Gush

by Keith Abbott

Keith Abbott's first novel, Gush, takes apart and puts back together the lives of the people (on both sides of the "counter") in an unemployment office in Monterey, California, 1967. The characters in Gush include: Buck Gush, 132-year-old laid-ff Pony Express rider; arch bureaucrat Elmira ("Timber Wolf") Gush; Pinnochio Gush, the case-worker who had his face flattened to appear more neutral; unemployed Korean translator Magic Eddy Gush; a moth-balled U.S. army anti-aircraft cannon eligible for unemployment benefits; Buddy GUsh, host of the unemployment office's televised daytime game show, "How Fucked Up Are You?"; out-of-work hit-man Gus Gush; Fu Manchu Gush, former pitcher for the old Boston Creams (current occupation: wino on Cannery Row); Knobby Gush, who gives up his "job" singing along with Frank Sinatra at Beer Springs, cashes in his life insurance and goes to search for The Lost Indian Gold Mine at Big Sur; and many other lesser Gushes...

140 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1975

Reviews

[Persephone Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three things I enjoyed:

The structure, despite being an unconventional story, I felt compelled to continue
I never felt bored with any of the characters, they stayed around just long enough
The last names of the characters were identical

Three things I did not enjoy

The television show theme didn't really come across fully at a first read
Why weren't the "minorities" also carrying the family name Gush?
The enhancement of the style of writing in the second half that made me wonder why wasn't it in the beginning