The Bumblebee Flies Anyway

A strange and intriguing novel, perhaps more so than I Am the Cheese but I found the distancing effects less satisfying here. Barney is apparently in a terminal clinic but perhaps not dying, undergoing mind-altering experiments, searching for reality and for dreams and distancing himself from the situation by mental and verbal tricks. He and the reader are never sure where they are. Cormier's skill lies in completely involving the reader with characters and situations which are never stable, graspable or definable. You have to read, re-read and explore the book with other readers and that's one of the strongest reasons for recommending it.