Then We Came to the End... Who is "we"?

I just finished this book, so I'm giving you the freshest and least nuanced of reviews of it.  It is Joshua Ferris' debut novel and a pretty good one at that.  I liked the book.  There were no vampires, werewolves, fairies, unicorns, or mer-men, but it was still riveting literature.  Imagine that.  In the absence of mystical creatures there were at least one whore, one complete idiot, and one maniacal mad man, who went on a shooting spree after being let go.  With a paintball gun.

It focused on the office dealings of a rather large ad agency in downtown Chicago.  So, I would say a major theme of the book is "office intrigue."  Everybody loves a little office gossip as long as it doesn't "hurt" anyone.  (Quotes are there to indicate that hurt is a percieved notion.  Pretty much everyone is hurt by gossip over the course of a high school career or a year in a college dorm, but in the grand scheme of things, these are the small tragedies of life.)  I think the reasons that I liked the book personally is because I did know a lot of the places Ferris described in an off-hand unstudied way about Chicago.  Like the use of Oak Park as an idyllic suburb that people have normal lives in.  Oak Park, in real life, is a rather expensive and left-leaning suburbs, which tries, in many ways, to keep the cutting edge feel of being close to a major city without making people feel like they live, for real, in a major city.  There are good schools, nice restaurants, low crime, etc.

Another reason I liked this novel is because you learned about a lot of characters, but the majority of the narration was given from the first-person plural, the "we".  This was interesting because you wanted to know which one of the characters was actually narrating and hiding their real feelings in the "we", but after a while you get to realizing that the "we" was amorphous and changed depending on the situation.  However, you could rely on the "we" to provide a grand sense of the collective consciousness of the office.  So, I feel like, for a first time author, relying so heavily on the "we" was risky.  Ferris did it well.  If you see him, give him a pat on the back. 

One of the strangest and most engaging parts of the book was an interlude between halves where an omniscient narrator told the truth behind what their boss was going through.  It was a different writing style and a little weird to adjust to (being spoken to by the Borg for most of the book).  But it did answer some pressing questions and gave the reader some information that the "we" didn't know until much later.  Very nice use of a interlude.  I'm pretty impressed by this Ferris guy.  Buy him a shot in addition to that pat on the back.

Here's the real question.  He's using all these fancy plot devises and literary nuances and plays with the language and the reader's mind; he gives us so much on his first attempt, it's polished.  So, what are we going to see from Ferris in the future.  Will he write himself into an office story niche?  Is he going to be the author with the "we" narrating all the time?  I don't see how he could and survive in the currently literary climate.  He will have to raise the bar on himself.  He will have to write a new novel, just as interesting and engaging in different ways to prove to the public and his skeptical fans that he is worthy of their continued attention. 

This book is a national best seller and was a finalist for the National Book Award.  Where do you go from there, Josh Ferris?  How much higher can you go?  Having already given a good swing at the "great american novel", what more do you have to show?  Have you blown your load, or will you be still bringing in the cash in your 60s after over 40 books like Stephen King?  Who knows? 

His second novel came out this year already, and I haven't heard anything about it. It's called The Unnamed, sounds like a sophomore slump if you ask me. Nevertheless, he got things right as a rookie. 

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

Our story begins with the introduction of Zane, a dissolute man who decides to commit suicide. As he raises the gun to his head, even beginning to squeeze the trigger, Death enters. Zane manages to yank his arm away from his head and shoots Death in the face, killing him. Fate promptly arrives to explain to Zane that since he killed Death he must now take over the office of Death.

And the adventure begins! Death, as an office, is a peculiarly complicated job. Death is only called for a personal appearance when the soul of the person to die is in perfect balance between good and evil. Death then analyzes the soul, decides which way it must go and sends it off. If Death cannot get a valid 'reading' he drops the soul off to purgatory (which calls to mind the office setting/personal of the DMV), where exhaustive accounting takes place. Aside from the office of Death, there are five other Incarnations; Fate, Time, War and Nature. After some interaction with these other office holders, Death learns that he has been set into his office on purpose.

He is called to the death of a powerful magician who basically wills his daughter to Death. This woman, Luna, is destined to thwart Satan in twenty years. Satan, however, has no intention of letting Luna live long enough to prevent his 'master' plan. Of course he sets it up so Luna will die early. Ah, only Death can save her now!

This book is quite interesting in that it examines the place of death in life. The dialogue Death has with others, as well as internally, treats death as a puzzle and the attempt to solve it moves the storyline forward quite well. There is definitely a strong Christian bias in the portrayal but it manages to leave most doctrine at the door. While God and the Devil are certainly individual actors (especially the Devil as we meet him) the focus is mainly on the concepts of good and evil and there is a good smattering of relativism tossed in for fun.

I would definitely recommend this book. It is entertaining and thought provoking and provided you aren't too sensitive to the Christian slant, it would be suitable for most any reader.


Grade: A+

Horns by Joe Hill - Horny Madness

Horns by Joe Hill
I did not stumble upon Joe Hill.  Amazon and WeReads recommended the author’s novel, Heart Shaped Box.  After about a year of the suggestion popping up in my profile, I finally downloaded the ebook.  I like the first chapter so much that I ordered the audiobook from my local library.
I enjoyed Heart Shaped Box immensely.  The story began innocently as a ghost story and ended as a complicated love story.  I could write that it was a story of revenge and love or a story about redemption and love.  I will not.  It was a creepy story that, had it ended any other way, would have left me scarred for life. 
So, of course, I sought out his most recent novel, Horns. You can find an excerpt here 

One hundred or so pages in, I was so creeped out that I decided to take a break and Google the author. 
Joe Hill is no ordinary creepy author. Hill’s famous father, Stephen King, has been creeping us out for years.  Since I have read no King books, I really did not know what to expect.  I could not use King’s novel based movies as a standard. Why would I?

Armed with the information, I went back to reading my book.

Okay, it has a creepy factor of 9.7 out of ten.  Totally creepy.

The events of the story take place over a week or so but the author filled about 30 or more tracks with flashbacks.



Back to the summary.  There is the whiny guy named Ig Perrish who has lived a righteous life.  His rich family have respectable positions in the community.  His girlfriend’s murder continues to haunt him as the anniversary of her death approaches. Despite having lived a virtuous and respectable  life in the small town of Gideon, everyone thinks he is a rapist/murderer. 
The grieving man visits the site of her death to be near her.  Not to repent anything just get shitfaced and cry.  A few hours later, Ig wakes up from a drunken stupor with a set of horns erupting through skull.  He follows a logical path.

First, he reviews what he can remember; Got drunk, Pissed on a statue of the Virgin Mary, Did not go home…..
Next, he determines that he is not hallucinating. He heads to the apartment that he shares with the local bad girl, Glenna.  Yes, she and other people see the horns. No hallucination, but his problems have just begun.  People start to tell him their deepest, darkest, and disturbing secrets.  He cannot stop them.  He tries but his horns affect a cleansing therapy that everyone wants to experience when they are near the horns.

"You think you know someone. But mostly you just know what you want to know."
— Joe Hill (Horns)
 
Then we follow Ig as he seeks out people whom he feels have no dark secrets, he knows all their secrets, or whose secrets would be banal. He visits places all over his little town just to learn that he knew absolutely nothing about the true desires of his family and friends.  It was sad, really.  I kept thinking to myself, he should just stop.  Like bad plastic surgery.

All of his actions seem reasonable.  He even began giving the poor souls advice concerning their deep secrets.  Fist pump.....That is a way to make a bad situation better.

After a  day of this, he slips into a depression and seeks a place to be alone with the horrible confessions and memories of people he loved and respected. That place turns out to be near the murder site.  He is not alone.  He is visited by hundreds of snakes.  Then the pontificating about God, evil, forgiveness, death, and love begins.  His thoughts move the story along with the exhausting flashbacks.

The novel kept me interested although to quote the words of another reviewer: “it meandered a bit.”
At one point, I began to suspect that the author and the editor were lovers.  Hill indulged himself with metaphors and extended flashbacks so much that I said at least once to myself, “enough already.”   I fast forwarded whole minutes of audiobook narration. I laughed after the 50th metaphor or so.  I just wanted some plain writing by the end of the book.   Hill and a thesaurus are a dangerous liaison.

The narrator did not have a lot of distinctive voices for the various characters.  I followed the story by figuring out who was talking.  Despite this, Fred Berman, did an excellent job with his characterization of the Glenna.  He took a minor character and fleshed her out for me.  I began to listen for her appearances in the novel.  I do not know if I would have connected so well with the character if I had read the book. 

Finally, this is not a whodunit novel.  It is not a story about a man turning into a demon.  Not a love story with snakes. Not a tale of unholy revenge in a small town.  It is just good story telling with dashes of spirituality, love, and betrayal.  Or maybe it just a monster tale.  You decide.
My score A- with a dash of creepy.

"The best way to get even with anyone is to put them in the rear view mirror on your way to something better."
— Joe Hill (Horns)