The Enthusiast: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A Hollywood screenwriter turned novelist, Haas shows a skilled literary hand in his sharp first novel about college dropout Henry Bay, who turns into something of a serial associate editor at a series of fringe magazines, beginning with a stint at one geared toward kite buggy enthusiasts. From there, Henry bounces around the country taking low-paying editing jobs at enthusiast rags with such themes as crocheting, ice climbing and conspiracy theories. The compelling side characters are central to the novel's charm. These include Gerald, Henry's talkative friend, and Henry's brother, Barney, who transforms from a science prodigy and stem cell researcher into a secretive adrenaline junkie who may be on the hit list of Freebird, a Unabomber-like domestic terrorist. Haas plunges Henry into bizarre nooks where hobbies become obsessions and subsubcultures are formed, but the characters encountered aren't dismissed as freaks; rather, they're examined with a near curatorial zeal. Though the narrative could stand to go a little deeper into Henry's motivations, overall this is a slick first novel: funny, thought provoking and a little alarming. (June)
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Review

"(An) eccentric, slyly romantic debut novel. At heart, Henry is an oddball innocent, a romantic in search of meaning that eludes him early on. (T)he book captures something at once fragile and vital --the excitement of the ordinary, the exhilaration of the everyday." (San Francisco Chronicle Book Review )

"A charming, sly, and even wise first novel. (Haas) skillfully sketches memorable characters and places with a few pithy sentences, and his dialogue is often arch and very funny." (Booklist )

"I loved this novel from start to finish. It's always funny and often profound. Again and again there are single lines that are both hilarious and saddening, that are alive both on the surface of the novel and in the depths of experience. It's a triumph, it's unique." (Greil Marcus )

"As impossible to categorize as it is to put down. THE ENTHUSIAST occupies a smart, weirdly fascinating, sometimes laugh-out-loud, ever soulful universe all its own. As close to perfect as any first novel should ever be allowed to be." (Jerry Stahl, author of I, Fatty and Pain Killers )

"I am having the most wonderful day, lying on the couch and reading Charlie Haas's brilliant book. It is wonderfully written, charming, wise, sometimes funny, always real. Henry is the perfect narrator, and the book reads like a dream." (Anne Lamott )

"(THE ENTHUSIAST) isn't just a picaresque ride through the weirder side of the magazine industry, but a super-extended coming-of-age story. And a good one, too." (The Onion AV Club )

"Witty and endearingly patriotic." (Christian Science Monitor (Summer Reading List Pick) )

"THE ENTHUSIAST's best quality: a virtual guarantee that each page will include at least one delightful and surprising turn of phrase that could have wandered in from a Frank O'Hara poem." (San Francisco magazine )

"Funny and often moving." (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

"Haas shows a skilled literary hand in his sharp first novel. The compelling side characters are central to the novel's charm.but the characters encountered aren't dismissed as freaks; rather, they're examined with a near curatorial zeal. This is a slick first novel: funny, thought provoking and a little alarming." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061711829
• ISBN-13: 978-0061711824
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Enthusiast, May 26, 2009

By	Little D (California and Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

The Enthusiast is Charlie Haas' first novel. A screenwriter and long time pro with words, Charlie brings us the journey of Henry Bay, a writer who himself travels actually and metaphorically through his magazine writing assignments -- encountering "enthusiasts" from crochet-junkies to kite-buggiers. Henry take us to places unknown, yet familiar, strange and remembered.

He reminds us of our American cultural eccentricities in fine detail. And then gradually we remember along with Henry who in the end entrusts us, confides in us, allows us into his wildly fascinating perspectives and his courageously foolish antics. Poignancy always present through the journey.

The humor in this book catches us off guard. Being inside Henry's journey is sometimes like being an ice chip in a Waring blender. But in the end, the quirky magic of this remarkable book entertains with truth and give us a whole bunch of big things to think about and characters that will not allow you to forget them.

Be prepared to become an enthusiast about writing like this. BRAVO to Mr. Haas on this marvelous work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back-to-back reading, July 6, 2009

By	M. Gordon (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After I finished The Enthusiast I had a glass of wine and took a nap. When I woke up I felt compelled to read it all over again. This book captured my attention unlike anything else I've read in a very long time. Aside from Charles Portis, I rarely re-read anything and never back-to-back.

There is something about the language and pure affection for strange characters here that works so well. It's straightforward, matter of fact and hilarious. The character Henry Bay has true grit and so too, I think, does Mr. Haas.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthusiasm for this debut, June 4, 2009

By	Jimmy Donuts (Worcester, MA United States) - See all my reviews

The problem with most first novels is they try and do too much (bloated prose), try too hard (to be the next Salinger), sink under the weight of the author's ego (lookit me ma!), and be too much, when they should just... be. Charlie Haas has no such problem with The Enthusiast. In fact, what's surprising is how much fascination, how much life, energy, and humor (and NOT of the putrescent I'm-so-ironic variety) he finds in the utterly (or should i say seemingly) mundane. There is life in the them thar hills! If you think a book (albeit fiction) could never compete with the web in plumbing the micro-worlds of our lives, you need to read this book. If you always knew it could, you need to read this book. Heck, just read this book. There is no doubt from the first sentence that Haas can write. What's so uplifting what that writing reveals: The captivating story of Henry Bay's journey through America's enthusiastic underbelly of tea, kite buggy-ing, martial arts and more as he searches for his own internal passion. Enjoy!