Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym of Stagg R. Leigh. Ellison quickly finds himself with a six-figure advance from a major house, a multimillion-dollar offer for the movie rights and a monster bestseller on his hands. The money helps with a family crisis, allowing Ellison to care for his widowed mother as she drifts into the fog of Alzheimer's, but it doesn't ease the pain after his sister, a physician, is shot by right-wing fanatics for performing abortions. The dark side of wealth surfaces …
Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym of Stagg R. Leigh. Ellison quickly finds himself with a six-figure advance from a major house, a multimillion-dollar offer for the movie rights and a monster bestseller on his hands. The money helps with a family crisis, allowing Ellison to care for his widowed mother as she drifts into the fog of Alzheimer's, but it doesn't ease the pain after his sister, a physician, is shot by right-wing fanatics for performing abortions. The dark side of wealth surfaces when both the movie mogul and talk-show host demand to meet the nonexistent Leigh, forcing Ellison to don a disguise and invent a sullen, enigmatic character to meet the demands of the market. The final indignity occurs when Ellison becomes a judge for a major book award and My Pafology (title changed to Fuck) gets nominated, forcing the author to come to terms with his perverse literary joke. Percival's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Wright and Ellison as he skewers the conventions of racial and political correctness. (Sept. 21)Forecast: Everett has been well-reviewed before, but his latest far surpasses his previous efforts. Passionate word of mouth (of which there should be plenty), rave reviews (ditto) and the startling cover (a young, smiling black boy holding a toy gun to his head) could help turn this into a genuine publishing event.
After seeing the movie, I thought I knew what do expect, but I wasn't prepared for the entire My Pafology novella to be included in the book. It was similar to American Psycho where I saw what was happening and it was good and I got it, but that's still a lot of intentionally bad prose to wade through.
I found the family drama rang true.
I naturally found myself comparing the book to the movie, and one thing the movie didn't get across was that Monk's academic/serious writing was just as unreadable as My Pafology.
I saw the film "American Fiction" recently, loved it, and prefer it to this book that it is based on. The basic premise is the same for both: an academic Black man nicknamed Monk who is a writer has written a number of books critically well received, but that have earned him neither popularity or much money. So he writes a book in a matter of days in Black street dialect under the pen name of Stag R. Leigh, and of course it becomes an instant best seller. His book's title is, yes, Fuck, and is nominated for a literary award. Monk had already been chosen as a judge for the award and now is faced with reviewing the book he had written as a joke.
As he struggles with the book issue he is also processing the death of his sister, his mother's advancing Alzheimers, and his brother's …
I saw the film "American Fiction" recently, loved it, and prefer it to this book that it is based on. The basic premise is the same for both: an academic Black man nicknamed Monk who is a writer has written a number of books critically well received, but that have earned him neither popularity or much money. So he writes a book in a matter of days in Black street dialect under the pen name of Stag R. Leigh, and of course it becomes an instant best seller. His book's title is, yes, Fuck, and is nominated for a literary award. Monk had already been chosen as a judge for the award and now is faced with reviewing the book he had written as a joke.
As he struggles with the book issue he is also processing the death of his sister, his mother's advancing Alzheimers, and his brother's disconnection from the family. He is briefly involved with someone romantically, responsible for the care of his mom, and somehow also manages to spend time fly fishing and doing fine carpentry work. And that's my complaint about the book. There is so much going on, not to mention the inclusion of the entire text of Fuck, that much of the time the book feels untethered.
The novel explores how White people don't really get Blacks, and absolutely don't know what to do with upper middle class Blacks. Some of the Blacks in the book can't deal with upper middle class Blacks either. This is biting and hilarious satire, and even if it is not as tightly constructed as some of Everett's other novels, I enjoyed it. I think the movie is better at getting to essentials but both are worth attention.
