Customer Reviews

End of Vandalism: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My enthhusiasm for this novel sent me out searching a database of newspaper comments about it. A reader in Florida complained that the novel was too pointless to be any good. I am a notorious for reading a good book several times, and this novel is no exception. The deadpan humor fills me with glee whenever I pick it up. But there is more than just deadpan humor happening here. Like its literary ancestor, "Winesurg, Ohio," the running theme is the inadequacy of human communication in the face of petty meanness, true tragedy, and profound love. Before Louise marries Dan, she writes three times on a piece of paper, "Show me love." And then she hands it to him. Her need to communicate with Dan transcends even her sleep: She sleepwalks into his insomniacal nights and interrupts his excuses for avoiding their bed. I've determined that the Florida reader who was disappointed with this novel is probably a chatty type, probably also suburban. The characters in The End of Vandalism are taciturn and rural, from a place "where family farming ended and no compelling idea showed any interest in taking its place." There is a wonderful economy of language in places like Grouse County and in this novel, but the dialogue and narrative are as loaded as an opening-day shotgun. So, there is a point, Mr. Florida. You just didn't get it. Boy, I feel better.

Sure, this book is about Middle America, and there are no exciting lifestyles, just people dealing with mundane every-day occurrences. So what's so boring about that? I find human nature endlessly fascinating, and Tom Drury does a wonderful job depicting it. Whether the problem is fixing your tractor or fixing your marriage, he makes it interesting. The characters are well-defined and real. Give me this before any hot and trendy novel with 'exciting' characters.

The End of Vandalism certainly is a unique, enjoyable read. Tom Drury's Grouse County and the people who inhabit it are quite a bunch. Ther eis Dan Norman, the rather half-hearted county sheriff; his wife Louise, who must contend with Tiny, her screw-up ex-husband and her tart-toungued mother Mary; and an assortment of other oddball characters who pop in and out of the narrative.

This novel does not take place in the "real world", but rather in an alternative America in a parallel universe. It's a shame that real people don't converse with the nutty, deadpan humor that Drury's characters do. The events in the novel happen to all of us, but most of us don't deal with them, or comment on them, like these Grouse County residents. It is these differences between reality and Grouse County that make this novel so enjoyable. It took me about 50 pages or so to get into the book, but once I did, I found it a completely enjoyable read. I would recommend this book to anyone and I look forward to reading Drury's latest.

Tom Drury has written a sometimes sad, often funny book called "The End of Vandalism." What's it about? Absolutely nothing.

Set in a ficticious county in Iowa (Drury even drew us a map), the plotless novel takes the reader through a few years in the community, primarily focusing on the county sherriff, Dan, and his wife, Louise. With minor developments here and there, one almost feels like the plot is coming but not quite there all the way until the last paragraph, leaving you feeling hollow and without accomplishment upon completion.

What is lost in this book's absence of plot though, is somewhat made up for in characters. Sherriff Dan Norman is a completely believable do-nothing enforcer in rural Iowa, and his marital problems with Louise are as petty and irratic as those of couples across the continent. The large supporting cast is equally believable, and makes up a loveable, albeit slow-moving population.

"The End of Vandalism" certainly had its moments, and for all of my disinterest in it while reading, I ploughed through it like it was the best of novels. If you're looking for something light and simple some weekend, this is the book for you.

The End of Vandalism is beautifully written, and a joy to read. The truthfulness of the characters and how they keep moving forward as the midwestern farm life they have known slowly fades around them is at the core of this novel. It is laugh-out-loud funny and sweet without being saccharine. The tragedies we would ordinarily expect happily don't materialize, while the ones we don't anticipate are deeply moving and profound. I don't think any of the other novels by Tom Drury have lived up to this exquisite first novel, which I will continue to read again and again for all of the pleasure it continues to give me.

While I was hopeful that revisiting the full-length read of this book from 1994 would prove more satisfying than it did, I have to say that I was a HUGE FAN of Mr. Drury's when most of this novel was excerpted in THE NEW YORKER in the early '90's. There is something immensely likable about Tiny Darling, Louise and Dan Norman and, as such, I have to say that, at the end of this Midwestern day (where this entire novel is set--Iowa), this book is essentially CHARACTER DRIVEN.

I absolutely adore 3-4 set pieces that occur in this novel and some of the supporting characters (notably Louise's mother) are absolute GEMS. There is a quiet certainty about this novel and the envionment that the characters live in; this business of getting back to the basics with "ordinary people," living quiet lives of exuberant, earthly dignity is fine by me. In many places, this is a beautifully drawn and poised novel--Grouse County, Iowa, becomes a picturesque setting for Mr. Drury to springboard his characters from, and they do a fine job of coming to life and "leaping" off the page.

My one complaint is that while this kind of novel does not come off as inherently "exciting" to begin with, there does need to be some kind of action or cathartic wrap at novel's climax lest the entire enterprise be seen as too desultory and meandering. I got the sense that there could have been an entire other "act" to this piece of writing that would have given the novel, say, another 100 pages of length, in which to embroider the tale.

Still, all in all, I am VERY FOND of Tom Drury and this book and would definitely recommend it to more serious literary-minded types. This is not PULP FICTION for the masses; it is a serious protrayal of seriocomic people struggling with various aspects of life crises that present themselves over time (a lot like everybody's life!)

Enjoy and savor. His is the writing of a thoughtful and contemplative, skilled writer.

Barry J. Williams

I first discovered this book as short stories in "The New Yorker" a few years back, and would madly search through the Table of Contents each time a new New Yorker arrived in the hopes that there would be more on Dan and Louise and all the rest. I was able to track down the book later and got to read it all; from beginning to "end". Since that first time I have re-read the book at least 5 times and still laugh and cry. (Maybe for some of you that means nothing, but I am not a "book person" and this (for me) really means something.) I especially enjoy Mr. Drury's "ear" for the vernacular and I really enjoy the true-to-life characters and situations. (In this book there is no murder! Can you believe it?) A wonderful book. Thank you Mr Drury.

This book is poignant, full of truisms both happy and sad, and populated with an eclectic cast of characters. However, the solid writing can't make up for the fact that this tale of Middle America is as wholesome, and bland, as apple pie. It is a quiet, meandering story, which never takes off or heats up. It is much like the Midwest full of small eccentricities which, though sometimes funny, are not enough to rock your world, if you are used to likes of writers like Melville, Selby, Dostoyevsky, Robert Stone, and other visionary madmen who are not satisfied with a good yarn well told. In other words, it's literary vanilla. Not genius, just craft.

if garrison keillor's Lake Wobegon stuff were actually funny, with a healthy dose of darkness, this book is probably what would happen. set in a small midwestern town, drury paints the various goings on of its citizens in a voice i'd describe as deadpan americana. imagine raymond chandler in iowa without the cynicism and crime. wry, witty, and warm. his other books are pretty good, too. but i think this is his best.

As others have mentioned in their reviews, "The End of Vandalism" does not have a tightly structured plot, but its relaxed meanderings are enjoyable. Tom Drury cycles through a cast of 40-plus characters, observing them in their daily lives and alighting most often upon the love triangle made up of Dan, Louise and Tiny. The dialogue and situations are unpredictable and often very funny, but I didn't feel that Drury had to reach too far to find quirkiness. Rather, the book's charm is how natural it seems. "The End of Vandalism" was touching at times, but again, the book didn't bend itself out of shape to evoke those feelings. Drury seems to have compassion for his characters without sentimentalizing them or rural life.

I did not find the ending particularly satisfying, but I wasn't disappointed, either; rather, it was consistent with the rest of the novel. There are a lot of small insights here, but no big ones. In a book this funny, that's enough for me. I would buy it as a gift for almost anyone.