REVIEW: FOREVER RUMPOLE by John Mortimer

It's going to be impossible to review this book without comparing it to the works of PG Wodehouse.  The writings share a number of attributes -- silly surnames, ridiculous situations, and even more unlikely solutions.  Barrister Horace Rumpole tells stories from the first person, much like Bertie and Mr. Mulliner, but his are from the Old Bailey and its environs.  And instead of focusing on the theft of cow creamers and fickle romances, Rumpole must use his wits to set free ne'er-do-wells who (probably) didn't commit the crime they are on trial for.

Somewhat jaded, Rumpole has seen it all at this point.  He is little fazed by the cluelessness  of dregs of society or the incredible antics of the Ministers of Parliament.  His nonchalant narrative makes the stories all the more entertaining for a lay audience.  One needn't be a student of the law to get caught up in the tales of the court anymore than you need to have a country house to want to go Bunburying.  I will admit, however, that my maniacal watching of Law & Order: UK hasn't hurt any with some of the vocabulary.

Unlike Bertie Wooster, Rumpole is actually trying to better his world, one client at a time.  He doesn't think of himself first, or rely on a Jeeves to get him out of a scrape.  Rumpole takes on injustice when everything stacked against him.  He thrives on it.  He's a bit like Wile E. Coyote, except his traps actually work.  While other barristers and solicitors are content with a deposition, Rumpole finds the one tiny detail that unravels an entire case.

Reading Rumpole is a sheer delight.  The stories are lithe and funny.  Mortimer has drawn imperfect, realistic characters for us to watch from the gallery.  Or better yet, beside him at a pub, sharing a pint and stories of "that time when...".

A great many thanks to Meghan at Viking for the review copy.
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ISBN 9780670023066 | 528 pages | 10 Nov 2011 | Viking Adult | 5.98 x 9.01in | 18 - AND UP 

REVIEW: STORIES FOR THE NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY by Ben Loory

It's a deceptive little book.  Not too thick; it's compact and fits easily into your bag.  Just pull it out while you wait at the car wash or in the subway.  Something to pass the time.  

But that's what it wants you to think.

Soon you will be swept away into dimensions where a TV set can write an opera, a man and a moose are good friends, and an octopus is named Harley.  Also, Harley likes to drink tea.  Yet it makes sense.  None of it is as fantastical as it sounds.  Author Ben Loory's tone and style are so matter-of-fact that the reader hardly blinks.  The stories are so darn sure of themselves that the reader doesn't bother to question it.  

Author Loory, as enigmatic as his stories.

Loory has a few outings under his belt -- he's already appeared in The New Yorker, The Antioch Review,  Danse Macabre and dozens of others.  But something that sets these tales apart is a sense that they belong together.  Their style is simple and less wordy than previous stories.  Not that his writing is flowery by any means, but Stories... is different.  The characters don't have names (well, except for the octopi, of course). They have little if any physical description.  They are only important as puppets or stick figures in a diorama. 

Author, screenwriter and host Rod Serling. 

They are generally unwitting pawns to a skewed universe. In fact, his stories are more like fables.  And many of them are very short - just a page or two.  But there is a mysterious world packed into those few words.  And like an episode of the classic Twilight Zone, a meaningful change of perspective that gives new context to the story just when it seems you have figured it out.  Yet there is no thin layer of American cheese that seems to appear in many of Serling's episodes.  Loory's tales are clear and simple.  And yet neither simple nor clear-cut.

Did I mention it is deceptive?

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Thank you to Lindsay and the folks at Penguin for the review copy.  This book is also a featured title in a series of original fiction called Penguin Makes Paperbacks.

ISBN 9780143119500 | 224 pages | 26 Jul 2011 | Penguin | 8.26 x 5.23in | 18 - AND UP 

Interview with Character: Author Ben Greenman

Greenman is making classic literature engaging. And his own engaging literature. Some may remember his project Hotel St. George Press, which invited his readers to interact with his main protagonist. The seventh and final story was left intentionally unfinished and readers were invited to send in postcards with the missing bits. Here are some of the responses.

In preparation for the release of his next book, What He's Poised To Do, Greenman is hosting a blog called LETTERS WITH CHARACTER. The conceit is simple. Write a letter to a fictional character, and read what others have sent as well.  I wrote one to Dr. Watson, encouraging him to keep his chin up in the face of Sherlock's mood swings.  I also wrote to Ben Greenman (and he wrote back).

Q: What prompted this idea?  Was there a frustration with a certain character that inspired you?

A: I have always been frustrated with characters. I talk back to them (not out loud, but in my head) like people talk back to movie screens.  I wouldn't say there's anything too specific, though the Odyssey always drove me nuts, the way that Odysseus just couldn't get home on account of his encountering magical beings and hazards.

Q: If someone is interested in writing a letter but feels "out of their league", do you have any advice on how to start?

A: Start with "Dear [Name of Character]" and just go from there. That may not be very useful. 

Maybe this is more useful: Have a point in mind, a motive: Are you complaining? Praising? Noticing? Desiring some kind of interaction that wasn't present in the original book? Someone wrote me earlier today saying that they wanted to warn Roger Wade, from Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. That seems like a nice motive. 

Q: Will the site be open indefinitely?  Or do people have to submit by a certain date?

A: It will be open for a while, but Harper Perennial wants to focus on the next month, for starters. Students are still in school, for example, and this seems like a great exercise for them, since letters are a highly compressed form of writing -- you have to pretty quickly establish voice, character, tone, audience, and possibly even an argument.

Q: I see you have a book coming out.  Tell us a little about it.

A: It's a collection of stories called "What He's Poised to Do," out in June. It is the book that evolved from Correspondences, which I mentioned before. We added nine or ten stories, took one out, and ended up with a set of pieces about...well, I'm not sure I'm the one to say. About humanity? About relationships? All of them have something to do with letters or letter-writing; I wanted to set the book all over time and space (one story takes place in Northern Africa, one in New York, one on the border between India and Australia, one on the moon) but keep certain things consistent, like the fact that people always try to connect with one another and always succeed and fail in equal measure. Letters are at once the cause of this problem and the solution to it. It's a very different book from the last one, which was a funk-rock novel called Please Step Back (2009), but the themes aren't so different.

Q: What attracts you to writing in general?

A: It's the best the planet has to offer, at least to me. If I could sing or I was an especially talented painter or I was seven foot three, I might feel different, but I'm not, and I don't.

Q: Do you think any of the literary characters will write back?

A: I hope so.

--- Interview from May 11, 2010 ---

What He's Poised to Do

Stories

By Ben Greenman

Price:	$13.99
On Sale:	6/15/2010
Formats:     Trade PB | E-Book