[close] You kind of get the feeling that if Jim Knipfel sat next to you on the bus, you'd get up and move. But it'd be your loss. Sure, he's surly, whacked out, and often socially unacceptable, but he can't be beat for smart, bitterly funny writing on subjects as varied as scuba diving and suicide attempts. The author of Slackjaw and a longtime columnist for the New York Press, Knipfel battles idiocy (his own and others') and boredom as a way of life. In Quitting the Nairobi Trio, he ends up in a psych ward after a botched attempt at ending his life with pills and scotch. Unhelpful attendants and randomly communicative wardmates fill his days, along with preposterously short weekly doctor sessions and rare family visits. Knipfel's memory for conversational bits is unerring; a simple question on his part is as likely to descend into violence as it is to end politely, and the result is a book that's hard to put down. Page after page grinds on in the black humor found only on a locked-door psych ward, and when the final illumination arrives--thanks to an Ernie Kovacs segment on a public television fundraiser--he can't even share it with his doctor. No classic happy ending from this author. Knipfel's viewpoint is definitely one-of-a-kind--and even fervent fans will agree that's probably a good thing. --Jill Lightner [close]