capturing the nuance of the characters and the humor and pathos that infuses the whole novel.

A comic masterpiece

Infinitely interesting characters engaged in a hilarious comedy shrouding the dark side and making a facts of the times. Trumpers, antivaxers, and flat earthers may not get the joke. RIP Dad❤️

Overall

Too long. The point could’ve been made with 100 less pages. Not in the league with The Things They Carried.

Timely and Full of O’Brien’s usual hilarity in the midst of despair.

Insightful take on our time in the US. O’Brien makes another unforgettable and impactful story that, while fiction, rings truer than many things that have happened in real life. Rapier wit in full form.

Smirking and totally enjoyed this book.

The narrator brought me to this book. Love his work! But now I have a new author to follow too. Funny sarcasm you will enjoy is totally the summary for this book. Love!