Afterlife Diet, The

I once talked with an editor who knew Mr. Pinkwater. I asked him what he was up to. "He's said he's doing a book for adults," replied the fellow, "Which could be really scary, because it could have sex in it. Can you imagine Pinkwater writing about sex?" Hmmmm . . .

_The Afterlife Diet_ is indeed his first novel for grown-ups (although he's written for adults before, in his collections of fine essays and reminscences). It could be called a "fat lib" book. Most of its characters are great big folks. Some are alive, some are dead. We see them dealing with the afterlife (it's segregated; The Other Side for hefty folks appears to be an indifferently run Borscht Belt resort), with dating, and careers. It does have sex, although nothing explicit, although we learn enough to know that it takes place in a tub of hot water infused with hot-dog spices.

There are a lot of cool characters and situations here here, such as a psychiatrist who conducts therapy sessions in a deli, and a crazed fat-doctor. A lot of the pain expressed must come from personal experience. But a good chunk of the book reads as though it were filler. There are bits about a gummy alien, and an outline for a sprawling SF epic set in the vast parking lot of a interstellar retail complex. Much of this is funny, but it doesn't quite fit in.

I ultimately enjoyed this one, and hope The Captain writes another book for grownups.


Not for young kids   May 9, 2001
Marc Rettig (Pittsburgh, PA)
Just to make it clear to kids and parents: this is NOT one of Pinkwater's whimsical books for kids. My eleven-year-old son recently ordered it from Amazon, having lived on a diet of Pinkwater for the last couple of months. Thrilled to receive it after much anticipation, he started to read. A few minutes later he brought it to his Mom, pointing out the words "f*ck" and "bastard" in the first few pages. He was *very* disappointed, not so much because of the words, but because it caught him by surprise; he felt let down. "It's **Pinkwater!** What happened?!"

I'm buying it back from him so he can spend his money elsewhere. (If I like it I'll post another review saying what Dad thinks of the book.)