Purchase
Scribner
July 2005
On Sale: June 29, 2005
Featuring: Alan Blair
352 pages
ISBN: 0743230043
EAN: 9780743230049
Hardcover
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Fiction Family Life
What kind of book has Jonathan Ames written this time? Well,
think of Cervantes' Don Quixote, except that Wake
Up, Sir! is not as good. But that's all right -- no book
is as good as Don Quixote. You might also think of
A Confederacy of Dunces, but there again Ames's book
falls short. I think, though, we might be pushing this
humility business too far. So how else might we describe this brilliant, comedic, and
literary novel? How about brilliant and comedic and
literary, which we just used. One could also apply such
adjectives as: exuberant, zany, and sexy. God forbid we
should give you four adjectives in a row, but you know how
it is: The Rule of Three Adjectives! In fairness, I should say that the last adjective mentioned
is somewhat misleading. But there is one rather long sex
scene in the book, worthy of placement in Krafft-Ebing's
Psychopathia Sexualis, so it's not entirely misleading. I imagine that it's about time we gave you a plot summary,
without giving too much away, which is never an easy task: Alan Blair is a young, loony writer with numerous problems
of the mental, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and physical
variety. He's very good at problems. He's also quite skilled
at getting into trouble. But luckily for Alan, he has a
personal valet, a wondrously helpful fellow named Jeeves,
who does his best to sort things out for his young master. Our tale begins in Montclair, New Jersey, where Alan gets
into a scrape with his uncle Irwin, a gun-toting member of
the NRA. So Alan and Jeeves flee New Jersey and take refuge
at a Hasidic enclave in Sharon Springs, New York.
Unfortunately, more trouble ensues -- involving awoman! --
so Alan and Jeeves again take flight, this time landing at a
famous artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York. There
Alan encounters a gorgeous femme fatale who is in possession
of the most spectacular nose in the history of noses. Such a
nose can only lead to a wild disaster for someone like Alan,
and Jeeves tries to help him, but... Happy reading!
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