**This is the second book that inspired me to start a blog. Unfortunately, this one made me want to vent. I tried to be positive, but I was not so lucky, so just be aware of that if you choose to continue reading this entry (it really is more of a rant)...
Synopsis: The general plot is about a graduate student in Buffalo, named Nathaniel Mason, who has had a difficult family life. He meets two people one night: a beautiful girl named Theresa and an odd but supposedly brilliant guy named Jerome Coolberg (called Coolberg). Both are fellow students. Coolberg is an over-the-top intellectual, who seems to know everything about Nathaniel. Shortly into the book, Nathaniel begins having simultaneous sexual relationships with Theresa and a lesbian cab driver named Jamie (who is markedly not pretty). He falls in love with Jamie (surprisingly, but it turns out that Theresa is shallow - surprise surprise). While this is going on, Coolberg seems to be taking over his life. Coolberg even has some of Nathaniel's clothes stolen from Nathaniel's apartment. This makes Nathaniel very uncomfortable (understandably -- although Theresa and Coolberg seem to think that this is not a big deal). Then some violence happens (in regards to Jamie). Nathaniel has a breakdown, and we meet him decades later when he has recovered and is married with children. His past is presumably buried until Coolberg contacts him and asks him to travel from somewhere in New Jersey to LA to see him. Then there is a big plot twist (which isn't that big) and the story ends...rather anticlimactically.
My Thoughts: I really didn't like this book. There were points at which I thought that I might be able to get into it, but then I would (once again) become upset...almost angry, by the language. Every single phrase in the book is overly artful. Every description is trying too hard, and the novel as a whole is trying to be something it can never be. The plot promises to be exciting, which is why I kept reading. I read reviews that promised a surprising plot twist at the end. So I dug myself in deeper (to be fair, it wasn't a very long book), until I got to the end. This was last night. I almost missed the plot twist because at that point I was just so bored. Even worse, though, the chapter after this supposedly mind-blowing moment, the author actually feels the need to explain why the plot twist was an appropriate choice. It is not the only time he seems to explain something he chose to do: on the very first page he almost literally tells the reader why he chose to use the word "aberrant" instead of "abnormal".
I won't say what this anticlimactic "twist" is because I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone reading this and thinking he or she might want to read the book. But it is disappointing. Not as disappointing as the writing, though. It is a specific type of writing, which is not all that uncommon these days (the book was published in 2008 -- so very, very recently). All of his words are too big. He creates characters who use big words and then manipulates them throughout the novel to show off his vocabulary. Let me just mention: I know he's not actually or deliberately showing off; it just feels like he is and it really got under my skin. Many of the images he creates are too artful to even be real. None of the emotions or moods he tries to convey actually make their way through the entanglement of fancy adjectives. I kept thinking, "I know he's trying to create a meaningful image, but his writing is too pretentious." Sometimes the passages even became long winded because of all the self-important metaphors.
Further, the dialogue was forced and unrealistic (for example, an uneducated junkie who burglarizes Nathaniel's apartment says he does not mind if his coffee, "tastes of rust". Even educated people don't say that. No one does, it's unnatural). And, I couldn't have cared less about the characters. Baxter clearly doesn't like his characters, as they are either pretentious and unlikable, or too clichéed to be cared about. At times, I hoped something truly horrible would happen -- even to the main character, whom I'm sure we were supposed to sympathize with.
Up until the end of the book, I thought I could say that I found some merit in Baxter's efforts. I thought maybe the plot would have been well designed, but in the end, even this was a half-hearted effort. I was so disappointed; I really got the impression that this book served more as an ego booster for the author ("look how many words I know and how "artfully" I can put them together"). The worst part is: I don't doubt that he has a lot of talent. There was something about the way the book was written that indicated skill and expertise, but he just didn't follow through. He got lost in himself - in his ego. Maybe if he had cared more, he could have created a really shocking end, edited the dialogue and the obnoxious vocabulary, and created a piece of riveting fiction...
I once had a professor (my favorite professor), who told us, "You're at one of the best schools in the country: I know you did well on the SATs. I know you know those words. So, don't use them in your papers unless there is no other word that can possibly get your point across." I basically paraphrased from memory (although I think I'm pretty close), but that is definitely the point I walked away with, and it's too bad that Charles Baxter did not take such a class, otherwise he may have known better.
