Uncle Sam’s Carnival of Copulating Inanimals in Q&A with Eric Hendrixson

Oct 25, 2010 Steve Lowe rated it really liked it

Shelves: bizarro, nbas

I should review this book with a clearer head, one not blocked up with infected globulous matter, but my own phalanx of phlegm reminded me too much of the final showdown in this story. The main character Gary, a slippery feller composed not of flesh but of his own vitreous humor, is battling Uncle Sam and his murderous shadows for control of the inanimals, which are furniture - desks, chairs, couches, futons - that have been imbued with human souls...

Actually, I won't go on since I don't want to ...more

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May 13, 2011 Gabriel rated it liked it

Shelves: to-read-again

[Full disclosure: Won this book in a Goodreads Group Giveaway]

When it comes to music, there is the rule of three. A person isn't really ready to comment until they have listened to the entire album three times through. A book like Uncle Sam's Carnival of Copulating Inanimals argues the same theory should be attached to literature. This is a book that, upon the first read, the reader WILL MISS something. There is possible self-referential bits ("but that is a story for another time, another place [Full disclosure: Won this book in a Goodreads Group Giveaway]

When it comes to music, there is the rule of three. A person isn't really ready to comment until they have listened to the entire album three times through. A book like Uncle Sam's Carnival of Copulating Inanimals argues the same theory should be attached to literature. This is a book that, upon the first read, the reader WILL MISS something. There is possible self-referential bits ("but that is a story for another time, another place" pg. 66 and Chapter 4 on page 31 is called "Another Time, Another Place") and the possibility of a story within a story contained within these 76 pages. There are, of course, the obvious metaphors - Uncle Sam and Liberty being only two of the many - but delving deep into the author's meaning of the metaphors will require another reading. Maybe two.

This well-written book struck me as having been constructed, almost phrase-by-phrase and to review it after just finishing it for the first time feels inadequate. There is a lot to say in favor of books that require extensive thought and time in them. But at the same time, there are an equal number of arguments against them. For one, it felt like the purpose of this book was a "MESSAGE" as opposed to "entertainment." Now I'm fine with that (hell, I loved Requiem For A Dream which is about 90% MESSAGE), but in a book about a carnival that contains an act so unique that the only way to applaud the act is through vomiting ... well, the message should be a little less neon-lit. Even Stephen King's works, though heavily moralistic, put a plot and strong character development first.

Partly this could be due to being a debut novella. The novella format alone creates numerous challenges that evade the novel and short story and this can affect the story being told; that could be a factor. Novellas are interesting creatures that refuse easy categorization and follow their own rules of story telling. Still, there are elements that should be true for any story - the essential ingredients of plot, character and setting - but how they are developed in the novella format is different.

Overall, I leave the first reading of this book conflicted. Yes, I complain a lot above, but during the reading, I was beyond engaged. I was recommending this to anyone. The writing style itself was conversational and easy. Sure, there's an awkward turn of phrase here or there, but for the most part it fit perfectly with the book and made the whole reading of it more ... fun. It's only after finishing that the enjoyment of the reading faded and nebulous clouds spelling out MESSAGE appeared that I realized most of my thoughts during the reading weren't necessarily focused on the right items. It's like watching the Sixth Sense and feeling cheated by the clues you missed.

I leave this book with a 3-Star Rating, hoping that Kirk Jones's next book will allow the message to develop naturally through the surrealism employed. I also leave this book with a 3-Star Rating thinking that, upon my next reading, it will change and probably go up. It's short enough that I'll end up reading it again by the end of this summer. ...more

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Dec 22, 2010 Eric Hendrixson rated it really liked it

I read this book months ago and should have reviewed it months ago, but every time I started, I felt a little bit stupid. My various impressions of the book piled on top of each other, like an evictee's furniture on the the sidewalk. I just have to admit it and move on: this book is smarter than I am.

The book starts with an optimistic young man, Gary, looking for work during the Industrial Revolution. When his childhood work loses him an arm, a leg, and his family, he makes his way into a factor ...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: bizarro, circus-carnival

After finishing a ginormous book that sucked my brain power, this was just the sort of book I needed to read, in order to restore my brain functions back to being a bit left of right.

As far as bizarro is concerned this one isn't that strange, trust me, I've read a lot more weirder ones. However, it was very well written, just like all NBAS titles are. I throughly enjoyed the carnie vibe and really liked the character of Uncle Sam, as well as, his political outlook and statements. Then of course ...more

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May 04, 2011 Dustin Reade rated it really liked it

Imagine Kafka reincarnated through a Burroughs filter into a Frankensteinian body made from bits of Celine, Tom Robbins, and Vonnegut. THis hybrid-writer-beast then proceeds to tromp across America, pen in hand, composing lyrically inventive, semi-offensive satire on the walls of various truck stop bathrooms. I like to imagine this book would be those writings. Sure, it may be a bit intense (it is. there is a definite message to the work, which was totally lost on me as I was far too engrossed i ...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Douglas Hackle rated it really liked it

So I especially enjoyed the surface level of this quasi-Victorian bizarro allegory, i.e. the “literal” level of the story, wherein a man composed of vitreous humor gets a job training living furniture to have sex in a traveling carnival to the delight of spectators who vomit instead of applaud. As far as the allegorical/sociopolitical level of this novella goes, I suspect I may not fully comprehend it. Regardless of the extent of my understanding or misunderstanding of the figurative level, I th So I especially enjoyed the surface level of this quasi-Victorian bizarro allegory, i.e. the “literal” level of the story, wherein a man composed of vitreous humor gets a job training living furniture to have sex in a traveling carnival to the delight of spectators who vomit instead of applaud. As far as the allegorical/sociopolitical level of this novella goes, I suspect I may not fully comprehend it. Regardless of the extent of my understanding or misunderstanding of the figurative level, I thought the book had a slight, sort of Dickensian didacticism to it that I could have done without. However, this very small complaint did not interfere with my enjoyment of the surreal and highly entertaining surface level of the story.

I said I probably do not fully comprehend the symbolic level of the book, but let me take a stab . . . ahem. Surrealist trappings aside, in a fairly traditional Marxist fashion, USCOCI draws attention to the inherently exploitive nature of the capitalist machine as it exists in the USA, a system in which the masses are nothing but cogs. For such a system to function and persist, it must lie hidden beneath the veneer of the American Dream, which, as Uncle Sam puts it in the book is, “. . . a dream of something that never was and never will be.” Through our complacency, hedonistic consumerism, and willingness to be perpetually hoodwinked, we cogs perpetuate this exploitive system from within, figuratively fucking each other over just as the inanimals (the living furniture in the story) literally screw each other to splinters, losing our unique identities as individual humans in the process.

Eh, something like that, but I probably should give this one a second read at some point. It’s short enough.

But first I need to go outside straightaway and screw my Toyota Corolla in the exhaust pipe.

(Wait a second, that pointless and immature non sequitur of a joke doesn’t even make sense. The book in question is not about human-on-automobile sex or even automobile-on-automobile sex: it’s about furniture-on-furniture sex. Shit, it’s too late--I already clicked “save” and I don’t know how to use the “edit” function. Stoopid Loopid!)
...more

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