Mark Leyner and RFB

Hey Guys! Wow, it's been a while since this blog has seen the light. Over this past year, I've been perusing to see if anyone has written, and it looks like it ran out of gas after Eugenides. I think that's where I started, or at least was in medias res, of not being at RFB because of my busy life. Since I'm not going to be there for my book, I'd thought I'd put my two cents in on the book I chose. First, I think that the book that was chosen didn't end up being chosen. I emailed Kelly and told him that I wanted Mark Leyner's "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack," his new release after 15 years. Then, I recommened his "Tetherballs of Bogainville" as a warm up for his style. I think they took that as a choice for my book, which is okay. As long as they get a glimpse of his style, I'm okay with that. So this Sunday, I'm going on a 20 road trip to Chicago for the first time with my family, which means I will miss my turn at RFB at the Gingerman for my book. I was planning to go, but I was also planning to do this road trip; we bumped up the road trip just because the schedule warranted us to fit in a visit to grandma a week earlier. Planning for this trip is chaotic in itself, I've done many, many road trips before in my life (I drove 16 strait hours to Denver,) but I never took a road trip with two kids before. This one is going to be quite interesting. Anyway, I'm not here to blabber about my vacation, I want to talk about my book. I saw Kelly and Carl deride the book, which is great, I mean, that's what RFB is for, sharing your reading and give "discourse of reason with libations." However, I wonder why there was such a negative reaction to the book. Reason one, I think, is that they just thought it sucked. That could be the strait honest dope! But it makes me think about how much I really enjoy Leyner. Could it be a generational thing? Could it be that when we read a book, our expectations are different? By now, our RFB proclivities are pretty transparent, I know what each reader likes. I also can presume that the RFB readers know what I like to read: mostly postmodern Lit. I think that the second reason they had a distaste for Leyner was that they didn't understand what he does with the language (or in reality terms, didn't care.) I think that's the difference. I've been reading Leyner for so long, when his novels come out, I'm like a teenage girl, totally immersed in the worlds Leyner has created. I enjoy the free-floating recursion he creates in each sentence, and the discursive frenzy he creates with his plots. When I go into a Leyner piece, I don't expect anything, I want to be lost, my mind excoriated from confusion. With Leyner, you're either with him, or against him. I'm like that with a lot of my interests. One particular interest: Phish. I've been obsessed with Phish since High School, so when I tell people about it, they're like "cool" but their mind says "this shit sucks." Leyner is like Phish, being that - and I'm going to cross breed here by referring back to a 1992 interview Trey Anastasio gave about his band Phish - he said "With our band, people that get hooked to our sound, it becomes an obsession. Our songs weave in and out of each other, our lyrics reference characters with many plot lines and adventures, and our shows covet a great live experience that makes people want to see what we do next. Some first time listeners hear us and are like "What the hell is this?" And rip us apart. There's nothing you can do about it except keep doing what you're doing and keep your followers around." I think that's what it is about Leyner's writing. He's so keen on his hyperactive craft that people like me respond to it. I always like to be challenged, especially humor wise, and he's so quick with non sequiturs and nonplussed nonsense, I'm just like "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I like it!" The Sugar Frosted Nutsack is more of this, I think, because he's built a foundation with his style, and he just took off with it. So, those are my two cents. I wish I could write more, but the kids are getting up. I hope that I'll be able to make the next one, I miss imbibed insight over at the Gingerman, as well as the company. Even though I don't go to the meetings, I still do the homework. Hope all of you are doing well.