Every now and then an author comes along that helps remind you why you read fiction in the first place. For the Gentlemen Bookreader's Club, Eliot Perlman was not that author. But he was darn close.
His more recent and slightly less-ambiguous offering, Three Dollars, was a story carried by it's ornate, elegant language and flowing structure interspersed with moments that caused us to set our books down and stare to the skies, letting his words bounce around in our heads until they shook free of their context, leaving only meaning. For good authors, this happens a few times throughout their novels. For Perlman, it happened at least once a chapter, blessedly.
Unlike any of our previous readings, this one was devoid of a plot (although it can be argued Roth's lack of coherence from start to finish can be counted in the same vein). But we wouldn't do that to Perlman. True to its hysterical realism roots, the story was pointedly real, prickling with imagery, characters and circumstances we all have known and hated at some point in our own experiences. Every nine years, our main character, Eddy, ran into Amanda, his first love. And each time had only three dollars to his name. This is the flat line with which the rest of the story peaks and valleys around, touching on his wife, Tanya, who's eternally working on her PhD thesis, his daughter Abby, who's wholly unnecessary to any movement of the story until the end, and his boss, Amanda's ex. As is the case with hysterical realism, plot lines take a back seat to the description of characters, scenes and their interactions with each other. Tanya's chronic depression only adds to the collected dust on her work, growing greater and less significant with each day she spends in her curtain-drawn bedroom. Abby's precocious tendencies made her a distraction, an unwanted distraction most of the time - which is the fate of most kids to most parents at that age. Until the end of course, when an entire family is brought back together around the ultimate unifier, a child. And Amanda, well, her brief appearances changed the entire landscape of a chapter, which aligns nicely with Eddy's mindset and inevitable rambling, stuttering overreactions upon seeing her.
But overall, it was a story that moved along at a steady pace and an even keel. And with an ending that was "the only way it could end," as described by Barrister Lichtenauer, we were all left full, satisfied. Although we were not all in agreeance on the magnitude of greatness of Perlman's work, we could still concede that it was well-worth the read - a unanimous beaver pelt hat approval that's given out all too infrequently here at the GBCOA.
Overall rating: 2.75 Beaver Pelt Hats
Barrister Lichtenauer: +3
Barrister Russell: +3.5
Barrister Shaw: +2.5
Barrister Wells: +2
Meeting Place: In accordance with Eddy's late-blooming affinity for roasted chickens and nearly vacant wallets, we convened at Cosentino's Market, the only place in town where shoppers can choose from whole chickens or smaller, less poultry-centered meals for the bargain of only three dollars.
Next Up: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
