The Enthusiast

by Charlie Haas

Henry Bay has his own America going. If there's an offbeat interest or extreme sport that's poised to sweep the nation, chances are there's a magazine for its enthusiasts, and chances are also good that Henry has worked there. He's a modern nomad, associate-editing his way from state to state, exploring the small worlds that make up modern America from Spelunk to Ice Climbing, to Cozy, The Magazine of Tea . But those are other people's interests—Henry's still looking for his own enthusiasm. He ends up finding more than he ever imagined in this energetic, hilarious debut novel from a surprising and promising new voice.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club

278 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2009

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

In essence this is a road book, and our narrator, Henry Bay, travels across the USA searching, for himself of course. His road consists of serial assistant editor jobs at specialist, enthusiast magazines. He covers a pretty wide range of interests, from kite-buggying to tea, from guns to crocheting. He tries out all the enthusiasms about which he writes, broadening his experience of life and meeting a wide range of interesting people. He forms and breaks relationships, meets quirky people and encounters a real life terrorist. His enthusiasm, it appears, lies in appreciating the enthusiasms of others. Eventually he finds value in more personal connections.

(
Charlie Haas - from Litquake.com

In the America Charlie Haas shows us, one in which he has himself written for a wide variety of magazines, a relentless diversity of experience is all. Is he really making fun of the specialization and extremity of our collective interests, or does he think this is way cool? Is he merely describing a piece of our culture or taking a position?

One of the dangers of taking a distanced, (well, it felt distanced to me) sociological look at life is that it becomes tough to relate to the characters. That was my primary difficulty with The Enthusiast. I did not care about any of the characters. Although some rose to a level of piquing interest, they were quickly replaced by the next set of characters in Henry’s travels. This places a hefty burden on the other aspects of a novel. Is there a sense of humor, wit? Yes, but not enough to stand out. There was no laughing out loud for me here. Is there beautiful, insightful writing. Yes, some, but not enough to make it sing more than an occasional tune.

I guess I could say that although there were parts of the book I liked, overall, I was unable to summon much enthusiasm for it.

==================================QUOTES

P 73 - I had my own America going, a huge room lined with doors. Behind each door was an enthusiasm, a noisy roomful of slang, spending, sanctioning bodies, factional intrigues, and Freddy Pasco-like stars who walked like gods in that room and like toner salesmen everywhere else. Most people went through only a few of those doors in their lives, but I crashed one wild party after another and came back for more.

There was always a reason to change jobs. The paychecks bounced or were so small they cleared, or the magazines merged, my career keeping pace with the golden age of cutbacks. Why should an enthusiast go and a civilian stay? All those hang gliders, storm chasers, and battle re-enactors had found a way to stop time that I hadn’t, but I had the vocation of watching them do it.

P 85 - “How’s New York?” I said when he left.
“Well. You’ve been there, right:” Gerald said. I shook my head. “Wow. Well you owe it to yourself. And they’re ready for you. I moved there the day after I graduated. I gave them no lead time at all, and they were ready for me anyway. By my third day of walking to work I had my coffee guy, my bakery guy, and my fruit guy. The whole city runs on guys. It’s like polytheism with immediate rewards.

“You know how your big cities are supposed to diminish people? You’re supposed to feel small in the face of it? That’s bullshit. You walk down the street in New York, you see all these sagas going on, you smell thirty smells a block, and you snowball. These things are added unto you. If you want people to feel small, you have to put them in the suburbs. They drive those cars that look like dump trucks to make up for it. They put on weight so they won’t blow away.”

P 196 - They told me to go to some park where I could fool around without getting hurt, but I drove six miles up a mountain road instead. I start skiing down this narrow, winding road; the descents are like ten degrees, and there’s a sheer drop with no guardrail.

“It was so fast, Henry. And so cold. I was using ninety-eight percent of my brain to steer, and all that was left was the lizard brain, so I was thinking ‘cold too cold why cold cold?’ you know? There certainly wasn’t room to think about the things I was dealing with at home. Which there were a lot of.”


=============================EXTRA STUFF

A promo video from the publisher in which the author talks about the book and answers questions

A link to Charlie Haas’s Twitter page

[Jjanovyak · Rating 4 out of 5]

As funny and sweet as it is clever and cool. Not too many authors can maintain that combination. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun, and yet substantive, read! The plot synopsis had me at hello: Henry Bay works his way around the country, associate editing for a string of hobby magazines, like 'Ice Climbing,' 'Cozy: The Magazine of Tea,' and 'Crochet Life.'

The book is about Henry's own search for an enthusiasm of his own, but it's also a wonderful portrait of the hardcore love we develop for those pastimes that help us lose track of time. And it's about how our enthusiasms save us in difficult times. And it's about the long, slow challenges of family relationships and long-term friendships.

If you're any kind of an enthusiast, you'll love it.

[Margee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never giggled so much in solitary as when reading this book, and I'm only 60 pages in. I hate to finish it, but must keep reading at every opportunity. College student Henry Bay becomes a renaissance man, thanks to his string of editorial jobs at 'enthusiast' publications such as Spelunk, Crochet World, Kitebuggy, and Cozy: the Magazine of Tea. Luckily, he's a 'people' person who isn't hampered by a few kinks among the human resources, as he searches for his true vocation. But what will happen to Henry's enthusiasm when his beloved fringe publications are repackaged by corporate interests?

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author writes some lines that are among the best I have read in current fiction. Haas' voice vibrates with contemporary energy as his main character races from one special interest zine to the next, inhabiting the essence of each before the crumbling economy catches up with him. Simultaneously he must keep track of each of his unique family members. To read this book is to taste a bit of the culture of today before it too is gone.

[Ruthmgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a whim, from the new books section at the Library. It is a good little chronological yarn about brothers, the voice is from the younger brother, who discovers magazine work as an assistant editor and despite his low self esteem seems to set off on a career path of temping at small independent niche sport magazines. He travels the country and learns a little bit about everything. Strange twists happen. He grows up and A "tragic" event leads to him learning to trust himself and be thankful for what he has. He ends up trusting his intuition and that he has really been making good choices all along, ending up with a life he wants.

It is straightforward and in guy speak. So the dialogue is often like this: "yeah" "Cool" But I think it really works. KInd of a growing up novel.

I LOVE the book group questions at the end:
Who brought this salad?
Is someone sitting here?
Did you read this book? Will it ruin it for you if I talk about it?

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping to like this book, but it was just ok. Every now and then there was a disconnect in the language so that I didn't know what the narrator was talking about. It probably would work fine as an audiobook, because it seemed like it was written in a very "this is the way I talk" language, which didn't translate on the written page all the time, because you're missing the verbal cues. Also, I just didn't quite get the point. There's some thrown in stuff at the end which is basically, "It's not the destination that counts, it's the journey." Or something to that effect.

Reminded me a lot of Chuck Palahniuk (who I can't stand), minus all the unnecessary grotesquerie. So this was definitely more enjoyable than anything of Palahniuk's I've read.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Enthusiast is a very enjoyable coming of age story, and at the same time shows the weirder side of the magazine industry.I was caught off guard at times by the sly use of humor in Haas' first novel, and at times saw shadows of Holden Caulfield in the Henry Bay, the lead character. If there were half stars, I would give this book 3.5 for sure!

[MC Larry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. There are plenty of books that lack a plot, you just join the main character for a brief journey. Usually along the way the guy learns something or does something.

The protagonist in this book drifted through life pretty much learning nothing along the way. Then the book ended.

I'd ignore this unless pointless word-meandering is your thing.

[Lisa Dickinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off slowly but half way through it started grabbing my attention. The book took you through some extreme sport experiences and was thrilling at times. The relationship between the brothers deepened and it made me look at life (and life experiences) differently. I would recommend reading this book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny, scathing look at "enthusiasts" about a young man who writes for their magazines. Had me laughing out loud. Acute comment on our society, etc. Haas sure can write!

[Sally Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it, buy it, send it to friends.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be sure to get the book with the Reader's Questions at the back, too funny.

[John Thorndike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hip when it came out in 2009, it’s hip today, it will be hip, I believe, fifty years from now. Part of it’s the narrator, Henry Bay, who has such a savvy and inventive grip on how he leads his life. Here’s the start of Chapter 5:

“I had my own America going, a huge room lined with doors. Behind each door was an enthusiasm, a noisy roomful of slang, spending, sanctioning bodies, factional intrigues, and Freddy Pasco-like stars who walked like gods in that room and like toner salesmen everywhere else. Most people went through only a few of those doors in their lives, but I crashed one wild party after another and came back for more.”

The interchanges and dialog between Henry and the people he meets are never staid. Henry’s eye is too quick for that. He sees both the thrills and the failures of those “enthusiasms,” and gives us lively reports. When the author describes life in California, I have to take his word for it, but when Henry arrives in New York, I know he’s on the mark:

“I pushed through a door into the wet air outside and was pressed into a sidewalk army that was ass-deep in purpose. Everyone, happy or miserable, well dressed or in Air Clown sneakers and sex-boast T-shirts, had the most know-where-they’re-going faces I’d ever seen.”

Ah: the streets of Manhattan.

Charlie Haas is just as deft with his rural and small-town settings. He seems to have been everywhere, and seen the truth about everything. “The Enthusiast” lights up our country from end to end.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I owe this book a bit of an apology. I started reading it shortly before moving into a new house, so in the middle of it, there was a good stretch where I wasn't reading much because I was packing and hauling all my stuff and just generally being exhausted. So it's possible the book would've sat better with me had I had a more uninterrupted reading.

That said, this book struck me as one of those where a few decent ideas are smooshed together into the shape of a book. At the outset, it's the story of a listless, directionless young man criss-crossing America in search of his passion. The backdrop is his series of short-lived jobs at a various magazines that target niches of people with their own uncommon enthusiasms. Your rock-climbers and quilters and tea enthusiasts and what have you. This narrative conceit allows for a steady stream of eccentric characters, all of whom are more interesting than our hero, Henry Bay.

At precisely the moment you start wondering how long the book can sustain itself on this premise, it shifts gears and thrusts Henry into the next phase of his life: a serious relationship and a period of career stability. With Henry's wanderings no longer providing narrative sustenance, the book shifts its focus to Henry's family. The shift is almost jarring for its suddenness. What was once a travelogue with its cornucopia of eccentrics becomes a fairly rote family drama, albeit one with enough colorful details to justify its existence. The problem here is that we have never felt much invested in Henry's family - or, frankly, Henry himself - to care. The few references to his familial relationships up to this point never really resonate, so, aside from basic human decency, we have no reason to really root for anyone or care what happens.

All of this culminates in a climax that somehow feels meticulously, subtly foreshadowed while at the same time, somehow, dropped out of the blue. And what should catalyze some profound self-discovery is instead just some stuff that happens. Through it all, Henry seems curiously disengaged with everything that's happening, despite clearly caring very much. Maybe it's that we're disengaged.

In the end, the book is entertaining if nothing else. The writing is consistently good, with clever turns of phrase throughout, and the characters are generally interesting, the major exception being the protagonist. It's just that the book feels like it wants to amount to something, but never quite does. Perhaps we, like Henry, are meant to enjoy that we've had a few hundred pages of entertainment and make our peace with it.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having connections to a model for Rancho Cahuenga as well as to a town not too distant from the fictional Clayton, this novel had some geographic resonance for me. More importantly, its tone, deadpan yet heartfelt, also resonated, as did the mix of comedy and drama, and the concept of a protagonist chasing other people's enthusiasms. I frequently reread passages in delight. The 3-star average here surprised me. I am much more enthusiastic about The Enthusiast. And I was equally enthused to learn that Haas, as of late 2024, has a second novel.

[Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haas explores the fractured social-landscape of America through a series of magazine positions his emotionally detached, anodyne hero moves through. It's a good theme to explore, maybe the most important way to think about American culture globalized and for that Haas deserves credit. A rootless American unable to connect to a community or culture that speaks to him is the symbol of our times.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first it is a series of witty vignettes, but then suddenly, things speed up. The hero is a little lost, and is unable to protect his brother, but in the world of the novel it's okay, or at least not so bad. I liked the exotic reptile section, and the crocheted news stories, which reminded me of chilean arpilleras. It has not aged too badly, even though the terms of engagement have changed.

[Zellysgrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best written, wittiest books (“When your ass is your only tool, every problem looks like a couch") I've read this year (and we're talking about 130 books thus far & counting). He's a master stylist, truly original, and his material was as surprising and niche-like as the magazines his protagonist works for, jumping from kite-driving to tea-drinking, moving from one town to the next, living all over America:
“I had my own America going, a huge room lined with doors. Behind each door was an enthusiasm, a noisy roomful of slang, spending, sanctioning bodies, factional intrigues, etc. Most people went through only a few of those doors in their lives, but I crashed one wild party after another and came back for more.
“There was always a reason to change jobs. … If I didn’t get along with someone I was always the one to leave. Why should an enthusiast go and a civilian stay? All those hang gliders, storm chasers, and battle reenactors had found a way to stop time that I hadn’t, but I had a vocation watching them do it.”
His metaphors ring true, as in: "One hot Saturday I washed my sheets…and hung them on the clothesline… I started to go back upstairs but then turned around to stare at them. It was their least dingy moment of the week, but that wasn’t what stopped me. They were a movie screen for the sunlight, pregnant with rest, making a sine wave out of the breeze from the river.”
And the way he writes about New York made me miss the only place I've ever felt truly at home all over again, as in here, when the protagonist arrives in Grand Central Station: “Upstairs was much grander, as if to say, ‘ You thought that was it? PUH, give us a break, something better is always coming. The ceiling up here is so far over your head we’ve painted constellations on it, and the windows are framed with ruinous man hours of bas-relief birds,, branches, globes, and ship’s wheels, because this is the compass everyone has to pass through, and the bustle of a thousand people is as calm as a mt.side because you’re finally here, your ticked punched at last, although what kind of shadowy hick existence did you get yourself into that you’ve put it off this long?”
Then, outside:
“I pushed through a door into the wet air outside and was pressed into a sidewalk army that was ass-deep in purpose. Everyone…had the most know-where-they’re-going I’d ever seen. All of them could tell you what was coming next and the five things after that, because on the most real and official of American streets that knowledge was the minimum. … Even the mumbling schizophrenics here were the best in the country at what they did.”
And he continues with:
“I wanted in. I wanted to be offhand, to lean on a bldg w/ one foot up on the wall behind me and one hand at the small of my back, having a smoke and nodding half an inch at people I knew, in a muscle shirt, with muscles. I wasn’t going to get it, though. New York put out the strongest could-I-live-here I’d ever felt, and the answer was no, not if I’d never once worked for a biz that could afford the rent.”
As well as:
“You think YOU’RE sorry about New York. I thought New York was going to come through for me. I thought New York and I were going to grow old together.” Yeah, me too. Am still pining for that city, and given the way it's still being written about, and portrayed (even in lame movies like Friends With Benefits), it hasn't changed (by which I mean, it hasn't stopped changing).
This book is filled with truisms (“Nobody should ever tell anybody to calm down. That’s the worst fucking thing you can say to someone.”) that made me shout, AMEN!
It helps that I loved the ending, too. All together, a truly satisfying read.

[Lucas Garner · Rating 2 out of 5]

To write novels, you need to be a good storyteller and a good writer. If you are a good storyteller, but not a good writer, write screenplays. Vice versa? Write poetry. The problem with this novel is that Charlie Haas is not a good storyteller. There are a few scenes in the story where some hope of good storytelling would shine through, but not enough to make this largely non-cohesive plot remotely plausible. The story sets up as a series of moments where the protagonist, Henry, works for a plethora of strange enthusiast magazines. While the idea is interesting and occasionally allowed for some humor, in the end, it made the novel carry more of a montage feel, rather than being a novel. Haas would spend forty pages at one uninteresting magazine, and then about half a page at another, much more intriguing than the last. It also didn't help that the book would fast-forward months, and sometimes years, ahead in time without even bothering to tell the reader. While I have no problem with this convention, it does need to serve a purpose, and instead the author just seems lazy leaving out important gaps of information, leaving the reader to basically guess what had happened.

As the book begins nearing its conclusion, some for of a plot does begin to surface, a tale about two brothers, but Henry's brother had been left out of the novel for such a long time it seems like too little, too late. And therefore, I had a hard time really pulling emotion out of the concluding chapters.

What frustrates me the most from this novel, is that it has moments of brilliancy. Some really tight, humorous writing that sneaks up on the reader, but this doesn't happen often enough to pull the novel forward the way it should. In the end, we're left with a detached novel with some memorable moments, but the other two-hundred some odd pages will be easily left forgotten.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book and despite some great ideas and characters involved I didn't think it was great.

The characters are overly quirky (everyone but our main character has a thing as he drifts from one situation to another, often within pages, with no transition or clear direction or thought), and the story doesn't seem to go anyway. The situations often feel forced and instead of having character growth or a reason the story just moves on. Literally within pages with no explanations situations and places change and the author refers to characters that haven't been introduced yet by their first names and there's sometimes an internal monologue about these characters that doesn't match the conversation that's going on and the main character meets someone new every few pages and sometimes only once and we're supposed to keep them all straight and then there's a random family subplot that ends up consuming the story in a roundabout way. It felt messy and unsatisfying even as I was reading it.

I don't feel like there was any forward movement for any of the characters are any plot redemption. We see the main character go from hotel room to married in a few paragraphs, we get a small picture of domestic abuse toward the woman who rents her attic out with no further explanation, all of these little stories get started and none of them are really carried through in a way that just made the story drag.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry can't find his own enthusiasm. So he piggybacks off others hobbies and interests by working for enthusiast magazines to fill that void.

To start out with, Henry is going to college. He picks his major, law, so that he can be involved with a lawsuit against his father's former company who took his livelihood and his pension. Henry finds out after a semester that law school isn't all he thought it was. Through an internship with the law firm who is organizing the lawsuit against his father's company, he finds out it could be years before there is justice for his father and the hundreds of other employees.

During spring break, he is tempted away from school by the offer to work at a kite buggy magazine. And so begins Henry's journey, working at magazine after magazine. He writes convincingly about other's passions, but still doesn't find what he is looking for.

After some run ins with a memorable and eccentric friend from college, Gerard, falling in love, and dealing with his own brother's crisis, Henry starts to find his place in the world.

I think the concept is pretty universal; many of us are still struggling to find out what makes us tick. Henry shows us that the journey may be unconventional, but there's a way to find some peace and happiness by living on your own terms.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry drops out of college and over a decade works at dozens of small magazines devoted to various hobby enthusiasts from rock climbng to skate boarding to crocheting. His brother Barney is a brilliant scientist who remains unimpressed by Henry's career. Henry's journeys take us all over America, seen through his eyes as a land of lost souls needing to lose themselves even further into bizarre hobbies and sometimes dangerous minor sports. His brother Barney, a scientist involved in stem cell related research encounters a local group of harassing fundamentalists. To Henry's surprise, his brother begins to become obsessed with some the risky minor sports Henry has been investigating for years, placing himself in ever more dangerous circumstances. This is a witty and insightful page turner novel about contemporary life in small town America well worth reading.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a charming and funny book chock full of delightfully eccentric characters. The main character, Henry Bay, drifts through life until he lands a job at a small esoteric magazine and discovers the world of enthusiasts. He continues to drift through life never discovering his own enthusiasm until he falls in love with small town America.

There are also subplots about the way people are able to deal with the challenges life throws at you. His father becomes a motivational speaker after he is fired from his mid-level management job. His brilliant brother working his way to a Noble Peace Prize decides to try extreme sports and ends up with brain damage.

And somehow Henry ends up at peace, writing and editing a small town newspaper.

[Dree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly funny, not simply amusing. A coming-of-age book for adults. Haas has great insights and a great way with words--whether describing suburban California, marketing, enthusiasts, and family life (of vastly different families). A completely oddball topic, yet it works so well and he manages to say so much about life, relationships of all types, America today.

And the "PS" section at the back of my edition is one of the funniest things I have read in a long time. The "book club" questions made me laugh out loud.

[Erica]

The Enthusiast is the story of a man who spends his career working at various enthusiast magazines, from Ice Climbing to Crochet Life to Wakeboarding Weekly, all while trying to figure out what it is he's really into/wants out of life. It's definitely a gem--funny and compelling, and really charming. I didn't love the ending (liked it, but not love), which is the only reason why I gave it four instead of five stars, but the writing is wonderful and it's definitely worth a read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dunno. This book was all right and I don't think I could point to anything particularly wrong with it, but it just didn't ever grab me. The story seemed pretty good and I liked the characters. I just never got that into it. Maybe I was just in an odd mood. I do have to say that some of the enthusiast stuff in the book seemed like window dressing. Beyond that, though, I guess I just have to say it didn't grab me. It was still a decent book, though.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

We meet Henry Bay as an idealistic kid who wants to become a public-interest lawyer because of his dad, who got laid off when his company's management took all the money and ran. Fun! But he gets to college and starts working for a public-interest lawyer and simply isn't happy, so he takes an offer to come work for Kite Buggy, a magazine he once wrote an article for.
read more...

[Scotchneat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise - young man stumbles onto a writing gig about kite-driving, and ends up criss-crossing the country for every niche magazine you can think of--including knitting and tea. Anywhere there are enthusiasts.

Along the way, he makes and loses friends and family, learns about business and esoterica, and has observations about what makes life life.

Another good "first novel" finds.

[Julie]

Any magazine freaks will get a laugh out of hero of this book who makes his living editing "enthusiast" magazines for a living, covering topics from tea to waveboarding. You will get sucked into the flip, clever tone of this book. When the ending comes and your heart is aching, it will come as a surprise. The goodness of this book sneaks up on you!