When Theodore receives a postcard saying “I need to see you,” he initially ignores it — after all, it’s unsettling to open mail from one’s dead mother. But when another card arrives he can no longer put off the urgent meeting, and so Theodore treks to Cleveland to track his mother down. In this strange, thoughtful novel by Jim Krusoe, Theodore travels through the worlds of Uleene, a member of the all-girl biker club Satan’s Samaritans; art; rodent extermination; and sport fishing, all the while realizing that the line between life and death is remarkably fluid.
Erased (Girl Factory)
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Review
“Smart and funny...Krusoe is an engaging writer and an acute observer of his own brand of quotidian strangeness...Krusoe's witty book, for all its drifting in the slipstream of realistic narrative, ends up being, in the old and honest and satisfying sense, familiar.”—John Haskell, The New York Times Book Review
"...this novel has the power to draw us into its bizarre world...Krusoe reminds us that the best prescription for bereavement might just be a healthy dose of action. That better place is just around the next corner."—George Ducker, The Los Angeles Times
"A fine writer with an offbeat turn of phrase..." —Alison Hallett, Portland Mercury
"The pace of the book resembles a dream: It starts slowly, carefully accumulating details, and then rushes at the end...Erased raises more questions than it answers, but it offers some very entertaining speculation along the way."—Elliott Holt, TheRumpus.net
"Erased tells the not unlikely story—not in Jim Krusoe’s funny, absurdist fiction—of a man who receives a post card from his dead mother, inviting him to Cleveland, Ohio, where he finds mystery in a kind of simultaneous civic dreamland and nightmare, and also discovers social organizations that seem only to assure the hopelessness and nutty redemption of a fictional world that echoes Kafka and Barthelme, except even funnier." —Andrew Tonkovich, Bibliocracy Radio
"This novel, by Jim Krusoe, from the consistently interesting Tin House Books, purports to explore 'women's clubs, art, rodent extermination, and sport fishing.' I've no idea how this detail from a famous Bosch painting connects, but it sure is charming."—The Book Bench, The New Yorker Blog
"Erased develops the quirky environs of Krusoe's America with its existential inconsistencies while injecting some human feeling and warm humor into the proceedings."—Sharon Fulton, Open Letters Monthly
"Krusoe is very, very funny, but thoughtful as well in Erased."—Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights
"...this novel has the power to draw us into its bizarre world...Krusoe reminds us that the best prescription for bereavement might just be a healthy dose of action. That better place is just around the next corner."—George Ducker, The Los Angeles Times
"A fine writer with an offbeat turn of phrase..." —Alison Hallett, Portland Mercury
"The pace of the book resembles a dream: It starts slowly, carefully accumulating details, and then rushes at the end...Erased raises more questions than it answers, but it offers some very entertaining speculation along the way."—Elliott Holt, TheRumpus.net
"Erased tells the not unlikely story—not in Jim Krusoe’s funny, absurdist fiction—of a man who receives a post card from his dead mother, inviting him to Cleveland, Ohio, where he finds mystery in a kind of simultaneous civic dreamland and nightmare, and also discovers social organizations that seem only to assure the hopelessness and nutty redemption of a fictional world that echoes Kafka and Barthelme, except even funnier." —Andrew Tonkovich, Bibliocracy Radio
"This novel, by Jim Krusoe, from the consistently interesting Tin House Books, purports to explore 'women's clubs, art, rodent extermination, and sport fishing.' I've no idea how this detail from a famous Bosch painting connects, but it sure is charming."—The Book Bench, The New Yorker Blog
"Erased develops the quirky environs of Krusoe's America with its existential inconsistencies while injecting some human feeling and warm humor into the proceedings."—Sharon Fulton, Open Letters Monthly
"Krusoe is very, very funny, but thoughtful as well in Erased."—Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights
About the Author
Jim Krusoe is the author of the novels Girl Factory (Tin House Books) and Iceland; two collections of stories, Blood Lake and Abductions; as well as five books of poetry. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund. He teaches at Santa Monica College and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, which is the location of my forthcoming novel from Tin House, Erased. I have spent most of my life since then in Los Angeles. For about 20 years I wrote poetry, and then little by little learned to write prose, first stories, then novels. I'm still learning.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting, detailed as a dream--and funny,
This review is from: Erased (Paperback)
Explaining the plot of a Jim Krusoe novel is like talking a friend through the hairpin turns of a marvelous, fantastical dream: halfway through you realize it's not just about what happens next, but about some mysterious and vital knowledge. ERASED explores questions that can't be answered, but that must be asked: what does it mean to cross over from life to death? How different are those two states, really? And what better way to puzzle that out than to go on a Kafkaesque rodent hunt and a deeply ironic yet fully redemptive tour of Cleveland? (Well, why not Cleveland?) I loved this book for its piercing gaze, its absurdist heart; its humorous soul. I'll read it a third time on one of those afternoons when I want to feel meditative--but also laugh.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic Realism comes to Cleveland,
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This review is from: Erased (Paperback)
This is a strange and fascinating book. It's a blend of magic realism and dirty realism. It's set in nitty-gritty Cleveland and the mundane realities of the hero's life are hilariously described in minute detail. He's a dealer in garden tools leading a placid life into which inexplicable events keep intruding. His mother has supposedly gone to Cleveland and drowned while fishing, but he only hears of the event from being sent a newspaper cutting. Then he starts getting postcards from her. He goes to Cleveland to solve the mystery, rents an apartment above a [...], and keeps getting false clues and meeting people who offer to help then disappear and reappear in odd ways.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny,
By Professional Psychic "www.ilovemypsychic.com" (CA United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Erased (Paperback)
Jim Krusoe is a subtle writer, wonderfully ironic and funny. So many scenes in his books will make you laugh out loud. Formerly a poet, he takes his gift for language and transforms it into the world of fiction.
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