The Multicultiboho Sideshow: A Novel by Alexs D. Pate


The Multicultiboho Sideshow: A Novel
Title : The Multicultiboho Sideshow: A Novel
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0380800411
ISBN-10 : 9780380800414
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 256
Publication : First published October 1, 1999
Awards : Minnesota Book Award Novel (2000)

In this provocative and searing satire, young, unpublished, African American author Ichabod Word captures and holds hostage unsuspecting law officer Bloom. Icky proceeds to regale Bloom with a rambling tale of anger and woe about Dewitt McMichael, a benefactor of artists of color who is now a garbage bag-wrapped corpse in the corner of his living room. Even if it proves to be his last, desperate act on this earth, Icky is determined to vent in full the bizarre circumstances that led to the latter's demise -- a mind-boggling chronicle of power, immorality, money, political stratification, racial discrimination, brilliant creation, and desecration.

Alternately sobering and screamingly funny, Alexs D. Pate's The Multicultiboho Sideshow is a blistering and remarkable work that spares nothing and no one.

The Multicultiboho Sideshow: A Novel Reviews

  • David

    This is a marvelous surprise of a book. The craft is impressive and the story is captivating, but the way it manages to unfold is amazing. It is so different than what I thought I was getting into, so much fresher and more significant, and afterwards I wouldn't have wanted it to go any other way.

  • Molly

    As a Minnesotan, I was amused to try to piece together which satirical pieces belonged to what organizations (Shrubbery Foundation = Bush Foundation, etc.). But alas, I am not a good reader of satire, as I found myself more annoyed than anything else with the pervasive ego and didactic dialogue. The form of the book also felt lumpen: there was the action of the police kidnapping, the backstory that was often disrupted by said action, an incredibly long debate/discussion between the bohos, an improbable conclusion to the grant process (yes, part of the satire, I am sure), a zip-up closed / little wall-hitting, which made it actually feel as if it would have been more effective as a two- or three-act play than it would have been a novel. Beyond this, the language was riddled with cliche, when I feel it hadn't meant to be.

    In contrast, I *did* enjoy West of Rehoboth, which I read shortly after having Alexs Pate as a professor.

  • Greta

    Interesting story told by an African American transplant to Minneapolis, and his artistic cohorts. A mystery wrapped in a hostage situation, death, laughs, tears and redemption. Alexs D. Pate does a good job of poking fun at what's typical about Minnesotans while the seriousness of the central story of raw conflict intensifies.

  • Shreela Sen

    I found this the singularly most distasteful book I came accross. Other reviewers here mention that it is a Satire, something I TOTALLY FAILED to figure out by myself. Maybe this book is not intended for international audience. I was just dumbfounded by a book rationalizing a planned murder.

  • Elisa Gusdal

    Kudos to Alex again!

  • Tori

    The satire is biting and so real. Pate really takes on "diversity" and "multiculturalism" and asks what it really means and why it's important. I read the book in one sitting. That's RARE for me!