The elephant in the room...

Bed
by David Whitehouse

Human beings are, by nature, curious creatures. Every now and again I’ll hear a story, and I simply can’t imagine the circumstances. Certainly this is the case when I hear about the life (or unfortunately more often, the death) of a profoundly morbidly obese individual; someone literally unable to shift their own weight. How does a person get so big, I’ve wondered. Who enables this? How is a person so immobile for so long that their skin FUSES with the fabric on which they rest?

David Whitehouse’s auspicious debut novel deals with just such an individual, but I don’t want to give the impression that this is some sort of salacious tabloid story. On the contrary, it’s a portrait of a family viewed through the eyes of the younger son. This first-person narrator is never actually named, beyond being “Mal’s brother,” so fully is his identity subsumed.

Malcolm Ede was an unusual and difficult child. How much of it was attention-seeking (public nudity will do that), and how much was the attention merely a by-product of other forces that drove Mal’s behavior? It’s hard to know, because we’re not inside Mal’s head. Their life together is viewed through the prism of his brother’s eyes. And this is what he sees, “His idiosyncrasies amplified his achievements. When he swam, it seemed he swam farther than anyone else. An outsider on his own terms, he was free to build his own rules around him, rules that no one but him could hope to understand. Not even me. I was carried in his slipstream…” And perhaps because of who and what Mal is, his brother is the type of person who, when addressed by the wrong name, won’t bother correcting you.

At the present time, Mal is 45 and his brother is 43. They are both currently sharing a bedroom in their childhood home. For Mal, and for his family, it is “Day Seven Thousand Four Hundred and Eighty-Three.” That is, it’s been 7, 483 days since Mal last left his bed. He refused to get up on his 25th birthday, and there he has lain for the past 20 years. Eating. Today he is the fattest man in the world, and there are estimates that he weighs over 1,400 pounds! Says his brother, “He looks like an enormous sea monster caught and displayed in a Victorian museum of the grotesque.”

So again, how does this happen? Who enables this? Says his brother, “I look into Mal’s eyes every day. There is nothing wrong with him. He isn’t mad. He wasn’t mad when he was a child, he isn’t mad now as a great big deflated hot-air balloon of skin. This isn’t what we need to discover. You can’t get the right answers unless you ask the right questions. And there is one. Why?” There are no simple answers to these questions, but in the telling, we will learn of the entire Ede family’s history together, told from the boys’ early childhood, moving forward in time, with interludes in the present day.

Mr. Whitehouse’s story-telling ability is excellent. He will frequently reference something out of context, making the reader sit up and pay attention until the explanation surfaces. The book is short at 256 pages, and most of the 84 chapters are only a few pages at most. It’s a quick read, and I found myself more and more compelled by the story and invested in the characters as I went along. It’s all so dysfunctional, including the romance at the heart of this story, but I cared about these people.

“Mal grew bigger and wider and rounder and heavier. Like a colony of ants, we worked and lived and fed around him, pretending that everything was normal, which in the strangest of ways it was.” The elephant in the room.

Mailbox Monday: The geeking out edition

So, I'm geeking out a little.  The past few weeks you guys have seen references to a book I was reading called Ready Player One, a debut novel by Ernest Cline.  (My rave review may be read here, or simply by scrolling down.)  So, I don't know Ernie Cline, never met him, but in honor of his book going on sale tomorrow, the theme of this week's mailbox photos is geeking out, LOL.  Yes, these are all mailboxes.  Finding these photos was so much fun!  Say what you will, but the geeks have a great sense of humor.

Incidentally, even though I don't know uber-geek Cline, I did have some minor correspondence with him last week.  He signed his email, "MTFBWYA."  You do not want to know how long it took me to figure that out.  Yeah, I'm totally a geek, but a different flavor geek than Mr. Cline.  I'm a book geek, and I show my true colors each week on this blog, LOL.

Case in point:  I totally geeked out last week because I got a personal letter (snail mail to me specifically, not a form letter) from Random House editor extraordinaire (and an awesome novelist in his own right), David Ebershoff!  It was nothing important, and I rather doubt most of his correspondents are as excited as I was, but I take my thrills where I get them, okay?

I have to say that this was an awesome week for books, too!  I mean, they're all pretty awesome, really.  Are you ever astounded by just how many great books are out there?  I am, all the time.  On that note...

Ragnarok: The End of the Gods
by A.S. Byatt
Release date: February 7, 2012
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

This fall seems to be the season to face down all my literary fears.  I've always been intimidated to read Byatt.  But this one is small, and seems... Well not accessible, but, uh, shorter.  Don't judge me.

Bed
by David Whitehouse
Release date: August 2, 2011
Source: Finished hardback from publisher

This British debut novel has been on my radar since it got a rave (starred) review in PW.  I finally got around to requesting a review copy, and I'm so grateful to Simon & Schuster for accomodating my request in record time.  This is a fascinating character study and a great story!  Look for my review later this week.

Too Much Stuff
by Don Bruns
Release date: December 12, 2011
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

Three little words:  Trashy Underwater Fiction!  A comic mystery featuring missing gold and scuba diving in the Florida Keys.  And it's releasing the week of my birthday.  What a lovely gift!

The Twelfth Enchantment
by David Liss
Release date: August 9, 2011
Source: Purchased at M is for Mystery (Because I love my local indies!)

This book is such old news already.  Noneless, I did actually purchase it, read it in record time, love it, and agonize over a review last week.  You can see it here. 

The Orphan Master's Son
by Adam Johnson
Release date: January 10, 2012
Source: Paper galley from publisher

Now, this is something very interesting, and I hadn't heard about it until it showed in the mailbox last week.  For starters, Adam Johnson is local, and I see him around the San Francisco literary scene.  Nice guy.  The novel has an enthusiastic blurb from David Mitchell on the cover, thus assuring that I will read it.  But it sounds fascinating, "Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger..."

Girls in White Dresses
by Jennifer Close
Release date: August 9, 2011
Source: Electronic galley from publisher

I picked up a couple of signed galleys of this novel at BEA, but I'm so much more likely to review if I can read it on my Kindle.  To date, Knopf--who are very kind in supplying whatever books I request--have been very difficult about electronic galleys.  Hopefully that is changing.  See, Knopf, I finally read it.  Review TK.  In fact, should this be this week's Humpday Giveaway?  Maybe...

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art
by Christopher Moore
Release date: April 3, 2012
Source: Unbound MS from publisher

Okay, I don't want to hear about the 14 typos that you found in the last Chris Moore novel, because I'm one of the very last pairs on eyes that checks for such things.  All I can say is that there would be even more errors if I were not doing so.  Proofreading for Chris can be interesting, as recent novels have ranged from pseudo-Shakespearian English to... Abby Normal.  'Nuff said.  And this one's full of fucking French (his words, not mine), with the accents.  I have been looking forward to reading this for the past couple of years, because I kept hearing these tantalizing tidbits from Chris's girlfriend.  She told me that this was his best novel since Lamb, and she may be right.

Eyes Wide Open
by Andrew Gross
Release date: July 12, 2011
Source: 2 Finished hardbacks from publisher

I'd been sort of interested in reading this novel, but it was easier to just read the millions of books already in my apartment.  Now this book is in my apartment, and I will look forward to reading it in the near future.  And di you notice that the nice folks at HarperCollins sent two copies?  One is for you guys!  Another contender for this week's giveway.  (Let me know in the comments if you have a preference.)

Shades of Milk and Honey
by Mary Robinette Kowal
Release date: August 3, 2011
Source: Trade paperback purchased at Borderlands Books

I was over by Borderlands Books this weekend and allowed myself to be hand-sold this novel I had not heard of before.  Apparently, if I liked David Liss's latest, I will definitely like this one as well.  Mostly, I just like supporting my local independent bookseller, so that I always have a lovely shop to shoot the breeze in.

Ready Player One t-shirt!

Yes, I got an extra bonus gift in the mail last week, a cool and stylish Ready Player One t-shirt from my friends at Random House.  It is so very cool and awesome!

Books finished this week:


The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss
One Day by David Nicholls

Bed by David Whitehouse

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Currently reading:

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
The Accident by Linwood Barclay

So, what awesome books have you guys been reading this week?  What have you brought into the house?  What do you want me to give away on Wednesday?  Let me know!