Just a Couple of Days

January 8, 2007
Originally self-published in 2001, Vigorito's bloated first novel goes mainstream in this "newly updated" version. When Dr. Blip Korterly, the eccentric philosopher best friend of narrator and molecular biologist Dr. Flake Fountain, vandalizes a bridge with the words "uh-oh," he starts a chain reaction that ends in cataclysm. Along the way, Flake is enlisted by Tibor Tynee, the megalomaniac president and CEO of Tynee University (and Flake's boss), to create a vaccine for the Pied Piper virus, a U.S. military-designed bug that destroys humans' ability to communicate. General Kiljoy, in charge of the Pied Piper project (and very, very Gen. Ripper from Dr. Strangelove
), works out a deal with the local police and the university to test the virus on prisoners. Blip, arrested after a confrontation with a raving preacher on the university green, ends up becoming one of the test subjects. The virus, of course, escapes the test facility, leading to some very bad things. Vigorito frequently delves into goofy metaphors and hippie screeds, and though his novel offers plenty of absurdity, his inability to go big with humor or vision leaves this feeling like Pynchon ultra-lite.

February 15, 2007
Free-spirited sociology professor Blip Korterly writes "Uh-oh" across a bridge, and our narrator and his colleague, microbiology professor Flake Fountain, traces the disastrous effects of a virus back to that moment. Although friends, Blip and Flake are polar opposites. Blip believes he is being poisoned as part of a plot against him, while Flake spends his days focusing on bits of DNA. When Blip is arrested, he's sure something sinister is going on in the town jail. Not only is that true, but Flake is being lured into taking part in it. Flake's job is to find a cure for the highly contagious Pied Piper virus, which breaks down peoples' ability to communicate. While Blip gets rearrested so that he can investigate the mystery, Flake, because of the highly secret nature of the work, is taken into total isolation. Vigorito's (social theory, emeritus, Ohio Univ. & Antioch Coll.) book was originally published in 2001, but because of its irreverent, whimsical style, it has attracted a cult following. Sprinkled throughout are philosophical rants and rhetorical questions (e.g., if oranges are called oranges, why aren't apples called reds?). The final apocalyptic vision is a twist not seen since Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle". Recommended.Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY

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