Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery

by Richard Brautigan

The story takes place in San Francisco, California in the early 1970s. The title character is a papier mache bird that shares the front room of a San Francisco apartment with a collection of bowling trophies that some time earlier were stolen from the home of the Logan brothers. The human tenants of this apartment are John and Pat, who have just returned from seeing a Greta Garbo movie in a local movie theater. Their neighbors are Bob and Constance, a married couple going through some rough times in their relationship. Because of their failing relationship, Bob becomes depressed. Meanwhile the Logan brothers are looking for their bowling trophies stolen three years earlier. The brothers have turned their happy life of bowling into a life of vengeance.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Mystery, Humor, Literature, American, 20th Century

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Richard Brautigan was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he moved to San Francisco in the 1950s and began publishing poetry in 1957. He started writing novels in 1961 and is probably best known for his early work Trout Fishing in America. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1984.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel has a subtitle – A Perverse Mystery – and this at once catches a zeitgeist of the era it was written in and tells about. All that happens demonstrates a highest degree of absurdity and all the heroes are antiheroes.

Willard was a papier-mâché bird about three feet tall with long black legs and a partially black body covered with a strange red, white and blue design like nothing you’ve ever seen before, and Willard had an exotic beak like a stork. His bowling trophies were of course stolen.

Richard Brautigan, using his perverse magic, manages to put a postmodernistic spell on all the characters and on all the readers too.
Time always tries to steal our trophies…

[Arthur Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny yet so sad. Almost over the top but still entirely plausible. Brautigan was a master of this.

[صان · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب‌اش محشر بود!
درباره سه برادر که دنبال جایزه بولینگ‌شون‌ان که توی دو زمان روایت می‌شه و زندگی دو زوج. توی ماجرای زوج اول که‌ رابطه‌ی عجیبی‌ دارن، بعضی صحنه‌های معمولی‌ای داره که به شدت احساسیه. پره از طنزای خیلی معرکه‌ی براتیگانی! این کتاب باعث شد فکر کنم که براتیگان رو بیشتر از بوکوفسکی دوست دارم.

ترجمه‌ی آقای قدمی معمولن دقیق و خوبه. یک‌جا هم تهمید جالبی برای فرار از سانسور اتخاذ کرده بودن به این شکل که حروف کلمه‌ی سانسوری رو از انتها به ابتدا نوشته بودن.

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is short, easy to read, entertaining and presents a different style of writing. The characters look comical, the plot is sparse but imaginative. Was this easy to write? I don't know. But why was this not easy to put down once I started reading it? For two reasons I think: first, I was eager to find out what the point was, thinking maybe there'll be a really surprising denouement in the end; and second, there was a consistent feeling of accomplishment as almost all chapters one can finish reading each in a minute (or a few seconds!) or so.

The sado-masochistic, but funny, sex scenes here do not make this appropriate for kids. But if you have any adult friend or member of the family who doesn't read and you would want to introduce him to the joy of reading, or just so that he can finally brag that he was able to (at last!) finished a full-length novel, then this one is a good volume to start: short, sweet, sexy, funny, suspenseful, violent AND pointless, and therefore a great literature, because pointless works have what many say is the hallmark of a great literature--it is subject to a lot of different interpretations. Being pointless, readers imagine seeing points everywhere, diverse, with no common agreement of what they are, like people worshiping gods in a godless universe, or ghosts in a deserted cemetery.

[Miss Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کم‌تر پیش می‌آید که از کتاب‌های براتیگان لذت نبرم. فقط اندازه‌اش فرق می‌کند. گاهی کم‌تر و گاهی بیش‌تر. یک ویژگی خاص کتاب‌های براتیگان سادگی
قصه‌هایشان است. حتی در یک فضای غیر واقعی باز هم آدم‌ها و اتفاق‌ها ساده و معمولی‌اند و درگیری آدم‌های داستان موضوعات خیلی پیچیده‌ای نیست. ولی هیچکدام این‌ها از کشش داستان کم نمی‌کند. تو می‌خواهی بدانی آخرش چه می‌شود؟

باید این را هم اضافه کنم که «ویلارد و جایزه‌های بولینگ‌اش» ششصد و شصت و ششمین کتابی بودم که خواندم. مقام خیلی مخصوصی است که کاملاً اتفاقی به کتابی از براتیگان تعلق گرفت. :دی

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who is Willard? He is a papier-mâché bird. He lives in San Francisco.
Where does he live? I just told you. San Francisco.
No, I meant what is his place of residence? Oh. Okay fair. An apartment building.
Okay cool. Does he live with anyone? Yeah, I am glad you asked. John and Pat.
Why does he live with them? I don’t know.
What is his meaning in life? Bowling trophies.
Bo…Bowling trophies? Correct.
What for? I don’t know.
Where did he get these trophies? He stole them.
From who? The Logan brothers.
Who are the Logan brothers? 3 goofballs.
Anything I need to know about this situation? Yeah. Constance and Bob have wild sex. But it’s not that wild. It’s actually kind of tame. But Bob has warts in his penis.
Oh…. Wait, what? I don’t know man.

Brautigan lovers – Wikipedia told me this and I was not disappointed, in case you wanted to follow along:

In 2018, filmmaker Kansas Bowling and musician Kat Meoz shot the only existing footage of the real Willard for a music video for Meoz's song "Here I Wait".

[Arash · Rating 4 out of 5]

_
سرقت مسلحانه بعدی برادران لوگان از پمپ بنزین خیلی آسان بود. این دفعه دیگر از کتاب کمیک به عنوان اسلحه استفاده نکردند، بلکه کمی پول از اولین سرقت مسلحانه ی پمپ بنزین شان را خرج خرید یک تپانچه کردند، اما هیچ گلوله ای برای اسلحه شان نگرفتند. تا چهارمین سرقت مسلحانه ی پمپ بنزین شان گلوله نخریدند و بعد چند گلوله برای اسلحه شان خریدند و تا سی و دومین سرقت مسلحانه پمپ بنزین شان از اسلحه برای شلیک به پای متصدی استفاده نکردند و نا هفتادوهفتمین سرقت مسلحانه پمپ بنزین شان هم پیش نیامد که درست بین دوتا چشم های متصدی شلیک کنند، در حال وارد کردنِ توقفی ابدی و ناگهانی به بنزین زدن اش.
_
چقد براتیگان رو دوست دارم. چقد خوب مینویسه. چقد این کتابش خوب بود. حس و حال کتاب برای من خیلی خیلی شبیه دیدن فیلمهای برادران کوئن بود، خیلی شبیه به فیلم فارگو، هم طنز هم تلخ و هم پر از اتفاقاتی تصادفی.
داستان سه روایت داره، برادران لوگان که ویلارد و جایزه بولینگ خودشون رو گم کردن، جان و پاتریشیا که ویلارد و جایزه های بولینگ رو اتفاقی پیدا میکنن، باب و کنستانس همسایه طبقه بالای جان و پاتریشیا که داستان با اونا شروع میشه و ناخواسته وارد داستان میشن. بیشتر از این توضیح بدم داستان اسپویل میشه، هرچند از یه جاهایی از کتاب به بعد قابل حدس زدن خواهد بود که در پایان قراره چه اتفاقی بیفته. من که خیلی لذت بردم.

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 3 out of 5]

Κυκλοφόρησε στα ελληνικά, ως "Ο Γουίλλαρντ και τα τρόπαια του μπόουλινγκ", εκδόσεις Ελεύθερος Τύπος.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Richard Brautigan. He is not everyone’s cup of tea, but he is actually one of my favourite writers. It's because his writing has this odd mix of humour and sadness, melancholic is probably one of the best single word to describe his writing. On top of that, he was a poet before becoming a novelist, and it shows because his stories are often more poetic, than narrative, and they are weird (that is probably the second best word to describe his writing).

This book is divided up into three stories that collide at the end. One is about the couple Constance and Bob that have accidentally got themselves into a S&M relationship which they aren't sure what to do about. The second is about the couple Pat and John that live with a paper mache bird called Willard and bowling trophies that they found in an abandoned car. The last story revolves around the three Logan brothers who won a lot of bowling trophies, all of which have been stolen. The Logan brothers have been looking for their trophies ever since, and it's not been a happy search.

The plot, like in so much of Richard Brautigan's work, is weird. I think that is the only way to describe it. The subtitle of this book is A Perverse Mystery, but the mystery really isn't an interesting one. One gets to know very early on who owned the bowling trophies, and where they have ended up, but who actually stole the trophies, that's never revealed. The enjoyment of this mystery isn't built on the same thing as mysteries that fit the genre better. It actually has to do with the weirdness, and the mood of the piece, than the actual mystery.

Brautigan has created here an often very sad, but sometimes quite funny story, all packaged in his usual weirdness. The tone is a bit sadder then often before, but my main problem with this book is the ending. I didn't like it at all. In fact it kind of pissed me off. So I wouldn't say this was my favourite Brautigan, but the tone, and the mood of the book is something I quite enjoyed.

[fคrຊคຖ.tຖ · Rating 3 out of 5]

جالب و سرگرم کننده *-* امتیاز واقعی سه و نیم

[Ben Loory · Rating 3 out of 5]

most brautigan books are about 70% funny/joyous, and 30% heartbreakingly sad. this one flips that around to 80% heartbreakingly sad and 20% life-is-utterly-absurd. it's still fun (somehow??) and energetic and totally out of its mind but still bizarrely coherent, and the metaphors are still amazing, but man... it's tough going sometimes.

"It always happened this way: After he came his penis would slowly soften inside of her and their bodies would be very quiet together like two haunted houses staring across a weedy vacant lot at each other. Then always with a slight feeling of abstract disgust, he would pull out of her, get up and take the rubber off, carefully not looking at it, with his back to her and leave the room, and he would walk dream-like down the hall to the toilet. He hated the way the wet warm rubber occupied his hand like a dirty joke from outer space.

Carefully looking away, he would drop the rubber into the toilet bowl and flush it, feeling by now terrible as if he had been part of something very obscene."

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brautigan Stew

Combine…

2 couples
1 paper-mache bird
50 stolen bowling trophies
3 avenging brothers

Stir in humor, sadness, sex, awkward bdsm, shame, infidelity and murder
Bake until absolutely absurd

Serve with a shocking ending that is a rather extreme solution to genital warts.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s the Brautigan you point to when someone says, ‘I can’t believe he killed himself.’ Absurdity with melancholy of this stripe is a deep, deep blue.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are no words to describe how much I love this book.
Spaghetti bread tears. They get me every time.
❤❤📚📚❤❤

[Deacon D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the finest American novel ever written about a multi-colored papier-mâché bird named Willard and his bowling trophies.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Brautigan is a secret of American skill. Reading Willard and his Bowling Trophies, a one-hundred page nothing of sarcastic analysis of the American sex-life, I can only wonder why I'm not studying Brautigan alongsides the likes of Vonnegut and O'Brien; his style of characteristic half-truths intercepted by implausible irony and sprinkled with absurd humor reminds one and often blows away previous works of satiric beauty.

Though without the maddening meta-writing, mind-blowingly good self-insertion of Breakfast of Champions, Willard reads with the same ubiquitous message of anomaly. As no one is important, as no one is truly special, so too are Bob and Constance singled out as one case of what should be or shouldn't be normal. Their reprisals, something that comes not from deserving it but from the irony that no one individual in the story should deserve the fate that is brought upon them, underscores a sarcastic all-too truth from the American writers of the 60s and 70s: It can happen to anyone.

Without giving away the relishing results, I will describe to you what Willard is "about:" Bob and Constance's proto-sadism in the wake of genital warts; Pam and John's turkey sandwiches; a 3 foot art sculpture and it's bowling trophies; and the three brothers who want those bowling trophies back. As a good friend of mine put it: "This is the first time syntax has ever been funny."

Give it a read. The themes I feel are pertinent to the now... after all, the more death, destruction, and financial ruin that hits the world, the more people ask "why me?"

and I, and it seems Mr. Brautigan, have only to say: "Why not?"

[Corto Maltese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ο αμερικανικός παραλογισμός στα καλύτερα του.

[مهسا ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

از ترجمه رضایت نداشتم بخاطر سانسور. وقت متن مبهم میشه سریع میشه فهمید که سانسور شده و نیمه‌ی اول کتاب پر بود از این ابهام‌ها. یه جایی از متن هم «سینه» رو «هنیس» نوشته بود که سانسورچی نفهمه، ولی هیچ جا هیچ کلیدی نداده بود، ممکنه آدم نفهمه منظورش چیه. از اینکه کتاب چپتر چپتر بود و هر چپتر هم اسم جالبی داشت هم کوتاه بود خیلی خوشم اومد ولی بودن صفحاتی که فقط یک سطر توش نوشته شده بود. مثل «بی‌نهایت بلند و به‌غایت نزدیک» این کتابم کلی کاغذ هدر داده بود. حیف نیست این همه کاغذ هدر بشه؟ این همه درخت؟ آخرین ایرادشم این بود که مثنکه این کتاب جلد دومی هم داره ولی هیچ جای کتاب ننوشته که داستان ادامه داره یا جلد دومی هم هست. آخر کتاب خیلی مبهم تموم می‌شه و آدم ممکنه فک کنه پایان‌بازه. من خودم تو نمایشگاه کتاب این کتابو خریدم و خانم فروشنده بهم یه کتاب دیگه هم داد و گفت که این جلد دومشه. کتاب دوم که بارش کلاه‌مکزیکیه رو نخوندم هنوز ولی روش نوشته یک رمان ژاپنی و نمیدونم واقعا مربوطه به این کتاب یا نه. این از اشکالات فنی، از متن کتاب هم بگم که تا الان رضایت داشتم از کتاب. از این که داستان دو زوج رو موازی و هم زمان پیش می‌برد و لابه‌لاش داستانای لوگان‌ها رو هم عقب جلو میگف خوشم اومد. از ته‌بندی‌های هر چپتر خوشم اومد. جملات کوتاه بود که نمیدونم هنر ترجمه بوده یا هنر نویسنده‌. جملات کوتاه با ذائقه‌ی من جورتره. ولی پایان کتاب. پایان کتاب کامل نبود. بنظر طوریه که منتظر یه چپتر دیگه یا یک داستان دیگه‌ هستی. انگار داستان واقعا نیمه‌کاره ول شده، پایان باز نیست. کاش یک مقدار هم سرنخ به خواننده می‌داد. البته، فکر کنم داده ولی بیشتر، بیییشتر کاش می‌داد. هنوز کتاب دوم رو شروع نکردم برای همین نظر قطعی نمیتونم بدم ولی تا الان کتاب رو دوست داشتم بجز پایان. به کتاب ۴ میدم و سعی میکنم ایرادات فنی رو نظرم تاثیر نذاره. امیدوارم اون یکی کتاب واقعا جلد دومش باشه.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Brautigan is one odd dude, but he remains among my favorite writers all-time for sure.
This is a book I read about 30 years back in my early 20's and I had forgotten how oddly weird it truly is and yet for Brautigan's output that isn't saying too much because all of Brautigan's works tend to be oddly weird.
This book revolves around two couples living in an apartment complex and a trio of brothers looking for their stolen bowling trophies across the United States.
Among my favorite lines in the book is when one of the apartment dwellers, Bob, is eating at the kitchen table. Brautigan writes "One does not know how many miles per hour a fork travels when you are eating but his fork was moving at a normal speed when suddenly it slammed on its brakes in his hand and came to a screeching halt halfway to Bob's mouth".
Brautigan provides a slice of Americana in these 7 characters along with all of their issues, foibles, and a title character who's identity I do not want to spoil.

[Mahsa.Badrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

براتیگان همیشه همینقدر ساده و بی‌نظیره. جوری که نمیدونی با یه جمله بخندی یا گریه کنی.
ولی نکته‌ی جالب درباره ترجمه این بود که کلمه‌هایی که امکان چاپشون نبود رو برعکس نوشته. هوشمندانه بود.

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Τον Δεκέμβριο του 2013 διάβασα για πρώτη φορά Μπρότιγκαν, συγκεκριμένα το παράξενο και θεόμουρλο γοτθικό γουέστερν φαντασίας "Το τέρας των Χώκλιν", το οποίο απόλαυσα για την κουφή ιστορία του και την απίθανη γραφή του. Η μικρή νουβέλα που μόλις τελείωσα, αν και χωρίς ίχνος φανταστικού, μου φάνηκε εξίσου παράξενη, θεόμουρλη και απολαυστική.

Όσον αφορά την πλοκή, από την μια έχουμε τον Μπομπ και την Κόστανς, που, ελέω κονδυλωμάτων, παίζουν το παιχνίδι της "Ιστορίας της Ο", προσπαθώντας να ξεπεράσουν το πρόβλημα υγείας χωρίς να σταματήσουν τα ερωτικά παιχνίδια, από την άλλη τον Τζον και την Πατρίτσια που απολαμβάνουν τον Γουίλλαρντ, ένα πουλί από πεπιεσμένο χαρτί, που βρίσκεται ανάμεσα σε δεκάδες τρόπαια του μπόουλινγκ στο σαλόνι του σπιτιού τους, και στην μέση τους τρεις αδερφούς Λόγκαν, μανιακούς με το μπόουλινγκ, που τρία χρόνια τώρα ψάχνουν τα τρόπαια που τους έκλεψαν, με την ζωή τους να έχει πάρει την κάτω βόλτα, ταξιδεύοντας από πολιτεία σε πολιτεία και ληστεύοντας βενζινάδικα.

Αν περιμένετε να βγάλετε νόημα από την ιστορία, θα είναι σαν να προσπαθήσετε να βγάλετε από την μύγα ξύγκι. Δεν υπάρχει κάποιο νόημα, απλώς είναι μια τρελή ιστορία, με τρελούς χαρακτήρες, που διαβάζεται μονοκοπανιά σε δυο ώρες το πολύ. Η ιστορία είναι χωρισμένη σε δεκάδες πολύ μικρά κεφάλαια (το μεγαλύτερο ζήτημα να ήταν τρεις σελίδες) και έτσι βλέπουμε την καθημερινότητα των προαναφερθέντων χαρακτήρων. Το ύφος του Μπρότιγκαν παραμένει σταθερό, ιλαροτραγικό, άκρως χιουμοριστικό και αταξινόμητο. Τι να σας πω, δεν μπορώ να το περιγράψω, πρέπει να διαβάσετε κάτι δικό του για να καταλάβετε.

Προσωπικά μου άρεσε, ήταν ακριβώς αυτό που περίμενα. Απλώς ήθελα λίγες παραπάνω σελίδες, για περισσότερες κουφές στιγμές, όμως και πάλι δεν έχω κάποιο ιδιαίτερο παράπονο. Σαν βιβλίο δεν μπορώ να το προτείνω σε κάποιον, γιατί πραγματικά δεν λειτουργεί το ίδιο για όλους. Θα πρέπει να σας αρέσουν οι "ό,τι να'ναι" ιστορίες και το συγκεκριμένο ύφος γραφής, αλλιώς δεν...

[Egor Mikhaylov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Есть такая салонная игра — описывать несколькими словами большой роман. Чём больше роман, тем смешнее от несоответствия простого описания сложному (в смысле complex) содержанию. Вот «Уиллард», например — фильм Коэнов, пересказанный одиннадцатилетним пацаном, прячущим под кроватью стопку отцовских журналов: три брата-кегельбанщика ездят по Америке в поисках кегельбанных призов, теряя в пути всё человеческое и наказывая в финале невинных. Но это всё не меньшая глупость, чем измышления критиков, которые в предисловии приводит Немцов.

Ясно, отчего именно этот роман не был издан раньше: он, хотя и обладает бротигановской лёгкостью, трагикомичностью, искрится находками и деталями, непривычно горек, до комка в горле. И любителю Бротигана, и тому, кто о нём никогда не слышал, «Уилларда» рекомендовать сложно и неясно, нужно ли. (Дальше несколько неуверенных похвал, пошлых и потому вычеркнутых.)

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Selection of Quotes:

"'The dice of Love are madnesses and melees.'"

"No beards."

"RRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!"

"They were hollow points. They would tear a nice hole in you and provide you with enough death to last forever."

"Willard of course always stayed the same: a papier-mâché bird surrounded by his bowling trophies."

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky succint novella rich with philosophical and existential themes. Both sad and funny. Yep.

[Tom Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Brautigan. Funny, strange, sad, oddly profound. I obviously loved it.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brautigan is as original as they come. Yes this is a slightly perverted story as the title says from 1975 but the writing is good. There are a minimum of words here as well so this is a fast read.

Trout Fishing in America is one of my favorite books and the one that Brautigan is most famous for. Willard and the Bowling Trophies: A Perverted Story isn't quite at that level and it is a little profane but the mysteriousness is engaging. It reminded me some of The Big Lebowski and I can only wonder if the Coen brothers were inspired by it.

4 stars

[Adam Ferris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never in my mind did I think a book about paper mache, bowling, genital warts, and dementia would make for such a cohesive and enjoyable reading experience. Looking back on it now, how could it not have been? Richard Brautigan has a gift to make the impossible possible and then question how you even thought it was impossible before. What a gifted writer to create a book so playfully absurd, and hilariously story such as Willard and His Bowling Trophies. This book reads like an adult's children's book. I'm not sure if you'll get what I mean until you read it through.

Willard and His Bowling Trophies is a wonderfully quirky little piece of literature by a unique writer.

[Mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Brautigan at the top of his game, if you ask me.

Willard and His Bowling Trophies is a silly, in parts hilarious, short novel which revolves around and goes back and forth between three different stories.
First, there is the slowly disintegrating relationship of Bob and Constance in which Bob's memory has gone pear-shaped overnight and they are trying something 'new' to spice it up - sado-masochism. Bob bounds and gags Constance and although it initially turns her on and turns him on, Bob's bungling efforts to do it correctly end up being a turn-off. Somehow though, Constance continues to love Bob and sticks with him.

Then there is John and Patricia who live downstairs from Bob and Constance and they have a somewhat more normal relationship. They are also the ones who supposedly stole the Logan brothers' bowling trophies (trophy thieves) and have them on display in the front room of their San Francisco apartment, next to Willard, a beautifully carved and mysterious bird who looks out and over the trophies.

Finally, there are the 3 Logan brothers seeking vengeance! Their whole life was about bowling, bowling and bowling and had become quite accomplished at it, to the point where they amassed a cabinet full of bowling trophies showing off their championship victories. One day, while out at a drive-in, someone (supposedly John and Patricia) snuck in and stole them all. The next three years, they are driven with absolute zeal and murderous obsession to tracking down the trophies and finding the culprits who messed up their lives. They resort to burglary and hold-ups to finance their three-year operation and basically turn into lowlife criminals as a result. One of the brothers is bent upon revenge and finding the trophies preoccupies him day and night. The second brother always has his nose in a comic book and is daydreaming about selling salve, after he supposedly sees and ad about salve in the comic book. Finally, the third brother is all about drinking beer. As long as he has a beer in his hand, he is happy. It's really only the one brother who is completely determined to track down the trophies.

Anyway, Brautigan skilfully and with completely originality weaves and slowly fuses together a very funny and quirky tale in which these 3 seemingly disparate narratives slowly come together, overlap and weld. And, actually the last couple of chapters come to quite an exciting climax for the reader, which I certainly do not wish to spoil here.

If you'd like to know what happens to each of the couples, the Logan brothers, Willard and his bowling trophies, then you're going to have to do yourself and Mr. Brautigan a favour, and just read this delightful book. An easy 5 stars for me this one, folks. Enjoy.

[Lubov Yakovleva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Вчера на встрече "Оптика и музыка Ричарда Бротигана", посвящённой только что вышедшей книге "Уиллард и его кегельбанные призы", Шаши Мартынова задала вопрос "про что этот роман для вас?".
Вчера я не смогла ответить — пришла неподготовленной, пришла потому, что пришла, — желая разметить вешками свой путь к книге в надежде на помощь тех, кто уже подошёл близко-близко к Бротигану и откуда-то оттуда подающих сигнал, мол, иди, ничего не страшись.
Сегодня я уже могу ответить на вопрос.
Про присутствие божества в мире и про оставленность и неприютность.
У меня всё сложилось: и сон, откуда взялся образ бесстрастного, но разного Уилларда, подходящего к золотым и серебряным храмам. И то, как царственно восседал Уиллард среди кегельбанных призов, как он являлся и сиял.
Стремление к атрибутам божественного запустило таинственный механизм разрушения судеб братьев Логанов, у которых не было ничего, кроме побед в кегельбан.
Непостижимая воля божества, определяющая случайность любой случайности, уберегла одних и привела к гибели других.
А другие — как раз самые воплощённые и полнокровные, самые настоящие, самые не-картонные и не плоские персонажи романа — придавленные той сложностью, которой обладает проживание любви напополам, потихоньку отворачивающиеся от регулярности и устроенности, заданности обычной жизни (что показано в книге смешно, нелепо и немного обидно, а вот почему обидно, я говорить не стану), так вот, другие прекращают быть из-за этой случайности.
И я плачу о них. И я плачу о древних греках. Почему? Они умерли.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Why can’t he do anything right and he overwaters the plants and things drop out of his hands and he’s always falling over things and breaking things and he forgets what he’s talking about half the time in the middle of what he’s saying but I guess that doesn’t make that much difference because he doesn’t talk about anything interesting, anyway, and it’s been going on for months...oh, God...oh, well....we could be dead. Maybe this is better than being dead, I guess. I don’t know.”

This is the bleakest of Brautigan’s novels so far – and that’s saying something, since the earlier ones are pretty bleak, even when tempered by humour. But in Willard and his Bowling Trophies the sense of dissipation and loss permeates every paragraph and the crumbling of the American Dream is almost audible.

Constance and the increasingly distracted Bob act out a “fourth-rate theater of sadism” in a kindly but pathetic attempt to maintain their former sex lives, whilst the Logan brothers who “had started out in life as wholesome all-American boys” have – thanks to the theft of their bowling trophies – turned into vicious, though equally fourth-rate criminals in their bizarre attempts to get the trophies back. Only Willard, the papier-mache guardian bird of the missing trophies, “always stays the same”...

There is humour – and there is always Brautigan’s deft and delicate prose – but the overall feelings engendered by this short book are of sadness and loss.

"Q: What about the Logan sisters?
A: Forget them."