Funny, sweat, a love letter to San Francisco. The best thing written about this city since "Tales of the City." ( )

1.5 *shrug* A low quality coming-of-age first novel about a youngish man wanting to write. Too many premises to make this a single world and too many characters without interiors. I enjoyed the idea of miniature weather but not much else. My beloved San Francisco is here as told by a name-dropping 2nd year transplant. The writing is passable and the imagination is almost there, it's really a shame that this was published and not just unknown student work. ( )

An interesting location. A compelling supporting cast. Classic themes of self-discovery and maturation. A good-sized dose of absurdist humor. Rodes Fishburne's debut novel, Going to See the Elephant, has a lot going for it, but an interesting protagonist and tangible sense of atmosphere aren't among them.

The full review is published here:

http://tinyurl.com/mafyah ( )

Good descriptions of San Fransisco, but at time it didn't really come together. ( )

Fishburne's debut novel. Start with a great location, some nice San Francisco lore and throw in the sort of "and then THIS happened" plot that works well for the likes of Larry McMurtry and T.C. Boyle and I think you have a satisfying read. Not ground breaking or sui generis but a helluva beginning for a first time out of the blocks. ( )