shawntowner's review against another edition
4.0
In a book that features a giant squid, Bigfoot, a pair of genius Asian prostitutes, and an impromptu lesbian-vs.-man boxing match, it's a remarkable achievement on Giralidi's part to craft a narrative voice that is by far the strangest thing in the novel.
librarianna81's review against another edition
3.0
Very amusing at times, but it felt a little too proud of itself. I know part of that was supposed to be the pretentiousness of the narrator, but still. I really disliked him, to the point that I didn't care one whit whether he ever got the girl or not.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
The protagonist, a memoirist named Charlie, has a girlfriend who dumps him to go off in search of the mythical giant squid. He spends the book attempting to win her back by searching for Bigfoot, UFOs, and other oddball things. The writer slips into overwrought flowery language whenever the character is writing a chapter for his memoir (not that this is overtly noted) which was hovered between a clever idea and kind of annoying, for me.
jennyshank's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110923-book-review-busy-monsters-by-william-giraldi.ece
Busy Monsters
William Giraldi
(Norton, $23.95)
In William Giraldi's madcap debut novel, narrator Charles Homar, “memoirist of mediocre fame,” is a man in love. His ardor for his fiancée is so powerful that he will stop at nothing to preserve it — he's ready to murder, serve prison time, and even attempt a Sasquatch capture to win back his lady's love.
Charlie is a columnist for the New Nation Weekly (“circulation a hearty six hundred thousand”), who uses his life as material for his “memoirs.” Charlie describes himself as “belletristic,” and narrates, writes and speaks with oddly elevated diction, rife with literary allusions.
The subject of Homar's love is Gillian Lee, a “fair and at times not-so fair maiden,” whom he meets while rescuing her from the top of a Ferris wheel. He idealizes her as much as Lancelot did his Guinevere or Poe his Annabel Lee. But just like those damsels, Gillian has complications. The first of these is her violent ex-boyfriend, a Virginia state trooper who has tattooed her name across his chest and is determined to wreck Gillian and Charlie's happiness. After Charlie consults with his best friend, Groot — “an old high school chum who just happens to be a Navy SEAL and has murdered many men — in Iraq, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia — some of whom didn't even know they were in the same room with him” —he decides to head south and kill the ex-boyfriend, a mission that, like all his missions, goes awry.
Gillian's second complication is her lifelong obsession with the giant squid. She “collected giant squid curiosa and could hold court with any ocean-loving dweeb in thick glasses.” Her dream is to capture one alive for scientific study. After Gillian reads about Charlie's attempted homicidal mission, she leaves him, just a few months before their wedding date.
Charlie determines that Gillian has set out on an expedition in search of the giant squid with the world's foremost expert on the creature. Crazed with love, Charlie takes some actions that land him in jail, but he can't prevent Gillian from leaving, which launches him on an a wild cross-country quest to win her back, involving episodes with a Bigfoot specialist, some UFO enthusiasts, ghost hunters, an over-sexed body builder, and more.
Why go to all that trouble? Charlie informs us, “A person requires a quest in order to doodle yarns; Odysseus knew that much and more.”
One of the characters Charlie encounters observes: “I have a nagging suspicion that only about forty percent of what you write is true. I also think your people all speak alike.” And he's not wrong— Busy Monsters is Charlie Homar's world — the other characters are just living in it.
Charlie's blunt assessments of the people he encounters will possibly offend, but more likely delight, little people, Filipinos, black people, women, Asians, Jewish people, Catholics, gays, lesbians, bodybuilders, and those who believe in the Loch Ness Monster. (Charlie asserts, “Don't let anyone ever tell you that stereotypes aren't ninety-six percent true.”)
Wacky as it is, Busy Monsters has a lot to say about literature with its off-kilter meditations on literary conventions, including strained father-son relationships, love stories, quest narratives, and the contemporary phenomenon of the made-up memoir. Busy Monsters is hilarious, ridiculous, brimming with energy, and makes a promising debut for Giraldi, a writer with a strange and appealing mind.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for the Reading the West Award.
Busy Monsters
William Giraldi
(Norton, $23.95)
In William Giraldi's madcap debut novel, narrator Charles Homar, “memoirist of mediocre fame,” is a man in love. His ardor for his fiancée is so powerful that he will stop at nothing to preserve it — he's ready to murder, serve prison time, and even attempt a Sasquatch capture to win back his lady's love.
Charlie is a columnist for the New Nation Weekly (“circulation a hearty six hundred thousand”), who uses his life as material for his “memoirs.” Charlie describes himself as “belletristic,” and narrates, writes and speaks with oddly elevated diction, rife with literary allusions.
The subject of Homar's love is Gillian Lee, a “fair and at times not-so fair maiden,” whom he meets while rescuing her from the top of a Ferris wheel. He idealizes her as much as Lancelot did his Guinevere or Poe his Annabel Lee. But just like those damsels, Gillian has complications. The first of these is her violent ex-boyfriend, a Virginia state trooper who has tattooed her name across his chest and is determined to wreck Gillian and Charlie's happiness. After Charlie consults with his best friend, Groot — “an old high school chum who just happens to be a Navy SEAL and has murdered many men — in Iraq, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia — some of whom didn't even know they were in the same room with him” —he decides to head south and kill the ex-boyfriend, a mission that, like all his missions, goes awry.
Gillian's second complication is her lifelong obsession with the giant squid. She “collected giant squid curiosa and could hold court with any ocean-loving dweeb in thick glasses.” Her dream is to capture one alive for scientific study. After Gillian reads about Charlie's attempted homicidal mission, she leaves him, just a few months before their wedding date.
Charlie determines that Gillian has set out on an expedition in search of the giant squid with the world's foremost expert on the creature. Crazed with love, Charlie takes some actions that land him in jail, but he can't prevent Gillian from leaving, which launches him on an a wild cross-country quest to win her back, involving episodes with a Bigfoot specialist, some UFO enthusiasts, ghost hunters, an over-sexed body builder, and more.
Why go to all that trouble? Charlie informs us, “A person requires a quest in order to doodle yarns; Odysseus knew that much and more.”
One of the characters Charlie encounters observes: “I have a nagging suspicion that only about forty percent of what you write is true. I also think your people all speak alike.” And he's not wrong— Busy Monsters is Charlie Homar's world — the other characters are just living in it.
Charlie's blunt assessments of the people he encounters will possibly offend, but more likely delight, little people, Filipinos, black people, women, Asians, Jewish people, Catholics, gays, lesbians, bodybuilders, and those who believe in the Loch Ness Monster. (Charlie asserts, “Don't let anyone ever tell you that stereotypes aren't ninety-six percent true.”)
Wacky as it is, Busy Monsters has a lot to say about literature with its off-kilter meditations on literary conventions, including strained father-son relationships, love stories, quest narratives, and the contemporary phenomenon of the made-up memoir. Busy Monsters is hilarious, ridiculous, brimming with energy, and makes a promising debut for Giraldi, a writer with a strange and appealing mind.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for the Reading the West Award.
kirado's review against another edition
1.0
This book was terrible. I hated this book so much I was hoping for a sad ending, because I thought Charlie Homar was such an asshole that ending the story with him miserable would have made it slightly enjoyable. But of course there's a happy ending and Charlie is still a jerk, and I'm the one miserable for having wasted my time.
christopherdewan's review against another edition
2.0
Never have I worked so hard to learn about a narrator for whom I cared so little.
jasonhensel's review against another edition
3.0
I will admit that a great first line is all that is needed to cause me to continue reading a book. Surely, I’m not the only one that’s been drawn into, for example, Fahrenheit 451 or A Prayer for Owen Meany based solely on their first lines. Busy Monsters by William Giraldi is another book that kicks you in a kidney with its first line: “Stunned by love and some would say stupid from too much sex, I decided I had to drive down South to kill a man.” If you’re not grabbed by the lapels after that first line, then you’re suffering from a deep state of depression that Hallmark wouldn’t even be able to help.
Busy Monsters is the story of Charles Homar and his quest to win back a woman who left him. Homar is writer for a periodical that publishes his over-the-top, true-life stories. Yes, Giraldi makes Homar similar in name to Homer, another writer who wrote over-the-top stories full of monsters. And if you didn’t catch that in-your-face similarity, then let me drive you back to school for your first day of high school freshman English.
Homar’s fiancee leaves because she wants to discover a living giant squid. In his quest to win back his lover, Homar tries to prove himself a man by shooting down a ship, capturing Bigfoot, and confronting UFO enthusiasts. Homar, of course, has his own odyssey on his way to reunite with his Penelope.
Giraldi’s narrative reminds me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins. I’m okay with that; however, it took me a couple of pages to get into the swing of things if I put the book down for a day. The style’s over-the-topness took me aback for a bit, but once I got into the groove, I was happy to ride this rocket to its destination.
Along the way, Giraldi wrote some great lines that encapsulate the book’s theme.
“We human monsters make choices with the minds of worms; good sense lies east, we veer west; trouble sends an invitation, we RSVP the very same day.” Also, “…all I mean to say is that a human being is an oblivious ape in the grip of nonsense…” Those are two that come to mind and really struck me enough to memorize the page numbers they’re on.
If you’re a fan of Vonnegut or Robbins, then I believe you’ll love Busy Monsters. It’s a fun read, and it will cause you to contemplate what kind of monsters, real or imaginary, you’d battle to win what’s important to you.
Busy Monsters is the story of Charles Homar and his quest to win back a woman who left him. Homar is writer for a periodical that publishes his over-the-top, true-life stories. Yes, Giraldi makes Homar similar in name to Homer, another writer who wrote over-the-top stories full of monsters. And if you didn’t catch that in-your-face similarity, then let me drive you back to school for your first day of high school freshman English.
Homar’s fiancee leaves because she wants to discover a living giant squid. In his quest to win back his lover, Homar tries to prove himself a man by shooting down a ship, capturing Bigfoot, and confronting UFO enthusiasts. Homar, of course, has his own odyssey on his way to reunite with his Penelope.
Giraldi’s narrative reminds me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins. I’m okay with that; however, it took me a couple of pages to get into the swing of things if I put the book down for a day. The style’s over-the-topness took me aback for a bit, but once I got into the groove, I was happy to ride this rocket to its destination.
Along the way, Giraldi wrote some great lines that encapsulate the book’s theme.
“We human monsters make choices with the minds of worms; good sense lies east, we veer west; trouble sends an invitation, we RSVP the very same day.” Also, “…all I mean to say is that a human being is an oblivious ape in the grip of nonsense…” Those are two that come to mind and really struck me enough to memorize the page numbers they’re on.
If you’re a fan of Vonnegut or Robbins, then I believe you’ll love Busy Monsters. It’s a fun read, and it will cause you to contemplate what kind of monsters, real or imaginary, you’d battle to win what’s important to you.
angarena's review against another edition
3.0
The main character, Charlie, is a memorist who writes a column for the “New Nation Weekly”. Story is about his madcap adventures, trying to win back his wayward fiancé who has gone in search of a giant squid. Charlie speaks in an archaic manner and has lots of strange friends. When it was funny, it was really funny. But overall the gags wore out and there was at least one adventure too many for my taste. I liked the jail scenes the best. It might make a good movie.
ameliareadit's review against another edition
1.0
If you picked up this book at the library, based on its graphic cover and comparison to Vonnegut, like I have... put it back down. The main character/narrator is a pretentious ass-hat who has seemingly no idea how relationships work. It's the kind of guy you turn down at a bar, who then follows you around the rest of the evening, not close enough for you to say anything, but definitely on purpose to make you uncomfortable. The way he talks about his fiance will make most women's skin crawl. The first time they meet, could not stop rolling my eyes at his tired pick-up-lines and feigned chivalry. I can't believe this was published. Put it down and walk away, confident in knowing you are not missing anything.
tanyadillyn's review against another edition
4.0
I am crazy about this book. The author channels Vonnegut in his narration; equal parts satirical and wise, often utterly quotable. The premise is wildly appealing, as the story is riddled with mythical monsters - Kraken, Sasquatch, aliens - all of which the narrator attempts to conquer in one way or another. My first favorite book of 2012.