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Somethin' for Nothin'
M.T. Bass, author
Anchorage, 1976 — Albert and Waxy flunk their Intro to Philosophy midterm and drunkenly decide to drop out of The Ohio State University and go to Alaska to "strike it rich" working on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. After Albert's father cuts off his credit card, they get bartending & dishwashing jobs at an Anchorage bar, where Albert becomes involved with the bar owner's girlfriend, CiCi, who is also the lead singer in the house band. Albert "acquires" a union card to get a pipeline job for himself, but then learns that Waxy has become part of a crazy scheme with Jimmi the Pilot, Beantown Bob and Moe the Eskimo to find and recover a long lost government payroll from an Air Force cargo plane that crashed in the Alaska Mountain Range decades ago.
Plot/Idea: 5 out of 10
Originality: 5 out of 10
Prose: 6 out of 10
Character/Execution: 6 out of 10
Overall: 5.50 out of 10
Assessment:
Bass offers up an exciting, fast-paced novel set in 1976 in which two students, Albert and Waxy, drop out of college and head to Alaska to work the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Featuring well drawn characters and solid prose, Bass's novel is an entertaining -- if somewhat predictable -- read.
Date Submitted: August 12, 2016
Reviews
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Bass' tale…exudes freshness, courtesy of a memorable snowy backdrop and indelible characters." --Kirkus Reviews