It is really quite hard to summarise or describe this book. It is the story of Thelonius 'Monk' Ellison, an author of books no one reads, whose latest book is rejected by several publishers. Doing the rounds of success is a book called 'We's Lives in Da Ghetto' pronounced by all to be a raw, emotional truth telling about what it is to be Black and by implication that there is only this one way to represent Black.

Monk decides he has to write a book in this style as he is often told that he is not Black enough. He likes things that are often seen as white and middle class: classical music, literature, speaking with a middle class accent and horror of all horrors, a Black man that can't play basketball.

Running alongside this story is the descent of Monk's mother into dementia, the death of his sister who worked in a Women's Clinic and his brother who comes out after 15 years of marriage and two children. And then there is the discovery of a half-sister, if all of that is not enough.

Monk's new book, 'Ma Pafology', written in dialect, tells the story of Van Go Jenkins, is the name a play on Van Gogh?, who has four children by four different women and ends up raping the daughter of a rich Black man who employs him. We get a book within a book here along swith snippets of other texts about woodworking or trout fishing both very 'White' activities.

Ma Pafology, renaned Fuck, goes on to win the most prestigious book award and on the flight to receive the award, Monk finds himself as Monk and his alter ego author Stagg R Leigh sitting in the same seat on the plane representing this split personality of being American and being Black.

Scattered throughout the book are imaginary conversations between artists, musicians and Hitler. The conversation that links to the title of the book is between Rauschenberg and de Kooning where Rauschenberg has asked de kooning to draw him a picture.

Rauschenberg: Well, it took me forty erasers but I did it.

de Kooning: Did what?

Rauschenberg: Erased it. The picture you drew for me.

de Kooning: You erased my picture?

Rauschenberg: Yes.

de Kooning: Where is it?

Rauschenberg: Your drawing is gone. What remains is my erasing and the paper which was mine to begin with.
p254

By writing 'Fuck', Monk is erasing his life as a Black man and selling his erasing through the book.

I struggled with the choice of Monk's name because I don't know enough about jazz. After a quick google I came across the jazz player described as innovative, uses improv by mixing genres and modes. Of course, that is exactly what Everett has done in this book. He is definitely challenging over categorisation of genre

So, this is a book about misrepresentation, or a refusal by society to accept more than one representation of Black-American life. Monk is erased by becoming Staff R Leigh, a parody of Black America and challenges us to think about what it means to be authentic.

Wonderful. ( )

Set up your Thelonius Monk music and enjoy the many challenges here!

Still a question: why didn't he respond to the possible attack by the man he twice saw
- and likely had been already stalking her - following his sister?

A favorite quote: "It is incredible that a sentence is ever understood."

(Why didn't everyone leave Germany after their art was being burned?)

Oh Lord, not the entire Stagger Lee story in the middle of this really good book...I skimmed a lot.

Plot also falters a bit when there is no explanation from the father for leaving those letters
where his wife would likely read them She did not deserve this and there were other ways to handle
getting the information to his most loved son.

As well, the constant self-hate for FUCK feels overdone when that is the only way to
take care of his mother, his sister's debts, gifts to other nerving people - and what he needs for a decent life...
as the author of exhaustive books and beautiful woodworks.

Plot moves forward with wonderfully predictable humor, except for finally sleeping with Linda - geez.

And dreams within a plot always feel contrived.

(Spare the lovely lonely trout.) ( )

This being the second book by Everett I've read, its quite a different breed from [b:Telephone|51541232|Telephone|Percival Everett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1573000040l/51541232._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73380945]

We first meet the main character, Thelonious Ellison, aka Monk, a black English professor and author. Since Everett's vocations are identical, I wondered if it was based on fact. Monk's narrative style is articulate and mainstream and as a result, he's respected in educational and literary circles. Monk is close with his elderly mother who refers to him as "Monksie", as well as his sister Lisa, an abortion clinic doctor, but distant with his brother due to sexual identity issues. Faced with years of disinterest in his latest manuscript, emotional turmoil erupts when he learns his sister was killed by abortion protestors. Since she lived close to his mother who's suffering with dementia, he's left with no other choice than to move closer.

Taking a sabbatical from teaching while exploring ways to help Mom, his frustration mounts when a debut novel by a black female becomes a best seller. Like a ticking time bomb, Monk nears the edge of the emotional cliff where an epiphany suddenly surfaces. Emulating the best selling author, he creates a new pen name and writes a manuscript in ghetto speak. Raw, angry and violent, it tells the story of a former convict as he resurfaces from prison. When his agent reads it, he thinks its a joke, but Monk demands he find a publisher. What transpires is far from expected.

Part farce, part realistic, this is one of the more unique stories I've read, but comes as little surprise given Percy's talent. Truth be told, I waffled while reading due to what I felt was overuse of flashbacks but in the end, I decided it was brilliant due to unexpected dark humor.

For those unfamiliar with this author who appreciate character, plot and style, I urge you to dip your toe into his writing which in my opinion ranks with the best. As an English professor at USC and creative mind, its clear he not only understand what great storytelling is about, but demonstrates it in every book he writes. Better yet, for those of you who enjoy mysteries, he's written quite a few though I'll be focused on his others. ( )

3.5
Three stars, but an extra half a star for the cleverness.
A satire of publishing houses, pop fiction readers, and white people, the protagonist is a writer whose books are too intellectually challenging for popular readership.
A black author, Juanita Mae Jenkins, writes a book that uses stereotypes of blacks in the ghetto As her fodder. her book becomes a runaway bestseller, and is sold for a fortune in movie rights. The protagonist is so nauseated by this, and when his mother begins displaying signs of dementia, when he realizes he will need a lot of money to take care of her, he sits down in a rage and writes a book that challenges Juanita Mae's. It becomes even more of a runaway bestseller than Juanita's has. Moreover, he sells the movie rights for three million dollars, plenty of money to take care of his mother in a fancy retirement home. He hates himself for it, though.
A difficult book to review, so I turned to quotes from the book for help:
"Sitting in the attending physician's office, awaiting a report on mother's first night's stay, I was able to examine the small shelf of books behind the doctor's desk. There were books by John Grisham and Tom Clancy, a paperback of John McDonald and things like that. Those books didn't bother me. Though I had never read one completely through, I had Peeked at pages, and although I did not find any depth of artistic expression or any abundance of irony or play with language or ideas, I found them well enough written, the way a technical manual can be well enough written. Oh, so that's tab A. So, why did Juanita mae Jenkins send me running for the toilet? I imagine it was because Tom Clancy was not trying to sell his book to me by suggesting that the crew of his high-tech submarine was a representation of his race (however fitting a metaphor). Nor was his publisher marketing it in that way. If you didn't like Clancy's white people, you could go out and read about some others."

The protagonist is invited to sit on a panel of judges to evaluate newly published books, 300 of them, and pick a winner. He defines the judges, who are also authors, including himself:
"the judges
Wilson harnett (chair): author of six novels. His most recent book was a work of creative nonfiction called 'time is running out', about his wife who was diagnosed with cancer. As it turned out, his wife did not die and all the secrets of theirs that he revealed led her to divorce him and so the literary community eagerly awaited his forthcoming book titled 'my mistake'. A professor at the University of Alabama.
Aileen Hoover: author of two novels and a collection of short stories. Her book of stories, trivial pursuits, won the PEN / Faulkner award. Her novel, 'minutiae', reached four on the NY times bestseller list. a resident of upstate New York (apparently all of it).
Thomas tomad: author of five collections of stories. Among them, 'the night they came', 'a night in jail', 'the night has eyes'. His work was praised by the American association of incarcerated people who write. Also the senior editor of an imprint of Saint Martin's press, Living Cell Books, specializing in books by lifers. From San Francisco, California. Jon Paul sigmarsen: a minnesota-based writer. Author of three novels and three books of nature writing. Won several awards for his 'living with the muskellunge'. Host of a literary talk show aired on PBS in St Paul called with all this snow, why not read?
Thelonious Ellison[protagonist]: author of five books. Widely unread experimental stories and novels. Considered dense and often inaccessible. Best known for his novel 'the second failure'. A lonely man, seemingly having shed all his friends. Visits his mother daily though she cannot remember who he is. Cannot talk to his brother because he is a nut. Cannot speak to his sister because she is dead. Too mystified to actually be depressed. Likes to fish and work with wood. Looking for single women interested in same. Lives in nation's capital."

Though he does everything in his power as a judge to discard his sell-out book, which has been submitted, all the other judges choose it as number one. He is totally disgusted by this, but the book and his persona as its author (Staff R. Leigh), has become bigger than himself. ( )

Always read Percival Everett. ( )