This is the best post pretty much ever. I’m posting what follows below for my friend, Frank. Way back in October or early November 2004, Frank had a freak health emergency. He was rushed to the hospital and patched up. However, he had infections, fevers, major organ failures, and other life-threatening complications.
According to his doctors at the time, Frank was supposed to die around the First of 2005, but he didn’t get the memo. Somehow, he fought back. It’s been a long slow road with some rather unbelievable obstacles along the way. He was bedridden for so long that he has been working on relearning to walk and get around with atrophied muscles, but he’s been reading like a fiend. He sent me an e-mail earlier tonight with his thoughts on Jonathan Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude. Nothing makes me happier than being able to post here on his behalf. If he hadn’t been in a drug induced coma at the time, Frank would have been the first person that I strong-armed into our nerdy merry group. It’s a rainbows and unicorns kind of day here at BGB.
With the introductions properly made, here’s Frank:
I just finished “Fortress of Solitude” last night.
Jonathan Lethem is an extremely gifted writer with a great grasp of the
cultural milieu in which he evidently grew up.
I wasn’t sure where he was going to go with Dylan and Mingus after about
350 pages, but then Barrett Senior got shot and the section entitled
“Liner Notes” started, and it just knocked me on my ass. Wow!
I’m not sure why anyone that isn’t a white guy, between 20 and 40 would
get this book. It is replete with references from everything from early
soul to Fantastic Four, from Monty Python to the Gormenghast trilogy.
Barrett Rude Junior may be the best drawn character in a book since Tom
Buchanan.
The only thing that confused me was Aaron X. Doily’s ring, and whether
its power was imaginary, its effects simply perceived by the children or
real. It is only in the third act are we shown that the powers of the ring are
indeed true and that they only respond to Dylan’s command. The fact that
this isn’t clear earlier in the book, is the book’s main failing, or
perhaps its genius.
Even if you don’t get all the references (Lord knows I didn’t,
especially all the music,) the book is definitely worth the 500-page
ride, no matter what your background. The story is strong, the
characters are ultra-real and many of the scenes are quite tender.
Take off your Clark Kent glasses, use your x-ray vision and “boost”
yourself a copy of “Fortress of Solitude” today.
– frank
Way back in the early days of the BGB Empire, we had a lengthy back and forth on this book, with everyone having a slightly different take on it. Refresh your memory here and here.
OK, I have to post this now so I can comment on Frank’s post. Bye.
May 4th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Man, first post and he’s already playing the Gatsby card. Damn. Welcome, Frank. Keep ‘em comin’. A few thoughts on your part of the post:
In the million+ reviews I read of this book, which I loved, you are the first person to have it really come alive for them in the second half. I thought that each section had its strengths, and I loved them both. For some reason, a lot of folks think it sucked after Dylan grows up and leaves Brooklyn. I don’t understand that viewpoint. Anyway, I am going to have to go back and re-read some of the “Liner Notes” section that got you going.
I also found it interesting that your reading of the book is that the ring’s powers are real. My interpretation of the book was that the ring was symbolic in the late portions of the book, and the ring’s powers were fueled by Dylan’s guilty imagination - his need to picture an outcome where their childhood bonds have not been broken, largely by race. Or it could be that it really had magical powers. I’ve found that the magical powers interpretation really pisses people off for some reason. Either way, it was a great book. That there is some doubt about the outcome and it is open to interpretation is, for me, a huge strength - because then we can get into a beer-fueled debate at the next party.
May 5th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
First, I understand how the ring being magical would irritate some readers, after all if you don’t suspend disbelief early in the book, then you feel cheated (it’s as if the Millenium Falcon shows up in the last chapter of “As I Lay Dying” — didn’t see that coming.) But Lethem’s obvious affinity for comic books makes the concept of Aeroman somewhat believable.
Secondly, I’ll grant you that “The Prisonaires” section as told in first- person, could be only from a delusional point of view. But I’m not totally ready to make Dylan a deluded soul — I sympathize with him too much.
Plus, the logic which has the ring working for just Dylan and not Mingus or Robert is evidenced in the third-person, omniscient first act, as well as Dylan’s first-person account in the third act.
However, in a concession to D.J. Cayenne, Dylan’s life is stuck like Abraham’s in stasis or failure (profession, relationships,) and would be just the point in his life where he might lose his shit.
I don’t know.
May 5th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Frank, great to see you hopping into the fold. And between you and the fine DJ, I’ve never felt so freaking stupid in my entire life. I haven’t read this book, and the fact that I can’t comprehend your posts makes me think I could’t possibly understand it.
But that’s just me.
For those of you who are still tuned in, I’m about two thirds of the way through “Carter Beats the Devil”. Slow going, no fault of the book.
May 7th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Welcome back, your honor.
I had a somewhat similar reaction to the book, but I was let down by the last section. (DJ Cayenne’s comics fixation has yet to rub off on me.) Completely agree with you about Lethem’s ability to render these characters–Dylan, Mingus and Barrett are still extremely vivid for me more than a year after reading the book.
Now about that $200 I loaned you right before you got sick…
August 13th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
[...] Friend of the Blog Mr. Frank lost his almost two-year long battle with a freak illness this afternoon. In May Mr. Frank felt well enough to weigh in ion Jonathan Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude via instant messenger from his physical rehab facility (we posted it here). He even used the phrase “Gormenghast trilogy” - I had to look it up. Mr. Frank was a man of letters, a barstool philospher’s barstool philosopher, and a fucking champ of a human being. Wherever you find yourself today, raise a glass in memory of our Mr. Frank. [...]