Ablutions

notes for a novel

English language

Published Feb. 20, 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

ISBN:
978-0-15-101498-9
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OCLC Number:
232131917

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5 stars (1 review)

In a famous but declining Hollywood bar works A Barman. Morbidly amused by the decadent decay of his surroundings, he watches the patrons fall into their nightly oblivion, making notes for his novel. In the hope of uncovering their secrets and motives, he establishes tentative friendships with the cast of variously pathological regulars.

1 edition

Utterly gripping

5 stars

Wow, this is a brilliant book! The device of 'notes for a novel' was a little offputting for the first few pages, but then it began to make sense and adds a feeling of immediacy and truth to the whole book. The narrator, a complete lost cause himself, is recording and judging those around him in a fascinating portrayal of despair and desperation. A lot of small things happen, most of them violent, and there isn't much of a storyline in an action sense, but the characterisations are perfect and I was gripped from start to finish. Easily as good as The Sisters Brothers, maybe better!

Subjects

  • Bars (Drinking establishments) -- Fiction
  • Authorship -- Fiction
  • Alcoholics -- Fiction