The Bones: A Novel [Paperback]

Seth Greenland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2006

Frank Bones is a self-destructive, take-no-prisoners, bad boy comic at the bottom rung. Lloyd Melnick is a long-lost acquaintance whose work on the smash hit The Fleishman Show has made him the hottest comedy writer in town. When their worlds collide the consequences involve a crashed Hummer, corrupt police officers, enraged ex-husbands, sultry bartenders, and high-speed chases to Mexico and back. A brilliant satire, The Bones is a stunning debut that reveals, in all its hilarity and ache, the dark heart of comedy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Be grateful for what you have. That's the moral of playwright/television writer Greenland's first novel, but what a wildly circuitous, over-the-top route we take to arrive at it. A pitch-perfect sendup of Hollywood's endemic self-importance, the brilliantly acid narrative centers on two characters, a rebellious Lenny Bruce-like comedian named Frank Bones (he fondly refers to himself in the third person, hence the title), and Lloyd Melnick, a highly successful TV comedy writer. The two became acquainted in New York when Melnick, then a struggling journalist, wrote a profile of the up-and-coming Bones. Greenland reunites the pair years later after Melnick scores a huge contract writing for a network and Bones comes calling, asking for Melnick's help writing a sitcom based on the comedian's own life (his only other prospect is a role as a sitcom Eskimo). Melnick, who is grappling with his success and desperately struggling to write something meaningful of his own, turns Bones down, a snub that sets off a crazy chain reaction that results in a Hummer parked in the living room of Melnick's posh manse followed by a classic cops-and-robbers run for the border. Greenland keeps his foot firmly on the gas, and the book's pace is fast, furious and fun. The author slows down enough along the way to expound intelligently on topics ranging from self-knowledge to "the anxiety of affluence," but the pace of this raucous thrill ride never slackens. FYI: Film rights have been sold to Sony, with David Mamet set to helm.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Meet Frank Bones, the comedian's comedian. His smart, in-your-face, insulting style of stand-up comedy has given him a relatively successful career on the club circuit, but he has never managed to make that shift into mainstream entertainment. As if by a miracle, a new TV network offers him his own sitcom. The catch is that they want Frank to play an Eskimo sent on wild adventures, riding a giant walrus across the frozen tundra. The author takes every opportunity to satirize the glitz and glam of Hollywood and provides skilled characterizations of everyone, from empty-headed pretty boys to social-climbing wives. His over-the-top characters will make readers both laugh and think. Even the Bones, womanizing, drug-using jerk that he is, comes off as surprisingly likable through the quick wit and patter he brings to every scene. In a last-ditch effort to reach success on his own terms, he calls Lloyd Melnick, an old acquaintance who has just come off a run as a writer on the massive hit The Fleishman Show, to pitch the idea of a sitcom based on himself. But Melnick is burned out and turns him down. The Bones's anger sends him spiraling out of control and on a frenzied trip involving corrupt cops, murder, running the border into Mexico, and, yes, even a love subplot. The man's energy takes this funny, exciting story into a surprisingly moving conclusion about dreams, desire, and finally growing up.–Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (February 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596910313
• ISBN-13: 978-1596910317
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,706,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Seth Greenland is a writer, playwright, and screenwriter. The Bones, his debut novel, was published by Bloomsbury in 2005 and has been translated into French. Movie rights were optioned by Sony. His second novel, Shining City, was published by Bloomsbury in 2008 and has been translated into French, Dutch, Italian and Chinese. Movie rights have been purchased by Warner Brothers and the project is currently in active development. The Angry Buddhist, his forthcoming novel, will be published in 2012. A new short story, Bad Night in Hyannisport, will appear in the anthology Cape Cod Noir, published by Akashic.

His play, Jungle Rot, was the recipient of the Kennedy Center/American Express Fund for New American Plays Award and the American Theatre Critics Association Award. It was published by Dramatists Play Service and anthologized in Best American Plays, 1995-1996. His other produced plays include Jerusalem, a finalist for the Critics Award, Red Memories and Girls In Movies.

Television credits include a two-year stint as a writer/producer on the Emmy-nominated HBO series Big Love.

Mr. Greenland was one of the original bloggers on the Huffington Post. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the literary journal Black Clock. His writing has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize.

He has taught at the UCLA Writers Program, and guest lectured at NYU, USC, and UC-Riverside.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Susan Kaiser Greenland and their two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood tale with a distinctly non-Hollywood ending, June 30, 2006

By 

Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Bones: A Novel (Hardcover)

'The Bones' is such a good read that I would extend my workouts just to get one more chapter in. Seth Greenland has given us an exquisite and deeply observed novel of Hollywood, with - I might add - a distinctly non-Hollywood ending. There's definitely no "Come Lift Us Up Where We Belong" feel-good ending here. Frank wants a taste of what Lloyd has; Lloyd wants a taste of what Frank has; and - when both get it - the results aren't pretty.

I suspect industry insiders will have a field day drawing the lines between Greenland's fictional protagonists and their real world equivalents. Even an outsider like can me draw some reasonable guesses, like Sethland's management duo of Robert Hyler and Jolly De Meo seeming an awful lot like Brad Grey and Bernie Brillstein. And the none-too-sharp Bart Pimento sounds quite a bit like Jennifer Aniston's ex.

For me though, the best parts are Sethland's streams-of-consciousness from inside the mind of the tortured scribe Lloyd Melnick; these are simply brilliant pieces where random, jumbled, increasingly frenetic and detached thoughts simply come flying in and rapidly out of Melnick's confused brain. To quote any of it here would be to give away key parts of the story.

The writing here is tight and spellbinding. No wonder David Mamet had picked up the rights to it. It's got a Mamet-like intensity and cadence to it. It seems like the project is hung up a bit right now (according to what I can glean from reports on the Internet). Let's hope 'The Bones' can make it to the screen, because I think it would translate beautifully.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best I've read in a while, July 19, 2005

By 

Cosmic Mojo (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bones: A Novel (Hardcover)

Sharp, witty, complex, intelligent, provocative, funny. An amazing feat for a first novel, this book has a finesse you'd expect a writer to evolve over a few books. This was the freshest funniest book I've read in a long time, yet also deeply provocative and sharp.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bones, April 10, 2005

By 

M. M. Braun (Nation's Capital Region) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bones: A Novel (Hardcover)

A sometimes nihilistic dark comedy that provides an inside view to TV-Hollywood and the human condition around mid-life. This novel has some interesting narrative features of a play.

The two protagonists interestingly contrast the roles of the gusto-grabbing id-libido (Frank) and the sober ego (Lloyd), and these roles are played out to the hilt. Some fascinating thoughts parade across the consciousness of these two men, and to be privvy to them is an intriguing experience. Dialog too flows well and is generally riveting.

There is suspense, sex, and $, but not much violence.

You will laugh out loud.

This book talks to existential questions, without being high-fallutin, and shares some insightful views on popular culture and the human condition in the USA, through the sometimes-jaded eyes of our nation's entertainment capital.