Customer Reviews

Drawers & Booths: A Metafiction Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Drawers and Booths is completely unique and original. Just when you think you know where it's going, everything shifts and goes, not just in a different direction, but to an entirely new reality. The book challenges traditional beliefs, certainly, and promotes self-examination, which we can all use. But what really gave me a kick about Drawers and Booths was the humor and daring. Some of Ara 13's antics in this book had me laughing out loud with delight. Don't let the gruesome first chapter stop you. This book is fun!

Drawers and Booths is an unpredictable and often startling romp that is purposely mistitled. It's a self-introspective journey into the mind of the author that also takes a hard look at a number of fairly interesting and possibly important questions. Intentional discordance is the rule of thumb as the reader is abruptly ripped out of one scene and dropped into a completely different environment without any segue way whatsoever.

Drawers and Booths is a highly complex and often subtly witty piece of prose that will tax the mental faculties of many readers and leave others scratching their heads. If you already have a firmly cemented worldview anchored by Judeo-Christian belief systems it is likely that Drawers and Booths will irritate you and possibly enrage you. How dare the author put God on trial!

I will be reading this novel again - it is one of those that needs to be chewed over a few times. My rating may go up or down, but probably will go up. The jury is still out. One promise I can make is that Drawers and Booths is unlike anything you or I have read before. Highly recommended, particularly for those of you who like to introspect and question reality.

Disclaimer: I know the author and we have a long-standing friendship. If you ever meet him ask him about why he changed his last name to 13.

Drawers & Booths was for me a thought provoking "Mind Freak" that took me on an introspective tour through my core beliefs.
At times I felt as though I was lost in a pitch black corridor in one of those "haunted houses" that pop up all over the place every Halloween season - not knowing where I was going to be taken next, or what I would see next, while reminding myself that it's all fake. Then just when I saw the light of the exit and walked through, I found myself in the "House of Mirrors". All I could see was myself, or a reflection of myself. Even though though my surroundings were now well lit, I still didn't know what was real.
So buy this book, or don't buy it. But whichever you do, don't trust that it was YOUR decision... you'll see.

Drawers & Booths is truly cutting-edge stuff. Its genre is metafiction, and it is ever so much more fun a romp through that forest than other samples I've recently read. A romp, yes, but serious business, too. All of the "great" human questions are addressed (fate, fortune free will, the human impulse to nobility, our responsibility to one another as we share space on this plane, why bad things happen to good people...all of it, all), and all of those "smaller" questions that probably just we English-geek types consider regularly are also up for review--the nature of text, the relationship between the reader and the text, the relationship between the author and his/her narrator and "their" characters--and some of them in a startlingly new way (who knew that when a character is off the page, his or her "authentic" personality would emerge, while he/she takes five and has a cuppa or whatevs?).

So, bottom line, this one so tweaks my readerly sense that I am adopting it for use in my Adv. 12/AP Eng course--hopefully with copies to arrive in time to assign it to THIS class! Happiness is a cool book, baby.

No, I don't mean that as in "ZOMG Ara 13 iz teh awesomeness!!!11!!1!" (Although I *did* enjoy this particular book.) I mean it as a sort of conceit. "Drawers & Booths" is not unlike an article I once read in "The Onion" called "Video-Game Character Wondering Why Heartless God Always Chooses 'Continue.'" Or, look at it this way: in his 1923 poem "Anecdote of the Jar," Wallace Stevens attempts to tackle the highly abstract issue of constructing reality, or what may be perceived as reality. Was the poem's landscape even there before the jar, an artificial object of human creation, was placed on the hillside and the "wilderness rose up to it, / And sprawled around it; no longer wild"? Is it possible for anything - setting, object, event - to simply be without some sort of human input? Are you confused yet? Good!

"Drawers & Booths" (that title is pure nonsense, BTW) is the single most mind-bending book I have ever read. I'm going to borrow from another Amazon reviewer and describe it as one of those unpredictable funhouses full of weird mirrors and surprises around every corner. Case in point: it actually starts out as a (very boring) military novel about a group of American soldiers stationed on an isolated island nation. But then the narrator (whose name is actually Hattie Shore) detaches himself from his omniscient storyteller role and things fall apart. An unexpected sojourn to Auschwitz reveals that Hattie Shore is also a police detective on the trail of a hard-to-grasp extra-dimensional criminal who has been carelessly wreaking havoc on the cosmos ever since . . . He created the cosmos: "Here's the file - on my desk. You're welcome to it. It's a who's who of history. More accurately, it's a where's where. Rwanda, Normandy, Gettysburg, Leningrad. Then there are places you may not even have heard about. . . Read them all you want. After awhile, they run into each other, tales of carnage: dead, dead, tortured, dead, raped, dead. And *he* was there." I mean, Ara's unconventional narrative has the strangest effect: it was like my mind was dizzy even though my body wasn't. And it got even crazier during the courtroom drama.

"Drawers & Booths" definitely has some surface similarities to Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" in that both novels deal with the cognitive effects of spiritual faith. (Actually, I think I expected "American Gods" to be more like "Drawers & Booths" than the fantasy adventure tale it is.) Humans invented divinity and then fell victim to their own creation as religion began to shape how they perceived the world. In other words, human behavior and beliefs *generate* reality, and it is this Matrix-like worldview that fits so beautifully with Ara 13's use of a metafictional framework that makes the artificiality of his art glaringly obvious. It is Ara's world, and Shore, Kick, Franklin, Marcus, Laughton, the Corporal, and God just "live" in it. In other words, God, like Ara, is essentially human. He only exists as the result of the collective human mind (God, that is, not Ara).

My only criticism would be the number of typos I found, although that is probably not entirely Ara's fault. Overall, "Drawers & Booths" is not only a roundabout exercise of the intellect, but a humorous and wholly unpredictable story that continuously builds upon itself. At only 215 pages, it is also very short. At the same time, however, it is definitely not for the casual reader seeking a conventional story with a linear flow and identifiable plot. Not suprisingly, Ara 13 himself is a highly unique character, despite his background in the conformist milieu that is the US Marine Corps, where he first honed his writing skills while serving as a military correspondent. 13 is his actual last name - he had it legally changed. So I think it's pretty safe to say that we can expect more fun and original books from him in the future.

* Review copy *

Drawers and Booths is a really fun book with much substance to think about when you're finished (one gripe, there is very little useful information about either drawers OR booths, maybe an eighth of a star off for that.) I leave it to the other reviews to give you an idea of the many interesting themes and iconoclastic style. Suffice it to say, I truly enjoyed it cover to cover and laughed out loud quite a few times, which I had sworn never to do in New York. By way of disclaimer, I should say that I talk to God frequently and he regards the book with fuzzy tolerant affection, so I was swayed by his positive review, as is often the case. I will be enthusiastically recommending it to friends, as I do to you people.

Readers looking for an intriguing read, look no further! While highly entertaining and written with Ara's sharp sense of humor, the most notable feature of this piece is its ability to challenge the reader on so many levels. From the nature of narrative, character development, and reader-author relations to the formation of belief and questions of moral justice, this book will challenge you to reconsider and closely examine everything you thought you knew, as well as how you came to know it.

The writing is tight, and the plot(s) is/are dangerously addictive. However, it is the questions raised and the invitation to personal self-inquiry that makes this a story that is sure to linger in your mind, even after the final page is turned. One can only hope that a second work is soon to follow.

the ride seems a bit choppy at first; but, hang on through the curves, twists and sudden stops, while our prevailing notions are called into question --even tried --in an ingenious and funny manner. ara not only subverts the conventions of narrative form fully informed and addresses existential themes with wit, he also cunningly exposes the underlying character of those lesser, yet influential mortal "gods" who beget us, inform us, and often govern us. it is as much a wry comment about those who people our present world and why they still do, as it is a philosophical battle over the origins of morality. all done in a very accessible, very american tongue. audacious & great fun! -:)

-anonymous, princeton, nj

What do you get when you mix a military thriller, a courtoom drama where You-Know-Who is on trial, a philosophical discussion on determinism v. free will, Darwinism, a bit of metafictional playing around with characters (even the narrator is a character in this book) and narrative a la Borges, Calvino (If On A Winter's Night A Traveller), Auster and perhaps even Barthelme, and throw in some sharp satire and witty humor? Ara 13's first novel, what else did you expect? Drawers and Booths is an enjoyable and unique book, quite unlike any you've ever read before. It will quite likely tick off some folks who don't like having their beliefs challenged but that's one of the things books SHOULD do. Do you dare try tackling this book?

Drawers and Booths by Ara 13 is a bold, thought-provoking, but most of all uniquely fun read for the open-minded. The metafictional style provides intriguing twists to the story that will undoubtedly cause a few double-takes. You will get used to and enjoy the completely non-linear course of the novel - just keep reading! It is obviously well thought out and thoroughly researched; the quality of writing reflects the effort put into its creation. So, if you're looking for a quick, often laugh-out-loud hilarious read that is filled with surprises, Drawers and Booths (aka Displaced People) is certainly an adventure you don't want to miss. Who knows? You might even come across a stimulating topic for discussion within its pages. Personally, I eagerly await Mr. 13's next publication!

Side note: I actually contacted Ara 13 about his book and he seemed pleased and excited to respond. I encourage everyone, whether you agree or not, to write the author with your questions and comments (or at least leave a review of your thoughts).