A review by jennyshank
Busy Monsters by William Giraldi
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.