What do readers say about Bouncing Worlds?
...In their own words:

"I thought of Gulliver's Travels on LSD and Portrait of the Artist in Wonderland. Many of the scenes are vivid and gripping, and your tone is light-hearted and engaging."
-John F. (Fort Bragg, CA)

"I don't like the frame tale as much as the rest, but the adventures are great."
-Daniel K. (Springfield, MO)

"Thanks for the chance to read this book. It's really something new, and I've never read anything like it."
-Audrey B. (Seattle, WA)

"It's like a cosmic picaresque. It's filled with little adventures and philosophies. It's very musical, and it made me think of Sgt. Pepper, or Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I really enjoyed it."
-Ann F. (New York, NY)

"The evolution of a self. I plan to go back and read it again, to get more of it."
-Margaret M. (Nashville, TN)

"I like the existential/philosophical aspect of the writing."
-Daniel S. (Boston, MA)

"A perfect title for an absolutely fantastic tale! You have a wonderful talent for painting word pictures describing the various settings. Though at times I was jarred by the abrupt transitions, it didn't take long to be caught up in the story. I particularly liked the varied characters and the way the hero regards them, and the varied places and times he finds himself in."
-An Anonymous Judge from Writer's Digest Book Awards

"I found this book refreshing and new, as well as entertaining and romantic. It reminded me of Alice's dreamland adventures in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. I also loved the fact that the adventure didn't end when the book did. I would suggest this book to anyone who is fascinated with dreams and their strange, wondrous realm."
-Hajra S. (San Francisco, CA)

"I found myself wishing that the adventures never ended. I mostly enjoyed parts that address and clarify the meaning/nature of life, such as the love between Marilyn and Johnnie...Johnnie's struggle to find truth in death...things like that."
-Jazel L. (Vallejo, CA)

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What do critics say about Bouncing Worlds?

From Fantastica Daily:

"Bouncing Worlds is a novel by David Elroy. And it's a peculiar little animal, this one is. It's told in the first-person past tense, and it tells more than a hundred little surreal tales through which our hero Johnny ventures. He's on a quest for understanding, as are we all, and each little episode hints at a piece of a larger puzzle, a step in the direction of enlightenment.

"Most of the stories play out like dream sequences. And indeed it's difficult to imagine that the author did not come up with these tales by writing down his own dreams. Many of them have that disjointed bizarreness that is so innate to our sleeping visions -- i.e. strange things happen, and we accept them (not scratching our heads and giggling about them until we are awake).

"Periodically, between brief tales, Johnny finds himself in a small Victorian den, where he discusses his trek with a mysterious man named Jazparovsky. In this way, the book takes time to discuss with its reader various elements of psychology, philosophy, humanism, and myriad other affairs of pondering.

"I approached Bouncing Worlds with a little bit of reluctance. Even before I started reading, I found the overall framework to be interesting. At the same time, I knew that I'd be getting a lot of stories that may or may not be meant literally. In my readings, just two books ago, I abandoned a novel that opened with a 15-page dream sequence. I far too often find dream sequences to be... artistic masturbation. The reader is never sure what details (if any!) will ultimately be relevant.

"But with Bouncing Worlds, I found that I didn't mind the presence of so much strangeness and surrealism. And this is largely because it's all injected with both a playful Alice in Wonderland free-for-all mixed with genuinely thoughtful and knowledgeable discussion. It is at times fun and at times insightful. If you don't come away from this novel with at least a tiny bit of new perspective, then you may not have read closely enough.

"However, this reviewer got to the end and felt a little disappointed. The finale isn't as world-shaking as it wants to be. We get it laid on pretty thickly in the final dozen pages, and yet the punchline doesn't particularly feel fresh and new.

"Still, Bouncing Worlds is worth the read. Perhaps it could've been shorter, since I'm sure that some of those episodes are indeed what I've described as artistic masturbation. But it's fun to find out the chapter you just read does indeed deserve psychological interpretation or philosophical application.


From Rambles:

"On the positive side, Bouncing Worlds, David Elroy's first novel, is written in easily digestible episodes, each no more than a few pages long. It can be read leisurely, set aside and picked up when the mood strikes. On the negative side, after I set it aside, I didn't want to pick it back up. I only did because the editor ever so tactfully explained that I needed to finish the book and write a review. I did. It wasn't excruciatingly painful, but it also wasn't a joyous experience.

"Bouncing Worlds thrusts its protagonist Johnny into a variety of different scenarios (the back cover says a hundred) to prepare him to share his life with the beautiful Marilyn. It's an intriguing concept and the diverse realities are imaginative and vivid. The problem is that each of the brief short stories are ultimately unsatisfying. Instead of resolving the conflict of the moment, Johnny again bounces either into another story or into the Victorian parlor where he meets with his mentor Jazpar. Because the 2- to 3-page vignettes are so laden with description, there is also limited character development and, as a reader, I didn't especially care if Johnny really learned anything on this life journey or not.

"This novel aspires to be labeled "intellectual," and perhaps it is, but for a book to be truly moving and inspiring, it needs to involve the reader in those pursuits. Bouncing Worlds doesn't encourage thought because Johnny expounds on his rather predictable epiphanies sometimes to great length. I did find myself pondering if there was perhaps a plot I'd overlooked or when the book would finally end. The point of Bouncing Worlds seems to be a pursuit of surrealism. To achieve that ultimate bliss, he must first learn to appreciate life and his place within it. I wish I had spent more time appreciating my own life and less time reading this book.


From Curled Up With A Good Book:

"Bouncing Worlds is an eccentric tale along the lines of Gulliver's Travels and Alice in Wonderland. The main character, Johnny, is young man with infinite possibilities and one day he finds out a way to explore them all by Bouncing.

"Bouncing is the ability to visit an alternate universe to discover new realms of possibility. This book is filled with a wacky hodgepodge of assorted impossibilities that will amaze you, and enough amateur philosophy to make you think (well, it depends on how smart you are). Basically, there is a lot going on in this book, and that may not appeal to everyone. However, ADD and ADHD sufferers will love it with the constantly shifting worlds and impossible-seeming adventures.

"The writing style can be pretentious and frustrating to plow through. It seems that every adjective in the world is used two or three times to describe every detail; Elroy should learn to use a smaller paintbrush when creating his worlds. However, once you get used to the writing style you’ll be able to sit back and enjoy each insane adventure.

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