Too Fat to go to the Moon
by Rob McCleary

2030; America is broke. When NASA is forced to raffle off a trip to outer space the ticket is won by a guy who is so fat he can’t make it out of his own house...

In 2030 America is broke. When NASA is forced to raffle off a trip to outer space and the orbiting Houston Astrodome, Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, the ticket is won by a guy from Cleveland who is so fat he can’t make it out of his own house, let alone get crammed in a rocket ship. Instead he auctions the ticket off, and the winning bid belongs to the patriarch of the Van Kruup family, an American dynasty founded on coal, railroads, and masturbation (not necessarily in that order). But when they lose their inter-generation fortune in the Great Funk Crash, Stanely Van Kruup, sole heir to the Van Kruup fortune, is evicted from the ten thousand acre estate in rural Pennsylvania he has left only once since birth and must search for his (presumed dead) older brother in an attempt to restore his inheritance.

Too Fat to go to the Moon is Zero Books' latest foray into avant-garde fiction.

Reviews:
One of the most creative, fun, and disturbing narratives you'll ever read--a challenge to readers as the prose is knowingly avant-garde but yet still accessible for those willing to let it all wash over them. ~ Daniel Casey (Reviewer), NetGalley

Critique: "Too Fat to Go to the Moon: Gay Sasquatch Saved My Life" by Rob McCleary is a deftly crafted and absorbingly entertaining work of avant-garde fiction that will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to community, college, and university library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections. ~ Clint Travis, Mid West Book Review

A hilarious dystopia about America. In 2030 America is no longer a world power, but a land colonized by the Chinese. Americans are no longer free to walk because trees invaded every place and blocked people where they are. America is no more a safe place, but a dangerous place tattered in rags, with abandoned shopping centers and dodging gangs. America is no longer the place of advanced medical science, but the land of polio, cholera, and lingering deaths. The astonishing image of America is that of a place full of piss, garbage and shit. America is described as the world’s largest ecological disaster. Americans are now using rockets to get rid of garbage. America, therefore, is described as a horrible place to live in and unfit for human life. Lotteries started running in America, one of them from NASA. The prize was to put some random winner into space. The winner is a fat guy from Cleveland named Jimmy, but he can’t even make it out of his own home so he sold his tickets off to the highest bidder. To sum up, this book, with a fragmentary tone and full of repetitions, makes you laugh and at the same time reflect about what is really happening in the world. I read in it an ecological message: 'We are not caring too much about nature and preserving it for the future generations'.. ~ Francesco Camodeca , NetGalley

Rob McCleary has written the book that my heart always wanted. It's like if The Royal Tenenbaums had a dadaist baby with Geek Love that was born with a thousand dick jokes ready to go. The novel is hilarious, but sad, outlandish, but honest. A laugh out loud tragedy that replays in your head over and over like that time you saw a duck dry hump a baby in its face. Everything I never knew I wanted from a book ~ Jared Rasic, NetGalley

"This is a story about America, and jerking off, not necessarily in that order."

What a strange, but entertaining book! Reviews have referred to Too Fat to go to the Moon as an avant-guard novel. A few other adjectives came to mind when I read the book: eccentric, British, farcical, a ribald version of Hitchhikers Guide.

America has fallen on hard times. After the invasion of the Trees (commencing the period referred to as "AT"), the country is now broke and many states have been sold off to Chinese. The narrator, Stanley Kruup, is made President of the Remaining States. His father, a "midget (or if you prefer, Little Person)", made the family fortune with public acts of masturbation and by launching our nations garbage and sewage into space. He also sent the Empire State Building into space. The Kruup family owns a 10,000-acre estate in rural Pennsylvania, but the property is now occupied by a very strange Native American tribe who we later find out played a central role in the Kruup history.

This book is definitely not for everyone; some I’d say may even be offended (the narrator definitely has a preoccupation with various forms and manners of masturbation). I can particularly see the PC crowd taking offense, with the book’s frequently unflattering (but humurous) references to midgets, blacks, whites, Native Americans, etc. Performing lewd acts for the Kennedys, etc. Itsy Bitsy Bourbon Pissing FDRs. And the reader MUST be in the mood. I read Too Fat... on vacation – it’s a short read – and I laughed my ass off. My family thought I’d lost it (possible true).

Thanks to NetGalley and Zer0 Books for the opportunity to read Too Fat.... ~ Jay Pruitt, NetGalley

This is a sort of Vonnegut-esque novel, although more...off-color? (I have never read the phrase "jerking off" so many times before and certainly not in the first sentence of a book.) Really the whole thing was kind of ludicrous, but I still mostly liked it. I don't really know how to explain the plot, if there is one. It was absurd and overall enjoyable. 3.5 stars rounded to 4. ~ Annie Bruno , NetGalley

I knew I HAD to read the book after reading the description of the book. Even the name of the book makes sense. What a wild, hilarious read. Do not try to sneak read this during work. You have been warned. Enjoyed. ~ Edna Gadoury, NetGalley

The title of this book - Too Fat to go to the Moon - Gay Sasquatch Saved My Life - may be the best or strangest book title ever. It may also be one of the strangest books I have ever read. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I was laughing out loud and shaking my head with mirth and wonderment. I kept thinking "DID I REALLY JUST READ THAT?" and yes, the author did.

Extremely avant-garde and deeply dark, this book is a joy to read and ponder. DO NOT read on public transit, though, as people will think you're a nutter.

Why give stars when you can give ~ Janet Pole Cousineau , NetGalley

Praise for 'Nixon In Space': ' The story is exuberant and rageful, political and eccentric, relevant and timeless.' ~ Jonathan Lethem, author of Fortress of Solitude, Brooklyn Journal