Based on my present reading lately of the first three essays in Martone's "The Flatness And Other Landscapes", slipping this "Blue Guide" into my "currently reading" list was a mistake. This book should have been deep-six'd and allowed to never ever see the light of day. Come on here, Martone is no Bob Dylan who can play with his audience anyway he sees fit and still come out on top as big-time Creator. At best a juvenile retreat into indifference and unimportance, "Blue Guide" sucks dirt in every way possible. I found nothing even remotely interesting for me, and most everything I looked at was a complete waste of my time, of which, really, I have none left to spare. It is hard enough for me to even have an open mind when it comes to a thing called a "Hoosier", but I came to the reading of this book as Jesus would, my tolerance at the forefront of my label, and still I could find nothing to make parable or exact my talents on to make this putrid water into a drinkable wine. But in the meantime, after getting this nasty taste out of my mouth, I will happily continue on with Martone and my intensely serious reading of his "The Flatness And Other Landscapes" and be glad, I am certain of it, that I did, and do not hold as a grudge this awful joke of a book against him. ( )

A truly absurd parody of life in America and the travel guide genre. ( )