What I read last week: The "this is what I get for trying something new" edition

A few weeks ago, courtesy of the geniuses over at Good Morning, Silicon Valley, I read "Wikipedia Brown and the Case of the Captured Koala." It was funny, so I clicked over to read Adam Cadre's other short stories online; I was taken with "December" and "A Winner Is You," both of which managed to make me want to know more about the family around which they are written.

Well, the family is referenced in Cadre's first novel, Ready, Okay! So I tracked down an old library copy of the book and read it last weekend.

Perhaps I disliked the book because it's about hyperemotional and disaffected high schoolers doing the usual coming-of-age thing, and if I want to read about teenagers reveling in the notion that they have just invented sarcasm and irony, I can always surf MySpace or LiveJournal. This book was about as focused as your average high schooler's LiveJournal. Writing a novel about adolescents ought not automatically lead to writing a novel like an adolescent. It is one thing to capture an authentic tone for your narrator, but another to do so at the sacrifice of narrative momentum.

The frustrating thing for me, as a reader, is that I kept seeing promises of so much more. Cadre's got a good ear for dialogue, and he can set a scene like nobody's business: the one and only time that protagonist Allen gets invited to September's house for dinner is a hoot from beginning to end. And buried under the riffs to nowhere, the occasionally implausible characterizations and the Caligula-like tableaux (where were all these orgies and drug parties when I was in high school?), there is a story that hurtles along toward a tragic conclusion. Despite disliking much of the book, I was genuinely stricken by what happened to two of the characters. So you can see where there are working parts; it's just the novel's total machinery is grinding out of gear.

Normally, if I dislike my first experience with an author, he or she is dead to me. However, I figure my first experience with Cadre was through his short stories (more enjoyable), so I'll keep an eye out in the hopes that his next book has grown up a little.

Comments

[Adam Cadre]

I've actually been working on revising this one for paperback (if nothing else, it's a marginally more productive way to put off working on the new book than are most of my procrastinatory pursuits) but mostly I'm just slimming down some overly labored phrasings — the overall structure, such as it is, is likely to remain intact. Ah well. Thanks for giving the book a try! I hope the next one rewards you for keeping an open mind.

[Lisa]

Adam! Thank you for stopping by, and thank you for leaving a comment.

I really did love the Young family -- you did such a great job painting a vivid portrait of their family life, and creating unforgettable supporting characters (like August and Julie) is a real gift. I do look forward to your next book. Heck, given the editing you're doing on this one, I wouldn't mind giving the paperback revision of _Ready, Okay!_ a read.