Predictably, my guesses at the plot of this book weren't even close (duh). It was much better than anything I could have anticipated. So let's go through my list of I Hopes to see which were met and which were disappointed.
* I hope it's funny, and the humour is dry and/or cheesy.
It WAS funny! And the humour was kind of dark and sardonic.
* I hope the author doesn't try any
Check! Easy to read, the author didn't try to be fancy with the writing style. I devoured this book.
* I hope it involves a guy NOT getting the girl (or vice versa).
This was lookin' good for the home team till the very end. I was actually happy he got her, though, he'd been through enough.
* I hope the Blindfold part isn't figurative.
The blindfold was completely figurative.
* I hope it isn't set in the 1980's.
Set in 1985. My initial reaction: damn. After reading it, I changed my mind. It sort of poked fun at the 80's, and I was alright with that.
* I hope there's some disguising and/or furtiveness involved.
Disguising and furtiveness abounds! He really went the distance here. Mr. Shechter, I mean.
* I hope it isn't secret agent crap.
Ehhhhh. . . it was and it wasn't. It wasn't secret agent-y enough to ruin the book, and the secret agent-iness that did go on was really goofy.
* I hope the main character is geeky.
The main character is hopelessly geeky! He's easy to feel sorry for, especially once you know what's happening to him.
Ever been called an asshole by soda machine? Or lost your girlfriend to a tweed-wearing colleague? Has your apartment been broken into and vandalized? More than once? Has your mail been stolen, and then re-delivered to you three years late? Ever feel like the government has hired a personal saboteur to follow you around and ruin your life? Welcome to Jeffrey Parker's life.
Meet Hank Monroe, Jr. He was hired by J. Edgar Hoover to stalk one Jeffrey Parker, an average-looking 35 year old English professor with a PhD, a published book at 25, and a better-than-average intellect. Despite his credentials, he can't land a decent job at a major university, and finds himself instead deposited at the dubious Skokie Valley Community College to stagnate professionally. He's had offers from Princeton, Yale and the University of Chicago, which were all withdrawn suddenly, apologetically, and without explanation, thanks to some well-placed rumours perpetuated by Mr. Monroe.
Parker, or rather, ruining Parker's life, has become Hank's life's work, and this life's work is being frustrated by the subject himself. Over the years, Parker has accepted his lot in life as a rather unlucky bastard and developed a defense mechanism described by friends as "actively unobservant". He never dreams that every bad thing that happens to him is completely intentional, and simply doesn't react to the woes that Hank puts him through. This lack of reaction on Parker's part makes Hank's work completely unsatisfying to him.
Daunted by Parker's obtuseness, Hank resorts to outsourcing the majority of his work to a company who specializes in pushing people to their bullshit-tolerating threshold, Tolerance Management. Though the plug was pulled on the program funding Hank's work, he has continued it obsessively, determined to defeat Parker's indifference.
This book took forEVER for me to get into, but once I was into it, I had no difficulty in remaining engaged. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it or not; even though I liked it a lot, I can see why others might find it tedious.
2 comments:
Sounds interesting. If something isn't good from page one, I'm likely to set it aside and read something else. Sometimes it's worth it to stick with it all the way through, though.
Well, its being part of this blogging project provided quite a bit of motivation. I'm not sure I would've stuck with it if it were something I was reading on my own.
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