A Genuine Monster

by David R Zielinski

Overview

Set in a present-day version of a San Diego that is troubled by earthquakes and the imminent arrival of space aliens, A Genuine Monster is a darkly comical novel that recounts the tumultuous and apocalyptic last day in the life of a disturbed veteran, Nick Ames. The novel follows the course of Nick's last day, as he attempts to rejuvenate himself by connecting with his bizarre friends (a hack writer and a twisted waitress). At the same time, he suffers the traumatic consequences of searching for meaning in an America gone mad.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595282814
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/11/2003
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.57(d)

Editorial Reviews

Nick Ames, narrator of this promising debut novel, is a disturbed Vietnam veteran clinging to reality in San Diego. In his free-floating memories, several planes of existence fitfully interpenetrate: his boyhood molded by a moody, beer-swilling father; his stint as a minor-league baseball player; sexual fantasies involving nympho waitress LaWanda Hernandez, at whom he beams thought waves; flashbacks of battles and bootcamp, of Saigon girlfriend Miki who seems to have been his closest human contact. Ames's landlady, who's in a UFO cult, begs him to join a vigil waiting for the aliens. His best friend Argo is a drunk who writes pulp spy thrillers. In a fragmentary style that reflects the protagonist's confused mental state, this jagged lyric tale charts the course of Ames's last day, setting his failure to connect against the trash heap of popular culture. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Zielinski's first novel chronicles the final day in the life of disturbed Vietnam veteran Nick Ames. Unable to differentiate between Godzilla movies and reality, Nick makes a last-ditch effort to define himself, but the result is apocalyptic violence when his small circle of bizarre yet ultimately shallow ``friends'' fails to rejuvenate his degenerating psyche. The story is told in beautifully subdued prose which softly reverberates the violence that exists at the novel's core. This work gracefully defines the human condition through Nick's childlike mind as alternately tragic, ironic, and absurd. Zielinski has written an exceptional first novel that is recommended for contemporary literature collections.-- ``Mark Annichiarico,'' Library Journal correction: We have just been informed that the price for Gayle Rivers's Hunter's Run , reviewed in LJ 11/15/89, has been changed from $18.95 to $21.95.

Library Journal