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    Kings of Infinite Space
    Kings of Infinite Space
    Kings of Infinite Space
    Audiobook12 hours

    Kings of Infinite Space

    Written by James Hynes

    Narrated by Adam Grupper

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    James Hynes is the author of three New York Times Notable Books of the Year. That same publication praises Kings of Infinite Space as "unspeakably funny!" This off-beat novel satirizes an experience ubiquitous to modern times- office life. With a defeated sigh, ex-college professor Paul Trilby faces the downward spiral that is his existence. After his wife and three subsequent girlfriends dump him, and he loses just as many jobs, he's sure he's a pawn in some vast conspiracy. Worse still, he may be losing the only thing he has left-his mind.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 11, 2011
    ISBN9781456123826
    Author

    James Hynes

    James Hynes is the author of Sparrow, Next, Kings of Infinite Space, The Lecturer's Tale, Publish and Perish, and The Wild Colonial Boy. He lives in Austin, Texas.

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    Reviews for Kings of Infinite Space

    3/5

    86 ratings7 reviews

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    • 2/5
      After watching Hynes' excellent writing course from the Teaching Company, I decided I should read one of his novels. Perhaps I picked the wrong one. Kings of Infinite Space takes about 80 pages to even get going, and my first laugh was on page 245. It is a bizarre tale of a failed academic working as a temp at a Texas state agency who finds himself inducted into a very strange group of men whose intent he can't quite figure out. Meanwhile, he becomes involved with the office mail girl, Callie, who is by far the book's most interesting character, and in fact the only one we can really care about. Paul (the protagonist) is also being haunted by a dead cat from a previous relationship. The book is just plain bizarre, but lacks the narrative momentum to make it very interesting, although it does pick up a bit toward the end, but not in a great way, just in a busy sort of way. I just found the whole thing to be rather uninvolving. It is set in Austin, although for some reason Hynes gives it an alternate name. Still, if you have lived there, you'll recognize the Central Market as the site of Paul and Callie's first date. And a few other places as well. But I didn't pick up the novel for fond memories of my time in Austin. I thought I would be more entertained--or something. Instead, until the last hundred pages or so, the best I could do was to read one or two short chapters each night before going to bed. I just kept staring at the book, thinking I needed to finish it, to see if it was as disappointing as I thought, but there was just no motivation. And come to think of it, no motivation to ready any of his other work as well. But I do still recommend the Teaching Company course.
    • 3/5
      I have a vague memory of there being creatures under his office building? It was a strange story but it didn't stick in my head.
    • 3/5
      Those familiar with Hynes's academic horror-satires won't be completely disappointed. He's moved on a bit into bureaucratic, neo-Lovecraftian satire a la Charles Stross. But his shtick still seems to have gotten a little old. Another twist is the surprisingly successful attempt to recoup Paul Trilby as a sympathetic character. All more than competently done, but the formulas really seem to have overwhelmed any inspiration that may have been here.
    • 1/5
      I really have no idea what book the other reviewers read. I should have put this book away at the very beginning, but I just kept chugging along hoping that a clever twist or maybe a little character growth on the protagonist. Nope. Ultimately, I was left hollow like the caverns the zombies worked in.Paul Trilby is an academic loser who couldn't complete his book, cheated on his wife and lover, and then kills a cat. I am supposed to sympathize with this guy? He actually gets into another relationship that seems to be based solely on sex, and all he can do is whine about his life and deny everything bad as a dream. On top of this screwed up protagonist, you are faced with a lack of suspense (unless you are as dimwitted as Paul Trilby), and a complete lack of any sense of real or imaginary action that could possibly happen. A barbecue grill going into water is supposed to make some kind of tidal wave and steam up a cavern holding 37 people... please!I wasted 12 hours 10 minutes and 13 seconds of my life listening to this awful Recorded Books venture. Don't make the same mistake!
    • 4/5
      Not as entertaining as his earlier publish or perish spoot about a failed academic stuck in a dead end bureaucratic job in Texas, but engaging enough.
    • 3/5
      Kind of Carl Hiassen (with male protagonist) meets Chuck Palahniuk. Doesn't exactly fit a genre but don't want to spoil it. Fast moving with strong character development. This is one of the few books where an academic and writer can write about a failed academic without being morose and completely depressed (although it's there) about the university scene. About 2/3 of the way through I realized the book was going to end too soon--it could have gone another 200 pages without being dull, but the author or story ties itself off pretty fast, too fast for my taste. Enjoyable, clever, slow in the beginning but accelerates and leaves you wanting more, although some of the subject matter or characters seem a bit more juvenile than might be plausible, even in a Red-State government bureaucracy.
    • 3/5
      pretty damn good except for the predictable and cliched ending. captures office life and the less exotic side of austin well.