An offbeat jeremiad inspired by America's cultural decline. For his
seventh work of fiction, White (Requiem, 2001, etc.) borrows the
name of his protagonist, Hans Castorp, from Thomas Mann's Magic
Mountain. Like the other Hans, this one is visiting his cousin at a
health facility, but otherwise there's little resemblance between
Mann's eloquent confrontations and White's scattershot satirical
jabs. Hans is 22 and from Downstate, Illinois. A recent graduate,
he has his first job lined up but, at his aunt's urging, is
checking on his cousin Ricky, who's been at the Elixir, a "recovery
spa" in central Illinois, for a long time. Realism gives way to
surrealism as Ricky screams obscenities at a placid taxi driver and
insists on giving Hans a revolver. There's nothing grand about the
spa: It looks like a strip mall of disused commercial buildings,
set in a dreary landscape of slag heaps and toxic lakes, with foul
winds blowing through. Hans is housed in a former Mr. Donut, where
the previous occupant had been a young woman who'd raped her
intoxicated father. What follows is a patchwork of narrative and
monologues by such Elixir notables as Mayor Jesse, who is convinced
someone has borrowed his genitals, and Professor Feeling, an aging
hippie who refers to himself alternately as a Toxic Adult Child and
the future Revlon Lama. Hans makes one friend, Cecile, an older
woman with an impressive cleavage, but, timid virgin that he is,
rejects her when she hugs him. White directs broadsides at the
fast-food industry and academic jargon, among other things, but
primarily he debunks the nuclear family, awash in alcohol, centered
on boozy fathers in thrall to television (an old target of
White's). In the process, he neglects Hans's predicament (is he
trapped, or simply assimilating?) and fails to pursue other
narrative leads (that revolver, say, or the exotic LaCrema, who
leaves phone messages but never materializes). Undisciplined work
from a writer who becomes tangled up in his own obsessions. (Kirkus
Reviews)
A contemporary version of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain, Curtis
White's new novel begins with Mann's "unassuming young man," Hans
Castorp, visiting his cousin at a health retreat. In this book
though, the retreat is a spa for recovering alcoholics, totally
unlike all other rehab centers. Rather than encouraging their
patients to free themselves of their addiction, the directors of
The Elixir believe that sobriety isn't for everyone, that you must
let alcohol work its way on you. Filled with many compelling,
outrageous, and comic voices, White's novel is disturbing,
charming, and biting. It is about a weird and unlikely world that,
nevertheless, is quite recognizable as our own.
General
Imprint: |
Dalkey Archive Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Lannan Selection |
Release date: |
November 2004 |
First published: |
November 2004 |
Authors: |
Curtis White
|
Dimensions: |
206 x 154 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
231 |
Edition: |
1st Dalkey Archive ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-56478-369-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
1-56478-369-3 |
Barcode: |
9781564783691 |
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