So I came across ‘The Fun Parts’ by Sam Lipsyte while at the L.A Times Festival of Books a couple of months back, it was recommended by one of the shop's employee. The title of the book intrigued me but it was the synopsis on the back that really made me grab the book and head to the counter to purchase
A boy eats his way to self-discovery, while another must battle reality-brandishing monster preying on his fantasy realm. Elsewhere, an aerobic instructor – the daughter of a Holocaust survivor – makes the most shocking leap imaginable to save her soul. These are just of the characters you’ll encounter in Sam Lipsyte’s richly imagined world.
Featuring a grizzled and possibly deranged male doula, a doomsday hustler who must face the multi-universal truth of “the real-ass jumbo” and a school shot -putting circuit in northern New Jersey, circa 1986, Lipsyte’s Tales combine the tragic-comic William S is the love and Nobles you compress the tally of Venus Dr. ‘The fun parts’ is a Lipsyte at his very best a far-ranging exploration of new voices in the stuff from the most consistently funny fiction writer working today.’
This is the first time I’ve read Lipsyte so I was not prepared for the number of flaws his characters have. Usually, a flawed character makes a story more realistic but in the book ‘The Fun Parts’ I feel like his characters are just a little too flawed and I kept wondering why these characters are able to stay in a normal society and wondering why they weren’t just locked up in an institution. It was because of this that I found the book hard to read and I had to struggle through just to finish. I actually started reading this as soon as I’ve gotten but just took me just until this month to actually finish
This does not mean the book was a complete disaster as I did actually enjoy the first couple of stories. The first three stores; ‘The Climber Room’, ‘The Dungeon Master’ and ‘The Deniers’ were very good and I found myself wishing for longer stories with these characters. I feel most of the stories started abruptly and also ended abruptly and I was left slightly confused on some of them.
This book will not be on my bookshelf very long and I think I will be donating it to the local library.
About The Author
“The sign in the sweet apple kitchen declared it a nut free zone and every September somebody, almost always a dad, cracked the usual stupid joke”Have you read the book ‘The Fun Parts’ by Sam Lipsyte? Did you like it?
-First line in book taken from the short story ‘The Climber room’
No comments:
Post a Comment