Customer Reviews

The Beard

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Warning: One or two spoilers in the mix.

An elephant wind. That's what this book is. You probably don't know what that means. If you try to picture it your mind, you might get some idea of what the book is. You'll definitely know what that means after you read the book and then you can decide whether that statement is accurate or not--but for now, perhaps it's sufficient to say that the book is an elephant wind. I took up the book in the midst of doing some very difficult school research and came away with renewed optimism in life, the universe, and everything.

What's the book about? It's about growing up and growing old; it's about writing a book and abandoning it; it's about listening to records alone in your room at a time when you wish that everything would just fade into the background; it's about randomness and large creatures that look like whales but have human butts so that when they come out of the water, they moon you. It's about the comfort of having a beard, but also about tripped out firemen who are on something and so who jump into fires.

It's "absurdist" fiction, or "bizzarro" fiction, certainly. But in another sense, I think this book is also slacker fiction. When I opened up the book, man oh man, I was in need of some slacker fiction in my life. Fiction that kind of wanders around, tries to befriend you, then falls asleep on your couch for a week. That may sound bad, and in some parts of the book, I admit it's easy to get lost--but I thought it was comfortable to read; maybe I was just in the right mood. In other ways it's like eating a creativity sandwich. I came up with like three ideas for stories while reading this book. At one point in the book, one of the characters says, if you chase something then it only gets further away. One of the virtues of this book is that it won't try to hard to get you to like it--it just is what it is, and for me it's fairly easy to befriend a piece of writing that comfortable with itself.

Andersen Prunty has a style I really like, and I'm not afraid to admit that. While so far I've only read one of his other books, Zerostrata, I feel I can comfortably order the rest of his collection without fear. Especially after reading The Beard.

Plotwise, it's a funky one. Basically, a young boy witnesses his grandfather being abducted by a herd of elephants in a scene I really really liked. I, too, could smell the elephants and I will never look at a storm in quite the same way again. He grows up with aspirations of being a writer, however his single manuscript is rejected so he decides instead to grow a beard. Returning home, he is confronted with his mother's death and the revelations his father may not be his father but an imposter (imposters are a common theme in this novel), who convinces him he must go to the mystical island of the Nefarions to return a sacred flame his grandfather had stolen from them in hope that might appease them and thus earn the lifting of the family curse. The trip is, quite literally, a trip, and it was dealt out with masterful prose in a quiet and near-dreamlike manner which suited the book's use of naps and sleep as a central theme.

Along his travels, our hero journeys through some strange towns, cities and states. He is witness to some truly interesting moments while being pursued by his own imposter and two other mutants from the island of the Nefarions. Accompanied only by the man he thought was his father who may not be but could be his father or an imposter of his father (just go with it), and at one stage a nice dwindling team of bodyguards, he discovers not just resolution to the family curse, but a resolution of the spirit which may allow him to live his life as he is comfortable.

This summary, of course, does absolutely no justice whatsoever to the book. Mister Prunty's gentle voice lulls you into accepting the surreality of his world despite the often macabre imagery he conjures. A scene involving a lawnmower in a field of grass springs to mind as one which I could see in my head and made me feel a little more afraid of fields than I already am. They're spooky things at the best of times, and so I can only thank Mister Prunty for keeping me strictly a cityboy for the rest of my life.

The recurring naps in the book made me feel more comfortable and I found myself feeling like a leaf flowing down a river. Even if sometimes the river seemed to twist in a strange way, I didn't really mind because I was floating along quite nicely - all things considered. Something he says about naps also resonated quite nicely with me and my own philosophy on laziness, and that was a brief moment where our hero, David, nods off while his father/imposter/father is driving. He wakes to find his driver, too, has nodded off and the car is sitting there idling while they both snooze. He doesn't really consider waking him as "It was rare to find another person with such an affinity for napping. I could have awoken him but, for the nappers of the world, sleep is a sacred thing that should never be interrupted except in cases of life and death." I could use that as a near-biblical quote to base my life on, really. It's second only to a quote from one of my favourite movies where the main character is told to get a job and responds with, "Who's got the time? I'm already busy doing nothing."

I loved this book. I loved its feel, its pace and its imagery. I also loved the final lines of the book which I would love to quote for you but won't, so you don't have it ruined for you. Let's just say it's another one of those phrases you can take to the bank and deposit it to see how much interest you can make on it.

I bet it'd be a lot.

The Beard by Andersen Prunty is an excellent introduction to the bizzaro genre. The story follows a dream logic and is surreal at times. It is never difficult for the sake of being difficult or weird for the sake of weirdness. The book has a fascinating internal logic that leads the reader toward the goal of finding brilliance. Sprinkled along the way the author drops gems of sparkling insight.

From the quaint Ernest Hemingway nod in the first couple of pages to the final notes on the home toward the end of the novel, Andersen Prunty's THE BEARD reads like the Great American novel of 2009 that never was.

THE BEARD begins by asking the interesting question: "what happens to the authentic character when it is subject to strange situations?"

There is a moment in THE BEARD, shortly after the introduction, when the main character, David Glum, appearing to be stuck in an instance of self-actualization, quickly stops what he is doing so he can observe the people walking up and down Fifth Avenue. He asks himself "who [are] these people?" and after pondering the thought for a few seconds, decides that the real answer is insignificant to his cause and returns to his adventure-to-be.

Andersen Prunty's THE BEARD is full of moments like this--exercises in self-evaluation that explore the idea of the normal/authentic character. As the novel begins, David is a child and his grandfather, the first and only figure of fatherhood in the novel, an anchor to the home, is quickly abducted by an untraceable (and almost alien) herd of elephants. From the beginning stages of the book, Prunty is already removing all semblance of normality in David's life and subjects the reader to a bizarro tale of dramatic/epic proportions that focuses on the idea of character. This refusal to tolerate what is normal continues as David ages and later finds that his father, his whole life, was really just a man named Gary Wrench, who had been playing the role of his "real" father for the past twenty-some years. Prunty ramps up the absurdity-factor and shakes the foundations of David's origins when it is also revealed that the father-impersonator, Wrench, has also been wearing a man-suit to mimic the round shape of the old/authentic father. Oh, and David also finds that he has an imposter who follows him around.

It is only at the most crucial point of the novel, toward the end of the story (that seems to end a little too neatly and nicely and quickly) that David suddenly realizes that the idea of authenticity and the true self only matters to David, as "it is only an imposter's job to fool everyone else." It is in this moment of meta-fictional self-awareness that Prunty reveals the non-diegetic significance of THE BEARD, and it's a good one!

Since this release, Prunty has risen to the top ranks of recent forward-thinking Bizarro authors with his other texts but has still managed to single-handedly create a metaphor for identity through the imaginative character studies of THE BEARD, a novel that holds all the makings of a Great American Novel.

I discovered Andersen Prunty through the Bizarro community. Even so the books I've read from him are more horror, or thriller than anything else. His book The Beard on the other hand is pure Bizarro fun. It's a very original adventure narrated by David Glum, who after failing to get his first book published decides to go home and grow a beard. David sets out on a journey to find his grandfather who was kidnapped by the Nefarions. There are lots of interesting and bizarre characters throughout this book, along with unique landscapes. With each book that I read from Mr. Prunty he is rising closer to the top of my list of go to authors. He has quite the imagination and it really shines in The Beard.

This book is insane and addicting. The best I can describe the plot is Monty Pythonish and is some of the best nonsense I have ever read. Makes me proud to have a beard.

Andersen Prunty's THE BEARD is a fun book. Anyone who enjoys a good travel book with rites of passage would enjoy this book. And if you like weird elements added to the mix, moreso. The introduction is what grabbed me. Prunty's prose is wonderful and sets a high bar for the rest of the book.

The introduction is also the problem I have with THE BEARD. Prunty introduces us to a magical world with magical words. It is beautifully written and you feel you're being pulled into a contemporary fantasy world. We are introduced to the protagonist, David Glum and his grandfather watching the grass grow during an Ohio afternoon. The grandfather, a former anthropologist, tells a wonderful and fantastic tale of elephant winds, a race of Nefarions, and of their home island somewhere in the Malefic Ocean. His grandfather soon disappears and with him goes the literary magic.

THE BEARD quickly descends into what is quite possibly bizarro fiction's closest answer to true absurdist fiction. As I read it, I was hoping the "the beard" would follow a similar pattern as Nikolai Gogol's THE NOSE. Instead the beard never becomes a character in this work of existentialist philosophy reminiscent of a Philip K. Dick novel, except set in the present. Unfortunately, Prunty is neither Gogol or Dick. The dialogue can be a bit too mundane at times, descriptions can be lacking, and the story isn't refined enough to make up for these things.

The ending was a bit too saccharine for my taste. It almost has a Hollywood feel to it. Leaving for room for sequels?

Don't get me wrong, THE BEARD is an enjoyable book, However it strives to be more than it is and fails in that department. It could have been a magical contemporary fantasy, it could have been humorous post-modern absurdism, or it could have been a philosophical treatise on the nature of being. Instead it becomes a travel journal in a surrealistic world.

Still, it's fun to read. Prunty doesn't let up in this travel adventure. It certainly is the most enjoyable piece of bizarro fiction I have read, but it still has the hallmarks of bizarro fiction that keep it from becoming more. I would gladly recommend this book to others who are looking for something fun and weird.

Great novel. Prunty tells the tale of David Glum who grows a beard while embarking on a surreal journey. He attempts to find himself and his purpose in life.Full of mythology and adventure,The Beard questions identity and is sure to please any fan of weird fiction.

The Beard was the first book I read from Andersen Prunty. This is one of the more accessible bizarro titles I've encountered. As such, I would strongly recommend this one for anybody as an entry into bizarro fiction. The eyebrow-raising oddities are definitely present, but it's written to be fun rather than challenging.

This novel takes journeying as a theme. The story is bizarre but straightforward. Although implausible things happen (a man is shot in the head and his head turns into a flower; the characters travel to a hidden or alternate part of earth; a man impersonates a fatter version of himself by wearing a costume for twenty years), the narrative lacks any complexity because it never really builds upon previous events, characters, or themes. It's very much: "This happened and then this happened and then this happened . . . " It was almost as if the author just wanted to write a story about traveling to an island and then threw in lots of unusual events to pad the story.

The lack of development or themes gave it a sophomoric feeling, almost as if I was reading something written by somebody who was just getting his feet under him as an author. The few "insights" were blindingly obvious - materialism bad, time to dream good. The ending was wrapped up in a very happy and comfortable way.

As the story progressed, I found myself less and less engaged. Finally I had to force myself to finish it. I would be interested in seeing what this author would come up with in a few years if he pushed himself to work in a less obvious vein.