The Ass's Tale

by John Farris

Fiction. John Farris's THE ASS'S TALE is a Rabelaisian story of a dog's search for his identity. Told in the existential down-and-dirty vein of Ralph Ellison, Ishmael Reed and Chester Himes, this book (in manuscript form) circulated through New York City's Lower East Side for years. John is a longtime denizen of the neighborhood; he still lives above the Bullet Space Gallery at 292 East Third Street. "Hot dog! Dirty dog! If you ever wanted to know about invisible sex, check this out!"--Steve Cannon, author of Groove, Bang, and Jive Around and Director of Gathering of Tribes Gallery.

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2010

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

John Farris (1940–2016) was an American poet and novelist who lived in the East Village neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fa...

Reviews

[Ana WJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

the great bum snake book

[Stewart Home · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's somewhere between Ishmael Reed and William Burroughs - but more subtle and less fried than Burroughs. A drug influenced piece of post-surrealism that tells it how it is about race in the USA. A hipsters' journey in search of his lost identity - he's turned firstly into a dog and then becomes invisible - but also a battle to stop those who are trying to kill jazz music by murdering those who make it.

[Michele · Rating 1 out of 5]

A retelling of The Golden Ass by Apuleius. Another reader summarized it as "...A hipsters' journey in search of his lost identity - he's turned firstly into a dog and then becomes invisible - but also a battle to stop those who are trying to kill jazz music by murdering those who make it."

I really enjoy surrealist and edgy books, and when I came across this title in the Small Press Distribution catalog ( https://www.spdbooks.org/ ) it sounded right down my alley. Now, while I generally like going into the unusual tale, an author needs to pull me into story within the first few pages. I can usually read on and find the place where the story starts cooking, so I'll keep an open mind and continue reading. With Farris' book I pushed on, and even though I tried up through page 30, I still couldn't get into it. This book is a DNF for me.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The previous two reviews (one five star, one one star) gave a short, pithy summary of the book and what it is about. But I would like to add that it was delightful to read because of its playfulness, its way of poking fun at itself, its word jazz which probably sounds better to speak than to read on the page. It deals with very serious subjects (institutional racism, drug abuse) and takes them seriously without wallowing in them -- instead persisting, surviving, and ultimately thriving despite them. It makes all kinds of allusions, some to classical stories, some to jazz music, some to local New York places and characters, never dumbing down nor being snobbish to the reader. This is not only a cult classic, but an under-rated cult classic that should find a wider readership.