Funny thing happened when I stopped posting 16/7 on a message board (11pm – 7am is AAl’s time): I started reading books again. Not just the ones with pictures and word balloons, but actual, proper books.
Now, this is almost certainly something that you, with your normal human brain, take for granted. But it’s always been a struggle for me to pick up a stack of pages with words on them, run my eyes across those words and keep doing it till I’ve absorbed all of them in the stack. My brain is a bit of an idea slut — the notion of staying tied down to a single idea for any length of time is repulsive to it.
But somehow I managed to whip that useless thought organ into a little temporary monogamy (not once, but twice!) this past week. The only real thing these two books have in common is that they were recommended by my pal sleep (this is the online handle he has chosen —apart from the brief time he changed it to sleep apnea to mock me — and I am honoring his choice not to capitalize it), who easily has the most winning record of anyone who suggests entertainment to me.
First up was Syrup, by Maxx Barry. Syrup tells the tale of “Scat,” a young man awash in the sleazy world of corporate marketing. (Everyone in the story has names like this. It’s a marketing gag, and it’s not even as distracting as I thought it might be, considering the primary players are called Scat, Sneaky Pete, 6 and @.)
Syrup reminded me a lot of Thank You for Smoking, and since that’s one of my all-time favorite books, I mean that with love. Like Christopher Buckley, Barry makes us care about the sleaze merchant he’s chosen as his protagonist. In a way, it’s sort of refreshing to follow a character almost entirely devoid of conscience — I often find it easier to relate to than attempting to force myself to feel the compassion and other human emotions of so-called “real” heroes. Plus, you know, it’s satire.
Syrup is written in a fantastically ADDish style that consists of very short sort-of sub-chapters sprinkled in with related facts about marketing and often telling titles. If I were more literary, I’d know what the name for this sort of thing is (post-modern? Fuck if I know). I just know it’s an effective way to market (hey!) a book to someone like me. Reminds me a bit of Palahniuk or Mark Leyner, but again… not in a bad way.
Anyway… it’s about this guy who comes up with the perfect new product for Coca Cola: basically the same old Coca Cola in a sleek, black can, with the name Fukk. Hilarity ensues. And apparently there’s a movie on the way. Should be interesting.
The other thing I read was Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. Being, as it is, a kids’ book, I flew through this one pretty quickly, but it was still a lot of fun. I’ve actually had this book for years, but only finally just got around to picking it up. Apparently, someone who read my novel saw some similarities between the two. I think I found a passage that might kinda be what the guy was talking about, but I can’t be sure. But hey, if this is the sort of thing my writing makes you think of… I can’t complain.
It’s a pretty typical fantastic journey into wondrous lands, but it doesn’t feel clichéd or unoriginal here. There’s lots of wordplay and lots of bizarre logic. I wish I’d found this when I was, say, 10 or so, because this sort of thing would have really played with my head in a fun way. As an adult I can still appreciate what’s going on here, mind you. I just think it’d be a blast with the still-maturing understanding of an adolescent.
My only real complaint (and I’m sure I’m breaking with the pack here, but fuck those guys) is the artwork. I guess it’s supposed to be charmingly simple, but I just found it simple. It looks, at best, like unfinished sketches. At its worst, it looks like something I could draw. And I can’t draw. I make the computer do it for me.
I would like to see the Chuck Jones movie of the book, but apparently it’s out of print. Anyway, fun little book, even for a cynical grown-up. If I didn’t loathe children and all they stand for, I might have one and force them to read this.
Syrup is rad, Dad. I seem to remember liking an earlier book by him, too, called The Company.
Company was a really cool concept, but I thought it dragged a bit. Jennifer Government, also by Barry, is next on my list.