The Last Book Club Meeting?!! Perhaps.

Hey All,
So longtime readers (I delude myself that their are a few of them) will recall that I attend The Hard Boiled Book Club at my local bookstore the last tuesday of the month. It's moderated by my old co-worker and fellow writer Zach Sampinos. The focus is on new alternative fiction which means the choices can often be odd but are never boring. Unfortunately my attendance has been a bit sporadic as of late because of life stuff getting in the way. Well tragically it turns out that my work wants me to work Tuesday nights from here on in. This bums me out because it's nice to have an excuse to read something new and meet with cool people every month. But such is life so other than the occasional schedule wrangling I'll have to let it go. Well maybe things will change in the future...we'll wait and see.

So this last Tuesday we sat and discussed Sean Ferrell's novel Numb. In this first novel the main character is a man who suffers from amnesia and a condition where he feels no pain. (This is actually real, read about it here.) Due to both these strange circumstances the main character lives an existence that is completely in the present. As I began this novel I was sure that this novel was going to take a typical path. However Ferrell has another intention entirely. Numb it turns out is a commentary on our insta-celebrity culture. Through very little machinations of his own the main character ends up being a freak oddity on Youtube. In this novel Ferrell uses clear cut satire to comment on what he feels is the difference between art and superficiality. Fame vs. real substance. These are the issues he wants to explore.

As important as these subjects are I was dissapointed when the ending came because I felt that we were finally learning something about the main character. He is a horribly passive character. This is pointed out to him by several characters. He is pushed and pulled by everyone else. It isn't until the very end that he takes initiative. It is a fist-pumping moment. I dearly wish that it had come sooner in the narrative. Otherwise the narrative is full of characters that I highly disliked (Emilia, Mal) or didn't know enough about to become invested in (Hiko).

In the end Numb has great moments in it, but lacks character development. Ferrell needs to decide whether he wants his stories to be commentary on subjects or characters. Some writers do both equally well. I'm willing to give him a chance on his next book to see what happens.

Enjoy! Book Slave.