Christopher

It's not often that I get to read a real book written by someone I know. I've read some of the novels of my old college professors, but not until after I was "long" departed from their classes. So, on that level, it was a treat that I got to recently read Christopher, a novel written by my new LA acquaintance, screenwriter/author, Allison Burnett. Allison has been tremendously generous and helpful to me since I've been out here, but I'm not going to devote a whole post to how nice he is. Anyway, the novelty (no pun intended, but noticed and kept) of reading a book by someone I know would not nearly be enough to make my travels through the pages enjoyable. Luckily for me, and for anyone else who has had the pleasure of reading it, Christopher is great book.

Christopher tells the story, not surprisingly, of a young man named Christopher, who moves to NYC after his divorce to follow his dream of becoming a writer. This tale is, however, narrated by Christopher's next door neighbor, the highly literate, cunning, egocentric BK Troop, who has an immediate attraction to Christopher that blossoms into a full-blown love for his new idealistic, and unfortunately for him, heterosexual wall-sharer. Both characters are wonderful, endearing in completely different ways, and psychologically realistic. Through each other (though independently as well) they mature into better, more complete people than at the onset. (The book takes place in 1984, each chapter a month.)

There is a very clever element of post-modernism throughout the novel as, and I hope this isn't too much a spoiler for anyone, Christopher the character works on his first novel (a mostly autobiographical one), we are reading BK's version of what that novel could/should/would have been. This element brings the novel a fitting symmetry by the end, but I won't give that away any more than I already have. This is Allison's first novel as well, and I wonder how much of it is autobiographical since it kind of feels like its drawing on many elements from his own process and maturation as a person and writer.

It is a very fun read, quite entertaining, though not in a low-brow kind of way. The language is rich and the prose is graceful, but the plot too is easy to get wrapped up in. I enjoyed the many musings on being an artist and facing the obstacles of becoming a writer. That theme, which was most of the book, was especially relatable to me, particularly as I'm only a little younger than the protagonist. Granted, Christopher is much more up-and-down than I am, divorced, and haunted by a maniacal mother, but our end goals were more or less the same.

Not that I doubted the book would be good, but it's difficult to expect that a piece of art you know very little about will prove to be so excellent. Once I cleanse my palette with a bit of non-fiction (some more of the aforementioned David Foster Wallace) I'll probably tackle the sequel, The House Beautiful, still narrated by BK but without the object of his affection, after that. From what I understand, the sequel is more of a comedy that this one (Christopher was funny, but was a dramatic work at heart) and, I think, doesn't have the complete sprawl of a character's life in it. I'm looking forward to it.

If you want to read an amusing bit about how the sexual orientation of his narrator led to more than a couple misunderstandings for Allison, read one of his essays about it here.

Back tomorrow or Monday, perhaps with my tardy top 10 films of 09.