The World Of Normal Boys: A Novel

Customer Reviews:

Well Done!.......2007-10-02

This book was very touching and like many of the reviews almost impossible to put down. I found myself one evening at 2 am finishing it up.

perhaps right for some but not for me.......2007-08-29

If you want to know where all though guys in cookie-cutter gay ghettos in places like Chelsea or the Castro come from, read this book. Otherwise save your time. The book is reasonably well written and a good take on some of the inanities of growing up in contemporary suburbia in America, though this is far from original. I suppose one has to have a certain empathy or at least sympathy for its main character and his dilemmas of growing up gay in said suburbia, and his alienation from the general philistinism of that world, to engage with this novel. My reaction, however, was that he was rather self-absorbed and needed to get over himself. What was a bit more interesting is how this character suggests the sources of the above-mentioned refugees and their particular sensibilities (such as they are!) that crowd into blue-state cities on the coasts these days. But if you find them as generally uninteresting and cliched as some of us do you might not want to bother with "The World of Normal Boys".

An excellent reading experience.......2006-09-25

Well written, thought provoking and entertaining. This book is all of these and more. The characters are elegantly drawn against the gritty realities of 1978 suburbia. To be a gay teenager in such an atmosphere makes you "different," and Soehnlein creates a sympathetic portrait of a teenager coming to realize the extent of his own worth. I look forward to Soehnlein's next book.

Not what I expected.......2006-07-07

I guess I am rather new to gay fiction and picked this one up before moving overseas for an assignment. I half expected it to be very stereotypical, campy and cheezy...in the end I ended up passing it along to someone else to read as I found it to really reach out and touch me on some deeper plane. I dont know why - just did. In any case really enjoyed the story and style in which it was written. Another book i had picked up in the same genre doesnt even compare to this one.

Not a single false note in coming-of-age novel.......2006-06-22

K.M. Soehnlein did not strike a single false note for me in his coming-of-age novel. The non-linear nature of many conversations (which still communicate much to both the listeners AND the speakers), the guilt and excitement that a person feels when he continues to experience life during tragic circumstances, the way a series of bold decisions suddenly add up to a life spinning wildly out of control: all of these ring true to me.

The protagonist Robin McKenzie is destined for greater things than his suburban New Jersey town can give him -- he's smart, creative, and hungry -- but we're lucky to have a peak into the half-year when his life and identity are transformed (unfortunately, by an accident when childhood teasing gets out-of-hand).

The book is written for adults, although older teenagers might be ready for it. I imagine that some high school gays will dog-ear certain hot sections for re-reading. I would have done so had I stumbled on such a book when I was in high school. Wait, I did ...

**SPOILER**

And for once in recent fiction, a gay relationship in high school is shown to be the intoxicating, confusing, educational and FINITE experience that it often is.

I look forward to reading more from K.M. Soehnlein.

Average customer rating:

Way above normal!!
Kept me up way past my bedtime
Wise and warm, funny and true
A tasty read
My new best friends

A Piece of Normal: A Novel
Sandi Kahn Shelton
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400097320
Release Date: 2007-03-27

Book Description

Dear Lily . . .

At age thirty-four, Lily Brown has her life just the way she likes it. And what’s not to like? She’s got a great job as an advice columnist for the local newspaper, an adorable four-year-old son, and an ex-husband, Teddy, who still thinks she’s wonderful. She even lives in the same beach house where she grew up, with a great view of Long Island Sound and plenty of beach roses to smell.

So what if she won’t let herself date anyone until she finds a new girlfriend for Teddy, who happens to still be hung up on her? So what if she hasn’t changed a thing in her parents’ house, even twelve years after their tragic deaths? So what if it’s been ten years since she’s heard from her younger sister, Dana, who stormed out of the house in a rage when she was a teenager? Lily is fine.

But it’s funny how life has a way of upsetting even the most perfectly laid-out plans, and when one night Lily finds herself painting ghastly orange highlights into her lovely auburn hair, even she suspects that she’s been in something of a rut. And then, when her long-lost little sister shows up, bringing with her the fun and drama and hell-raising spontaneity Lily has missed, her life suddenly takes a turn for the unexpected.

To Lily’s chagrin, Dana’s energy seems to enthrall everyone, especially Teddy. As the tension between the sisters escalates, Dana reveals decades-old family secrets that she’s been burdened with all these years, and Dear Lily must heed her own advice about accepting life’s messiness and chaos.

With her trademark blend of sparkling wit and characters you can’t forget, Sandi Kahn Shelton tells a compelling and universal story of two sisters who learn what they need to let go of, and what they have to hold on to as tightly as they can.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Way above normal!!.......2007-06-07

Not the average summer read, this is way above normal. Sandi Shelton's descriptions of people, places and relationships are all delightfully real, the plotline has many surprising twists.

Kept me up way past my bedtime.......2007-04-20

I love Sandi Shelton's insight and humor, which put me in mind of a less-flippant Nora Ephron. And I love how she fleshes out characters that other writers would leave as cartoons, until they start to seem as real as my neighbors and twice as interesting. Now, having devoured A PIECE OF NORMAL and her first novel, WHAT COMES AFTER CRAZY, I'm waiting impatiently for book #3. (My husband probably hopes it's a long wait, since Shelton's books keep me up so late with the reading light on.)

Wise and warm, funny and true.......2006-08-31

I loved Shelton's first book, What Comes After Crazy, but this one is even better, a great book about getting unstuck when life threatens to freeze-frame you. The characters are fully realized, and it was a joy to have them in my life while I read this book. I found myself slowing down toward the end because I didn't want the book to be over. The only thing I wish were different is the cover--the publishers have made it look rather too chick-litty, when it's so much more than that.

A tasty read.......2006-06-21

This book made me late for everything...I couldn't put it down to attend to my regular life! The author is a deft storyteller with a rich emotional clarity: She absolutely pinpoints every nuance of feeling in scene after scene. Plus she's extremely funny. Her lead character, Lily, is strong and smart (and clueless), and for some reason I love how she describes herself at one point: "slightly off-kilter, motor running full blast, but basically okay." I had a lot of fun with this book; I'd go anywhere the author takes me.

My new best friends.......2006-06-14

This is the kind of book that sucks you in so completely, that you are so sad when it ends, because you are not going to be able to visit with your "friends" anymore.

Average customer rating:

Pass...
Rebuttal to Colorado Springs
Like a Russian Novel.....
Plain, Normal, and Funny
I Have No Idea!

Plain and Normal: A Novel
James Wilcox
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0316941352

Amazon.com

The paunchy, earnest 43-year-old Severinus Lloyd Norris strives for a life of stasis amidst an emergent midlife crisis brought on less by age than by the people in his life. Pearl May, his beautiful wife of over 20 years, has just divorced him and has been encouraging Lloyd to come out of the closet and, eventually, out of their shared home in Yonkers. His attempts at being a volunteer companion to the elderly for Manhattan Cares are foiled when his clients reject him for being too boring. His boss, Ms. Vigoris, can't get him to gracefully accept a promotion at the label and logo company, one that should have come years before. Even the man Lloyd desires can't make a successful pass at him.

Lloyd fights with all his heart to live a plain and normal life, yet with his supporting cast of characters, he doesn't stand a chance. There's an ex-lesbian Christian widowed meter reader turned synchronized swimming coach; an overbearing, incompetent secretary with distant ties to Dutch royalty--whose eccentric fiancé happens to be in love with Lloyd; a power-hungry former boss who guilts his way into Lloyd's personal life in an effort to sleep with Pearl May; not to mention the Jesuit priest eager to fix Lloyd up with his cousin. Although Plain and Normal, Wilcox's seventh novel, may not dissuade longtime fans from their preference for earlier works like Modern Baptists, this satiric romp on the pains of growing older may attract new readers to one of the late 20th century's smartest comic novelists. --Kera Bolonik

Book Description

In his first novel in five years, James Wilcox returns to the wonderfully manic and humane comedy that first brought him attention. This hilarious and touching new novel turns a familiar themethe search for Mr. Rightnot just on its head but into a paroxysm of cartwheels. The result is a dizzyingly funny book about the awesome power of our need for connection.

Customer Reviews:

Pass..........2003-02-07

I was dissappointed with this book. I found the lead character more annoying than engaging. Aside from a few light-hearted moments of comedy, the story didn't really seem to be going anywhere and after enduring page after page of wishy-washy characters and episodes, all I was left with was an overwhelming sense of "so what?". I would advise anyone looking for a good laugh to give this book a miss. Based on the reviews I read for Wilcox's other novels, I was expecting a lot more than what I ended up reading.

Rebuttal to Colorado Springs.......2000-06-02

Question: what's Frank McCourt, Russian novels, or Jerry Seinfeld got to do with Wilcox?

Answer: nothing.

Like a Russian Novel............2000-05-29

In defense of Mr. Maloney, add me to the "What the hellwas that?" club.

To quote Frank McCourt, "........those russian novels, where after 400 pages, the peasant commits suicide, and you wish he'd done it on page 4?"

There is not one character that I felt any liking for. Our hero is a wuss, his life is pathetic, and everyone around him is despicable. However, at the end of the book, he is still a wuss, his life still pathetic, those around him are still wretched, and two completely unimportant characters shack up and throw a housewarming party.

In fact, the suicide-on-page-400 would have been the highlight of this book. I did not get that pleasure.

This is Seinfeld in print. Which I find equally un-funny and pointless.

My apologies, Mr. Wilcox. But I have a feeling that this book was for your own amusement, and not that of your readers. My friend had a joke like that, where after 45 minutes of build-up one came to realize that there is no punch line. It just goes on and on....

Plain, Normal, and Funny.......2000-03-22

Wilcox's style is clear, his tone understated, and his sense of fun outrageous. This book perhaps fails to equal Modern Baptists, Miss Undine's Living Room, or Polite Sex. However, even average Wilcox is satisfying.

Who can take seriously the previous reader's one-star review (Maloney)? He says he has a doctorate, yet he misspells "publish" and misuses an apostrophe and a semi-colon, all in the span of a few lines. His doctorate evidently wasn't in the field of English.

But enough cat-fighting.

If you haven't read any James Wilcox, you're in for a treat. Read all the Wilcox novels you can lay your hands on...and you don't even need a doctoral degree.

I Have No Idea!.......1999-11-10

After sticking with this book for it's entirety, I have to review it by saying I have no idea what the point is and why anyone would bother to publsh it. I hold a doctoral degree; maybe an inferior one, but this book totally baffles me. What is the point?

Average customer rating:

The First in a Line of Great Things to Come from Otis Frampton

Oddly Normal, Volume 1
Otis Frampton
Manufacturer: Viper Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Fantasy | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 097778830X

Customer Reviews:

The First in a Line of Great Things to Come from Otis Frampton.......2007-07-11

Otis Frampton, already known for his sketch card work in products such as Topps' Lord of the Rings Masterpieces and Star Wars 30th Anniversary, shows off not only his art but also his love for storytelling in "Oddly Normal Volume 1."

Oddly is a little girl who is half-human, half-witch, and fully rejected at school because of her heritage. Frustrated with her life, Oddly makes a birthday wish that results in her having to live in a magical land called Fignation with her aunt. The majority of the book focuses on Oddly's new life in Fignation and her challenges dealing with a new school, new friends, and new bullies.

"Oddly Normal Volume 1" is a fun read for children and adults of all ages. Frampton displays not only his signature animated style of art, but also his fantastic storytelling skills, which craft a fantastic tale of youthful discovery, and which captivate the reader until the end.

My only regret about the book is that it ends far too soon, with the reader craving more Oddly. Fortunately, Oddly Normal: Family Reunion, Volume 2 has just been released, and books 3 and 4 are planned for the future.

Otis Frampton has just begun to make a name for himself with "Oddly"; at least two additional series are in the works. While fans of Frampton's work will be disappointed by his retirement from the sketch card world, "Oddly" and future books will create many new fans as more and more people are exposed to Otis' graphic novels and his immense talents.

Please do yourself a favor and delve into the world of Oddly. You won't be disappointed.

Average customer rating:

Shocking, interesting, but kind of shallow
poorly written
Irritating. Sometimes Hard to Stop Reading. Masochism?
Hm.
An Okay Novel

Normal Girl: A Novel
Molly Jong-Fast
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0375757597
Release Date: 2001-06-26

Amazon.com

A spare, druggy novel of manners written by a precocious, reportedly druggy undergraduate: ring any bells? With her first novel, Normal Girl, Molly Jong-Fast may not owe a debt to society, but she certainly owes one to Bret Easton Ellis. Her heroine is Miranda Woke, child of a socialite mother who's "thin, in that willowy, dehydrated way that all socialites are thin" and an absentee father--"a short, fat, balding Jewish man who's rich, rich, rich, and famous, famous, famous." If her parental descriptors seem a little surface-y, well, that's Miranda, a girl whose A-list life consists of working in a gallery, going to parties, and consuming all the coke and heroin she can get her mitts on.

The book's rather sketchy plot opens with Miranda attending the funeral of her addict boyfriend. In chatty prose that clips right along, we follow her through a series of parties, dinners, and lots and lots of trips to the bathroom. As often as not, she ends the evening flat on her back: "Dosage has never been my forte." The gallery sinecure sees very little page time; it's mostly an excuse for Miranda to attend art-world parties and be snide. (The weakest parts of the novel come when Jong-Fast tries her hand at roman à clef: referring to Julian Schnabel as "Schnozzle" just doesn't give the required frisson.)

But life isn't all dry cleaning and speedballs; things are starting to fall apart for this party girl. "The loneliness," she says, "may kill me before the drugs ever have their chance." Miranda winds up in Hazelden, where she rehabs wittily and successfully. Jong-Fast, with the earnest vigor of the 20-year-old she was when she wrote Normal Girl, seems to buy the recovery line utterly. Maybe that's because she, the druggy daughter of a famous parent, has said in interviews that she's been down just the same road as Miranda. She's told her story with a modicum of grace; perhaps her future novels will actually be good. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

"Randa, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing. I mean, I'm a crazy cocaine addict with a hankering for heroin, but other than that, I'm just a nice Jewish girl from the Upper East Side with Prada shoes. How could anything be wrong?"

Molly Jong-Fast's Normal Girl is striking-and as funny as it as real. Inspired by her own experiences growing up in the decadent, fast-paced netherworld of New York City's jet set, Jong-Fast's debut novel is a hilarious, hard-edged walk past the velvet rope.

At just nineteen, Miranda Woke seems to have it all. Her parents are famous socialites, she's already been written up on Page Six sixteen times, she's on all the right invitation lists, and drugs and alcohol are never in short supply. But while her image screams "It girl," she'd rather be a normal girl, and the A-list feels even more uncomfortable than her Manolo Blahnik shoes. In fact, she's become the "living embodiment of an awkward phase" with "more issues than Harper's Bazaar." Neither Xanax nor Deepak Chopra tapes help. And now that her junkie party has trashed her parents' house, she has to liquidate her trust fund to pay Mom's decorator for a quick fix. But worst of all, Miranda thinks she just murdered her own boyfriend.

In an all-too-glamorous world where the cell phone is always ringing, Miranda sees no escape other than a downward spiral of cocaine, Valium, and heroin. It takes friends who offer more than air kisses to force Miranda to look in the mirror and get some help.

Download Description

A searing debut novel of one girl's downward spiral in her empty New York City life of privilege and addiction until she discovers what makes life worth living. Jong-Fast's sharp writing delivers a hilarious knockout punch to the world of New York's spoiled social elite.

Customer Reviews:

Shocking, interesting, but kind of shallow.......2006-01-24

Miranda Woke is a jaded angry self-destructive Park Avenue princess who has no meaning in her life. So she snorts coke from dawn to dusk and runs around being frustrated, bitchy, and hopeless. I read this book when I was first in my 20s and loved it. There was something glamorous about it and shockingly enthralling. Now I'm in my 30s and I like my drugged out wasted life books a little deeper and richer. Erica Jong should be comforted. Her daughter has probably never done Class A drugs, at least with any frequent use, though it's likely she may have been friends with a few. That said, there are some truly fabulous scenes in this book. There's one in the opening chapter where one of Miranda's acquaintances shoots up in the bathroom of a synagogue. Enough said. And there is another thing this book does really well though. Jong-Fast is a master of capturing shallow meanness. I shudder to think of some of the people she must have met or must know in her life if her characters are based on any of them. All in all, Normal Girl is entertaining but I like Story of My Life by Jay McInerney better as a book with a similar theme.

poorly written.......2005-06-27

i was looking for something to read and my sister had this book, i finished it yesterday. It was pretty poorly written...the characters were very underdeveloped and it was very repetitive and at times boring. It seems like she goes into detail in all the areas you dont care about and lacks information and detail in all of the parts that you want to know more about...i would have rather spent my time reading something else...oh well...

Irritating. Sometimes Hard to Stop Reading. Masochism?.......2005-06-22

I'd like to give Normal Girl two and a half stars, but it falls closer to two than three. While Erica Jong's daughter Molly Jong-Fast tells a tale that reads along okay, her main character, who we can be safe to assume is herself, is for the most part unlikeable. She's whiny, judgemental, and selfish. It may be the point that she wants to paint her former and more F'd up self as someone no one could like, but it doesn't make her easier to bear. Elizabeth Wurtzle does the annoying voice much better by somehow making readers care while still wanting to smack her. Some of the drug scenes feel a bit disingenuous. I've been there done that, and it feels overly dramatic. At times even just plain false. She ends the book with the most cliche'd of druggy novel endings, and there is little in the way of true visceral transformation or redemption. I won't spoil the last sentence for you, but it's about as bad as it gets. To her credit, there are still some compelling scenes, and I did read it through--sometimes unable to stop. The writing is capable, but at moments shoddy. I imagine mommy scored a really good editor for this one. Find your synopsis elsewhere.

Hm........2005-05-24

I just finished reading "Normal Girl", mostly because I am experiencing Bret Easton Ellis withdrawl and I heard that Ellis' writing was an inspiration for Jong-Fast.

Sadly, although the works are similar in the way that a focus point is a kind of bleak postmodernism, Molly Jong Fast falls way short. Her characters are shallow, spoiled and unlikeable, not unlike Ellis. Ellis however manages to be witty and somewhat detached, with a truly unique writing style. Normal Girl's Miranda is purely slappable, and I felt embarrassed for most of this read. Miranda has too much money and time on her hands, drinks too many yuppie cocktails, does too many drugs has to go to rehab, kicks up a big fuss, does rehab, leaves rehab. There is virtually no event buildup or plot development. There is some concern that Miranda has killed her boyfriend somehow, but this is on the sidelines and leaves the reader confused as to why the author bothered to include this loose end at all. The rehab sequence recalls Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, although with inferior writing skills and of course an extremely annoying protagonist. Another thing that bothered me; Normal Girl wasn't even that well written or even very creative. I returned this book back to the shop after I finished it and bought a better book.

An Okay Novel .......2005-01-03

This novel is about a girl named Miranda who a wealthy, well known socialite and drug addict. Throughout the whole novel she is using drugs, partying, and passing out. Though the language and actions are quite vulgar, I feel that the character of Miranda is somewhat relatable because of her sarcastic humor and her want to be out of her parents' shadow. I recommend if you like books about people going through drug addictions, and still having time to party.

Average customer rating:

A Lucky Find
All Dressed Up, But No Place to Go
Maybe not such a relevant novel, but very human just the same...
"The hours of life were emerging from within him"
An intelligent, funny and poignant novel

The Normals: A Novel
David Gilbert
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1582346097
Release Date: 2005-09-15

Book Description

In this critically acclaimed comic masterpiece, David Gilbert tells the story of Billy Schine, a young man who innocently enrolls in a 14-day human drug testing study and finds his normal world turned upside-down. Like a One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for the postmodern age, The Normals is a tour de force from a writer of astonishing intelligence and imagination.

Customer Reviews:

A Lucky Find.......2006-11-28

I picked up this book in my local book store because the cover caught my eye. What a lucky find. I loved this book. The main character Billy Shine is a cross between Holden Caufield and Mc Murphy. The book is both funny and sad in it's exploration of the conflicting emotions that tug on young Billy. A great read, highly reccommend it.

All Dressed Up, But No Place to Go.......2005-12-06

I discovered David Gilbert's THE NORMALS by chance and picked it up with delicious anticipation based on its story premise. Billy Schine is a drifting and disaffected young man, as distant from his Asian girlfriend as he is from his parents, college educated but working as a temp, buried under $60,000 worth of student loans - a "normal"GenXer. In a misguided effort to evade a knee-breaking collection agency, he enrolls as a human guinea pig in a paid pharmaceutical research project for Hargrove Anderson Medical (HAM). Along with a dozen other people, Billy commits to a paid, two-week study in which the physical and psychological effects of an unspecified drug will be carefully monitored to establish its baseline impact on the unsick, the "normals."

Given this premise, an infinite range of possibilities blossoms before one's eyes. Could THE NORMALS be another ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, with every subject saner than Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson's character in the movie)? Could it be an exploration of the irrelevance of the concept of normalcy in modern society? An attempt to redefine it? Or maybe it could be an examination of the role of pharmaceuticals in a grossly over-medicated society? Or a treatise of the ethical quandaries of drug testing, or their misuse and manipulation?

So many choices, none taken. Mr. Gilbert, inarguably a gifted crafter of cutting sarcasm and a wonderfully clever wordsmith, opted instead to surround his Everyman with a carnival sideshow of dysfunctional characters and a bizarre plot twist that moves his story from comic cynicism to outlandish science fiction. Billy Schine's "normal" colleagues turn out to be freakish stereotypes: a lone female striking a nymphomaniac's pose, an religious zealot named Jay ("Do") Rami who suffers from violent impulses and refuses to bathe, a pair of thuggish droolers named Ossap and Dullick who ultimately reveal a bizarre political agenda, a self-styled acting genius named Lannigan who shaves his entire body, and a misfit named Frank Gershin whose hobby involves paying exorbitant sums to have gunshot wounds inflicted upon himself (body piercing and cutting apparently having given way to stronger stimuli). Billy befriends a black version of Nurse Rached who, like all similarly stereotyped black women, really has a heart of gold (her name is Joy, naturally) beneath that gruff exterior. He also discovers that the doctor in charge of monitoring and administrating these studies, Honeysack, is also an absurdly unlikely researcher into cryogenics who is looking for a volunteer. Combine all this with the simultaneous saga of Billy's father's imminent plan for a double suicide of himself and his Alzeihmer's-afflicted wife, and the entire brew makes the cast of characters from Gilligan's Island the The Addam's Family look like "the normals."

The dissolution of Gilbert's premise and plot line is particularly disappointing when set beside his estimable writing talent. His prose is sparklingly pyrotechnic, filled with wonderful observations and memorable turns of phrase that make you want to dog ear every page and highlight for future recall. Gilbert's writing alone makes this book a worthwhile read, and it promises the hope for deeper and more meaningful things to come.

Good satire can be entertaining and funny when it has a point. The problem with THE NORMALS is that it's only point seems to be that there is no point, that life is simply too absurd to take anything seriously. This is fine as the world view for an eighteen-year-old adolescent, but it's simply not the stuff of good literature. The book's paperback cover cites an irresponsibly lavish quote from Publisher's Weekly, "Gilbert writes in the vein of Vonnegut, Heller, and Kesey, updated for the 21st Century." If THE NORMALS is 21st Century Vonnegut, woe betide us for the next ten decades. Readers in 2099 will still be celebrating Mr. Vonnegut's genius, but by then, THE NORMALS will have faded to dusty yellowed parchment -- or its digital equivalent.

Maybe not such a relevant novel, but very human just the same..........2005-07-13

What caught me about the novel was its ability to keep me on edge. Not from a plot generated position or in terms of character, but the author kept me on edge as to whether or not he was going to fail. At first, in introducing the story, my fear was that the author did not know what tone he wanted to take. Humorous? Humanist/absurdist? And this seemingly indecisive approach had me cringing for the moment these separate sympathies would collapse into all out nonsense. However and surprisingly, that moment never came. As the novel progressed, I was pleased to see that the author never flagged from his initial tonal indecisiveness; ambiguity in style reflected the oddness of the characters and their story's particular brand of humanism. More, by shifting between humour and whatever it is similar to cynical seriousness, the reader finds that paying attention to the narrative has turned into a game of sorts. Is this a funny part? Or should I feel guilty for smiling? How inappropriate is it, really, to laugh at the mentally deranged, the promiscuous, the assisted suicide? The novel was not without problems, of course. Aside from the protagonist, personal, stylistic details are sperad too thinly over the remaining characters. We know as much about the bus driver as we do the nurse as we do the guard as we do the roomate as we... You get the point. I think the novel would have been best served by developing a strong counterpoint to the main character. While a person may argue that everything in the novel is a counter to the confused Billy Schine, in not taking form as a character, per se, the counterpoint lacks punch to the point of being missed entirely. This narrative unevenness does detract from the overall strength of the novel. All the single aspects of the novel, however, combine to form a rather dense and enjoyable read.

"The hours of life were emerging from within him".......2005-02-02

The Normals didn't grab me at all, and while I can admire author David Gilbert's literary dexterity, I just felt that in this novel there was a distinct lack of focus. It's as though Gilbert is trying to pack so much meaning and place so many themes into the novel, that most readers will probably be exhausted by story's end. In all fairness, however, the novel's embattled, beleaguered protagonist evokes much compassion, and readers will probably find themselves identifying with his plight.

Billy Schine is very much a hero for the 21st century. He's 28 years old, street-smart, college educated, works for a temp agency, but is somewhat of a young urban failure. His relationship with his girlfriend has not been going very well, and he has acquired masses of debt from student loan repayments. It doesn't help that he has next to no relationship with his parents, who are emotionally unavailable to him. They are both trapped in their own self absorbed little world - his Mother is just diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his father can't cope with losing her.

Billy is a fit of desperation decides to escape from the bill collectors by joining a pharmacological test group. He's just received a threatening letter from the collection agency, so he hopes that the money gleaned from this study will give him a fresh start and allow him to pay off his debts. Much of the action of the novel takes place at the headquarters of the company where Billy stays with the other members of the group and is subjected to two weeks of psychoactive drug testing (the experimental drug is designed for schizophrenics). The group's blood is taken everyday and they are closely monitored for side effects.

The drug starts to have strange side effects on Billy and his colleagues: from day one, one character nicknamed Do, never washes, avidly reading the Bible, while becoming obsessed with carrying out anti-social behaviour. Another character called Lannigan, shaves his entire body. There's also a scar-covered man who says he gets his kicks from a "professional traumatist."

The story is pretty much a pieced together a montage of Billy's reactions to the various people who will eventually become part of his group of titular "normals." As he develops a crush on Gretchen, the only female normal (and the only sympathetic character), Billy begins to evaluate his own sorry life. The irony is whether it is the effects of the drug that is causing him to be introspective and pensive, or whether it is just the ramifications of being shut up in such a controlled, restricted environment.

The narrative is peppered with Billy's pessimistic diatribe and is full of social commentary: He muses on the profiteering of corporate drug companies, the viciousness of the media, and constantly references the vacuous influence of pop-culture. Billy's final decision to agree to a second more radical study at the risk of death doesn't come a moment to soon. And his motivations for deciding to partake in this study are also surprisingly unconvincing. Readers will probably enjoy parts of this book, but this reader thought that it came across as almost short story-like - it's just a series of vignettes of Billy's obsessive, and neurotic rifts. Mike Leonard February 05.

An intelligent, funny and poignant novel.......2005-01-25

I thoroughly enjoyed The Normals and recommend it highly. I read it over a recent weekend, and will probably re-read it within the year. Mr. Gilbert is an intelligent and witty writer. Beyond the plot, which is satisfying in itself, the true pleasures for me were Mr. Gilbert's unique voice, adroit observations and gratifying craftsmanship. There seems to be a surprising and original turn of phrase, or an unexpected but-somehow-just-right word choice, on every page. The Normals put me in mind of several of Don DeLillo's novels - Americana, End Zone and Amazons. There are a handful of authors whose next books I await with active, web-surfing eagerness - Don DeLillo, Martin Amis, Kathryn Davis, Cormac McCarthy, John Updike. I am adding Mr. Gilbert to that list.

House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy (New Directions Paperbook)

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strange read
A phenomenal technical achievement
a black comedy set in an old people's home

House Mother Normal: A Geriatric Comedy (New Directions Paperbook)
B. S. Johnson
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0811209806

Customer Reviews:

strange read.......2007-06-08

This was such a strange novel. I like the way Johnson writes out the dialogue or musings of the individuals on one side of the page while writing the atmospheric conversations on the other. I say it was strange because of the ending....but I won't spoil it for you.

A phenomenal technical achievement.......1999-12-17

This book examines the events of one evening in an old people's home. It consists of nine first person narratives, the first eight belonging to the inmates and the ninth, and last, being that of the nurse or "House Mother". The innovative technique used by Johnson is to make each line in each section correspond to the same moment in time. Each section is prefaced with a list of the various infirmities and deficiencies suffered by that person (including a CQ count, used to assess senile dementia, which is the number of correct questions answered out of 10 such as who is the prime minister, what day is it etc), giving us an idea of how that individual's perceptions of events might be affected. Another typographical device used is that interior monologue is shown in roman type, speech in italics and absence of thought or speech by white space.

The technical device used may sound contrived, but it works marvellously to create a vivid three-dimensional effect. Johnson gives us an insight into the geriatric mind with humour, compassion and empathy. The accounts are by turns, both funny and tragic. A couple of the inmates who are at the extremes of senility are portrayed with great feeling and the use of white space and other typographical techniques augments the writing wonderfully in these sections. The final section, that of the House Mother's, is the only disappointment of the book. Her ostensible "normality" forcing us to reassess the apparent "abnormality" of the inmates' perceptions. However, her revelations seem insignificant compared to the human suffering we have already experienced.

Overall, this is one of those rare examples of a perfect fusion of form and content, and another wonderful piece of work from a great, but neglected writer.

a black comedy set in an old people's home.......1999-02-10

House Mother Normal tells the story of a night in an old people's home as told by eight of its residents - all with varying degrees of senility - and their perverted carer, the "House Mother" of the title. Each of the nine narratives is synchronised in time and within the text, so that a multi-layered panorama of the evening's events slowly emerges. Johnson was a working-class Londoner who was a disciple of Joyce and Beckett. His novels display a range of experimental devices and tricks and he was in many ways ahead of his time. His books are hard to get hold of, but Picador are about to re-issue "The Unfortunates" his famous "book in a box" (27 loose leaf pamphlets to be read in any order)and Jonathan Coe is writing a biography. He is well worth reading.

The First Book of Grabinoulor (French Literature Series (Normal, Ill.).)

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The First Book of Grabinoulor (French Literature Series (Normal, Ill.).)
Pierre Albert-Birot
Manufacturer: Dalkey Archive Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156478245X

Book Description

A key figure in France's modernist movement, Pierre Albert-Birot founded and edited CIS--an early 20th century avant-garde literary magazine--where he published and helped to shape the work of fellow Futurists, Dadaists, and Surrealists (including Apollinaire, Adre Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault and the first texts of Tristan Tzara).

Like its author, GRABINOULOR has been rediscovered only in the last few decades. Originally published in SIC in 1919 and praised by such writers as Apollinaire, Celine, Max Jacob, and Raymond Queneau, it did not appear in English until 1986.

Book Description

This volume covers the biology and biochemistry of normal and cancer cell growth exhibited in a range of cancers including those of the liver, colorectum, breast, and prostate, and leukemia. Studies include the epidemiology, risk factors, and natural histories of these cancers. Different treatment modalities for various cancers are also examined.

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LA Maestra Normal (Coleccion Textos)
Manuel Galvez
Manufacturer: Ediciones Universal
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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