Night of the Gun?

By Barrister Wells

Tensions ran high as the Gentlemen’s Book Club of America convened for their fourth meeting at the Newsroom, quite possibly Kansas City’s filthiest and most depraved tavern. As the transients and low-life regulars swilled their cocktails dwelling on life’s hardships, it was easy to imagine a young David Carr perched next to them on a stool contemplating his next fix.

Carr’s debut book, The Night of the Gun, explored the topics of addiction and redemption, a genre recently made popular by James Frey and most notably, Oprah. Carr’s approach was to use journalistic practices to uncover what he deemed a turning a point in his life - the night he showed up to friend’s house with a loaded gun. Or did his friend pull the gun on him? Or was there even a gun? Unfortunately for the reader, this issue is never resolved. And the topic is broached only momentarily in the first two chapters of the book, leaving the reader to conclude that the book is not aptly named.

Carr’s background in journalism quickly became evident as his staccato-style prose and research techniques filled nearly 400 pages. Carr’s journey into the depths of drug abuse began in earnest with some mild drug exploration in high school, followed by a transition to cocaine in college and finally to all-out intravenous drug use that eroded his promising career and ruined a myriad of relationships.

The book follows Carr through a series of seemingly unrelated anecdotes as he recounts his past through interviews, medical records, police reports and an admittedly spotty memory. Tales are often embellished, only to be corrected by former associates, family members, cronies and law enforcement. Below is a brief summary of EVERYTHING that happened in the book:

• Shows up to a friend’s house, possibly with a gun
• Gets fired from several menial jobs and devotes himself to day-drinking and snorting blow
• Beats the shit out of a cab driver
• Deals blow to support his habit
• Smokes crack with Tom Arnold and possibly The Hold Steady
• His then-girlfriend gives birth to twins hours after he smokes crack with her
• Gets clean and raises the twins as a single father
• Diagnosed with cancer, pulls through
• Marries some chick
• Relapses and alienates his children
• Gets clean again and meets Barbara Bush for some reason
• Writes a book and makes a lot of money

Carr’s narcissism was off-putting at times, but it became apparent that these traits, considered to be faults by many, are quite possibly the only reason he was able to pull himself out of the underworld of addiction and into the news room of one the most distinguished and respected periodicals in the world, The New York Times.

While Gun did not meet the lofty standards of members from the GBCOA (in some ways comparable to the wretched Phillip Roth novel), David Carr paints a fairly accurate portrait of drug abuse, alcoholism and recovery that is easily relatable to those unfortunate enough to have experienced addiction.

Overall rating: A very generous 1.5 Clubbed Baby Seals

Barrister Lichtenauer: -1.5
Barrister Russell: -3
Barrister Shaw: -3
Barrister Wells: +1.5

Meeting Place: In honor of David Carr's career as a journalist and his penchant for hanging out with scum bags, we chose The Newsroom. Disgusting.

Next up: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno

I Can’t Believe Mine Eyes. Blindness.

By Barrister Lichtenauer

So, apparently going blind out of nowhere is a pretty big deal.

When a mysterious outbreak of the “white sickness” (named because, unlike natural blindness which is black, this blindness gives you the appearance of being immersed in milky water) sweeps through an unknown country, we are the only one’s who get to witness the horrific mess - well, us and the doctor's wife.

The infected are quarantined in an abandoned mental hospital and left to their own blind devices. They must fight for food, decency and a means to preserve a “human” way of living. Luckily, interned with them is the doctor's wife, the only person who seems to be immune to the epidemic. While there, she subtly guides and cares for the afflicted.

Ok. Now that the synopsis is covered, lets get down to business.

Here are a few things the book teaches us about blind people - please note, the views expressed by Jose Saramago do not represent the views of the members of the The Gentlemen Bookreader's Club of America, seriously:

• Apparently blindness must affect the olfactory sense as well. In this book, the blind people quickly develop their own makeshift bathroom system. It’s as if they all, at once, thought: “Hell, I can’t see, I might as well take a huge dump right here in this hallway… I think it’s a hallway, I can’t see a damn thing. Anywho. Bombs away. I hope I don’t step in it later. Because, if you’ll remember, I’m blind”
• Blind people love to pump. See, for me, being in a disgusting place surrounded by disease and all sorts of butt, well, it’s a bit of a turn off. But not for these blind people. These blind people love getting after it with each other. Regardless. What are they going to tell their kids? You know, the kids that were accidentally conceived while humping on a pile of garbage.
  
• Blind people ruin everything. Listen. They had plenty of room. Running water. Working toilets. Did they take advantage of it? No. They caught the thing on fire - after, of course, turning it into a veritable landfill.
• Blind people are stupid. They get shot, trampled, suffocated. I’m sure this is some kind of allegory, but seriously, slow down. Think about it. Then act. Count to 10 if you have to.
• Dogs hate dead blind people. Why else would they constantly be eating them? Man’s best friend? Nope. In the land of the blind, a mangy dog is king.

Blind people aside, this book was a good read. The experience was heightened by author Jose Saramago’s writing style - long sentences peppered with commas and a complete lack of character names (what use do blind people have for names?). This claustrophobic style created a real sense of the chaos felt by the blind people in the unknown city.

The Gentlemen Bookreader's Club of America (GBCoA) enjoyed reading Blindness, it was unanimously agreed to have significant worth as a piece of literature. However, some were turned off by the rambling, philosophical asides from Saramago as well as the repetitive nature of the book. A lot of talk about being hungry, defecating and being a stupid blind person. It was at this point that the GBCoA decided to adjourn the meeting early and take in the movie version of Blindness (two reviews in one).

The movie stars Danny Glover as an old blind man. It’s terrible. If I hadn't read the book and developed a reasonable time frame to expect the ending, I probably would have walked out. It followed pretty closely to the book, right down to the “Dog of Tears.” Some stupid dog that licks tears. Yep. The movie was too artsy and probably stuck too close to the book for its own good. You can't really get into a person's thoughts by watching them trip over a sink.

Below is the trailer:



Overall rating: 2.31 Beaver Pelt Hats

Meeting Place: Hint #1 - Blindness is also called the "white sickness". Hint #2 - The French translation of white is Blanc. If you can't put the pieces together, stop reading immediately. The rest of this blog will be over your head. Trust us.

Next Up: The Night of the Gun by David Carr