Book Review- Todd Barry's Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg

Thank You to Gallery Books for providing me with an advanced copy of Todd Barry's, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg: One Comedian's Tour of Not-Quite-The-Biggest Cities in the World, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Comedian Todd Barry shares travel notes from his experiences playing secondary markets ( smaller cities/venues), during 2015/2016.

LIKE- Previous to reading, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg, I had not heard of Todd Barry. I requested a review copy of his book, because I liked the concept. I like off-the-beaten-path travel logs. I was a clueless about his sense of humor, so I went in with no expectations. I read, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg, last night, during my flight from California to Oregon. Would Barry be my ideal travel companion?

Yes. Todd Barry made my two hour flight seem like seconds. 

It was a risk going in without a familiarity with Barry's comedy, but I quickly discovered that we have a similar sense of humor. Barry's quirks and annoyances, like his self-diagnosed Misophonia, had me laughing. As I was currently dealing with air travel, I commiserated with his travel issues, such as a woman trying to guilt him into giving up his aisle seat. The nerve! I enjoyed his behind the scenes perspective of being a traveling comedian, the pains and joys of being on the road. What I most loved about his travel diary, was his recommendations. Hell yes, I'm going to visit the "railroad car/ future home of a corn dog restaurant" in Oklahoma. Cape Fear Serpentarium in North Carolina, I'm coming! Barry's love of local coffee houses and sightseeing is right up my alley.

Barry's witty observations reminded me of one of my favorite authors, David Sedaris, who always makes me laugh until I cry, when he reads from his travel diary during his live shows. The funniest stuff comes from observing other people, things too bizarre to make up. 
 

DISLIKE- Not so much a dislike, but a suggestion; although, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg, is a quick read, don't do it in one sitting. If I had parsed it out, I would have found it more enjoyable. I felt like I rushed it. Don't rush Barry, he deserves better.

RECOMMEND- Yes. I'm sure his fans will be delighted, but even as someone with zero familiarity with Barry, I found, Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg, to be a highly entertaining read.

Book Review- Susan Perabo's The Fall of Lisa Bellow

Thank You to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advanced copy of Susan Perabo's novel, The Fall of Lisa Bellow, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- Eighth grader Meredith Oliver is a girl who exists in the middle. She's neither completely unpopular or part of the "in-crowd." Meredith and her friends both hate and emulate the popular girls, and in particular, their leader, Lisa Bellow.

Meredith and Lisa find their lives entwined, when they both happen to be buying sandwiches at a local deli during a robbery. Both girls are told to stay on the floor, while the deli's employee is beaten. The thief decides to kidnap Lisa, leaving the employee unconscious and Meredith shaking on the floor.

In the days, weeks, months following Lisa's kidnapping, Meredith tries to make sense of what happened to her classmate, and why she wasn't also taken? Although Meredith was spared, her mother, Claire, cannot shake the thought that she is unable to protect her children from harm. 

LIKE- Last year, I was introduced to Perabo's writing through her fantastic short story collection, Why They Run the Way They Do. Perabo is a fabulous storyteller and I was eager to read her first novel.

The Fall of Lisa Bellow has an unusual and interesting narrative structure. A large chunk of the story, about 1/3, is told through Meredith's fantasy of what both what she imagines has happened to Lisa, and what she imagines would happen if she had been kidnapped alongside Lisa. This fantasy is rich with specific details, including of the kidnapper, who in reality, was covered by a mask and could not be identified by Meredith. Meredith is so distraught by the robbery and kidnapping, that these fantasies become mixed-up with reality. She cannot distinguish the real details from her imaginary ones. They're muddled. She is obsessed with this fantasy world and with Lisa. She creates a fictional reality for Lisa, but she also befriend's Lisa's popular friends, who now accept Meredith in the aftermath, and she even becomes close to Lisa's mom. Lisa's mom is desperate for anything that will remind her of Lisa, which includes encouraging Lisa's friends to spend time at her house and hang out in Lisa's bedroom. While Claire is afraid that she can't physically protect her daughter, she is still losing Meredith to obsession and mental anguish.

Early in the story, we learn that Claire, a dentist, intentionally causes pain to one of her young patients, a boy that she suspects has been teasing her son. When Claire confesses her crime to her husband, he is horrified, and although Claire does not regret her actions (she poked a kid's sensitive tooth for temporary pain, not long-term damage), she realizes that her husband does not trust her. This is compounded with an emotional affair that she had when her mother was dying, something else that she confessed and which instigated his initial distrust toward her. This makes Claire feel isolated and unwilling to share her feelings with her husband. The robbery is not the only incident that has damaged Claire's children; her son Evan, had his promising baseball career ended, when an accident left him partially blind. The family had barely begun to recover from Evan's accident, when the robbery happened. Claire's unhinged and more than any other character, I wondered how she would cope. 

Perabo has created flawed, isolated characters that are existing on the brink. The Fall of Lisa Bellow works because of its familiarity. You don't need to have had a shock like surviving a robbery, to understand what it's like to fall down the rabbit hole with regard to obsessing over other people and "what if" scenarios. You don't have to lose your sight, to understand what it would mean to have your dreams crushed in an instant. You don't need to have the power and an opportunity to hurt a bully, to understand Claire's actions? The Fall of Lisa Bellow deals with extreme situations, but it's relatable throughout. 

DISLIKE- Nothing. The Fall of Lisa Bellow had me hooked from page one.

RECOMMEND- Yes! If you're not familiar with Perabo, you should be. I highly recommend The Fall of Lisa Bellow and Perabo's short story collections. Her writing is powerful, both in novel and short story formats. 

Book Review- Dan Chaon's Ill Will

Thank You to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine Books for providing me with an advanced copy of Dan Chaon's Novel, Ill Will, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT- In the 1980's, Dustin's parents, aunt, and uncle were brutally murdered, and his older adopted brother, a troubled teen named Rusty, was convicted of the crime. Twelve year old Dustin and his teenage cousin, Kate, were key witnesses at Rusty's trial. They fed into the satan worship hysteria that was popular in the 80's, explaining how Rusty murdered rabbits during satanic rituals, and how he had involved Kate and Dustin. 

Thirty years later, new evidence has exonerated Rusty and he is finally freed from jail. Aiding the fight for Rusty's innocence, is Kate's twin sister, Wave, who is estranged from her family, due to her disagreements over how their had parents died and Rusty's trial.

 Dustin works as a therapist and his wife has just died from cancer. He is unsettled to learn that Rusty is out of prison and refuses contact with his brother. Dustin is struggling to cope with his grief, and can't connect with his two college aged sons, Dennis, who lives on campus, and Aaron, living at home with a barely concealed heroin addiction. Dustin works with a client who is obsessed with a string of murders, college boys who are dumped in rivers, and soon, he joins his client in the obsession. Dustin's paranoia increases, when Aaron's best friend, nicknamed Rabbit, is murdered. Is this a coincidence or is Rabbit a victim of a serial killer? Signs point to a satanic ritual, could that be a factor? Is Rusty somehow involved? If Rusty didn't kill his family, who did?

LIKE- This is my first novel by Chaon and I don't often choose suspense-crime novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed Ill Will. The story is engaging and fast paced, a true page-turner. I never quite knew where the story was headed and I was genuinely surprised by the ending. Ill Will is creepy and disturbing, with rich imagery. 

Speaking of imagery, the grimy settings are filled with sensory elements, rooting me in the story. For example, there is a former mortuary that has been turned into a drug house, with many of the elements of the former business still somewhat intact, like the elegant chairs that once held the grieving, are now draped with strung out teenagers. The series of small rooms in a mortuary, lend themselves to this unsettling experience of a horror house: as Aaron walks through to score, he mentions not knowing if a meth-head would jump out to stab him. The scene setting is rich throughout the story, with settings like the "stuck-in-another-era", dusty farm house that the kids are sent to living with their grandmother after their parents die, or Rabbit's house, unkept since he is a heroin addict and his single-mom is dying of cancer. Not a single location in Ill Will is pretty, which fits with this grim story. I felt unsettled throughout.

As with the settings, the characters are strong and unforgettable. Ill Will is told from different point-of-views, which works well, as it would have been difficult to spend an entire novel in Dustin's paranoid mind or Aaron's drug-fueled haze. I was most interested in the dynamic between Kate and Wave, inseparable twins in childhood, who are driven completely apart by their parent's death and the trial. They have a similar reaction to the murders, an intense paranoia that has followed them into adulthood. However, rather than living off the grid like Wave, Kate's sense of safety comes from living in an apartment in the middle of Hollywood Blvd, among people rather than the isolation of her sister. Neither can let this fear go, but the way they manage it, is opposite.

Chaon makes interesting narrative choices. Sometimes he jumps into first person, which upped the intensity in the moments he used it. He also plays with style, for example, dividing a page into two or three columns, and writing a different scenes to be read in parallel. I've never seen this done, but it was creative and served the story. 

DISLIKE- The only negative and this is minor, is that I found myself unevenly interested in places, in these spots, I thought the pacing, which was generally rapid, slowed. Usually this happened during the Dustin narrative. Too much Dustin. 

RECOMMEND- Yes, Ill Will is exciting and surprising. I'm definitely going to read Chaon's other novels. I love finding these new-to-me-authors, that have already written several novels that I can immediately devour!