Customer Reviews

Killing Johnny Fry: A Sexistential Novel

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Walter Mosley is a writer not afraid to push his craft in new directions. In KILLING JOHNNY FRY, he writes a first person novel containing some of the most explicit sex scenes written by an established American author since Henry Miller and Philip Roth.

Trying something new is not unusual for Mosley. He burst onto the literary scene in the early 1990s with the brilliant mystery series featuring a black Los Angeles private detective named Easy Rawlins. Mosley could have spent the next 30 years comfortably writing nothing but books about Rawlins.

But instead he did what great writers do. He has written literary novels, science fiction books and even nonfiction works about politics. He went, in other words, where his muse and considerable talent would take him without ever abandoning Rawlins. KILLING JOHNNY FRY is a harrowing, extremely well-written story that grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go.

Of course, this being America, anything this sexually explicit is bound to set off all sorts of alarms in some circles. Think of our archaic movie rating system that allows a film with the most gruesome, gratuitous violence to get an "R" rating while anything that seriously and realistically depicts human sexuality has to fear being labeled "pornographic." Yet another reason why people laugh at us in Europe.

Well, anybody who dismisses KILLING JOHNNY FRY as pornography or salacious misses not only the point of the book but deprives themselves of the pleasure of reading one of America's greatest writers. Yes, there is some frank, really frank, sex in this book, but it is not an erotic novel by any means. Mosley coined the term "sexistential noir" to describe this work. It is a good description because the book is not about sex.

Consider the first sentence: "I decided to kill Johnny Fry on a Wednesday, but it was a week before that I was given the reason." That tells us right away that those expecting cheap thrills will be disappointed; Mosley plunges us right into the midnight world of noir.

Cordell Carmel is a successful 45-year-old freelance translator living in New York City. He had one failed marriage but has been in a monogamous relationship with his girlfriend for several years. They live apart, but he spends weekends at her apartment. They are like any other successful, comfortable couple you are likely to see having brunch together on a Sunday on the upper west side of Manhattan while reading The New York Times. Life is good, if a little ordinary.

Then one day he encounters a problem familiar at one point or another to all New Yorkers: being far from home and in need of a bathroom in a city that strangely seems to pride itself on not having public toilets. So he drops by his girlfriend's apartment on a weekday when he knows she will not be there in order to use the facilities. And you can guess the rest: he finds her involved in rather vigorous relations with one Johnny Fry, a fellow they met through his agent.

The man cuckolded: a story not quite as old as Adam and Eve but right up there. Then the novel takes a startling turn. Rather than burst in on the lovers and express his rage, Cordell, called L, silently leaves the scene without being noticed. On the way home, he stops and buys a porno tape. Over the next week, he will propel himself into his own New York sex odyssey somewhat reminiscent of the tamer one Tom Cruise's character took in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.

Soon this becomes a lot more serious than a revenge fling, and the story turns very dark. Interestingly enough, L learns he is something of a sexual Olympian; he's capable of incredible feats, as he explores regions of his sexuality he never knew existed, with multiple willing and extremely uninhibited women. But there is no joy in his couplings, which is why this is not an erotic book. There is no love here; the sex is not romantic, but dead and mechanical, angry and animalistic. L is a man adrift, preoccupied with death and destruction.

"I was angry at Jo and Johnny," L says at one point, "but the real source of pain for me was that I had never known how empty and unfulfilled my life was." Later, he tells us, "My emotions were like lava flowing under a fallow landscape. I was filled with rage and impotence too."

This book is a relentless portrait of a man's psychological disintegration. He loses his job, lies to his girlfriend and gets involved with drugs, a porno star and the police. He crosses over to his dark side and stays there. He discovers that he is capable not only of having a lot of mind-bending sex, but is filled with feelings of bloodlust, cruelty and perhaps the ability to kill. He steals a gun. At one point in the narrative, he starts experiencing all the physical symptoms of a stroke. But rather than racing to the emergency room, he finds relief through yet another tryst. "If the dream is strong enough, it comes true," he says, then ominously adds that "the same was true for nightmares."

Indeed. What Mosley ultimately is writing about here is fate --- that thin line that separates the ordinary life we know from something terrifying over which we have no control. If we only had left for work at our normal time, would we have been driving through that intersection at the very moment the drunk driver hit the gas? L opens the wrong door at the wrong time and the world he has known is suddenly shattered into a million pieces. L tries to reassure us, or himself, at the end of this narrative that "there's always time for redemption." But one wonders. Some doors once opened can never be slammed shut.

Walter Mosley has written a great novel here. As with all of his books, it is beautifully written. But rather than simply titillate us, Mosley makes us face the existential condition of human life and the dark side that lurks not far from our everyday world. KILLING JOHNNY FRY ultimately does what great fiction should do. It makes us think.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan

Mr. Mosley chooses a completely different writing path in penning Killing Johnny Fry. Most noted for his mysteries, this book a startling, erotic expose' proves Mr. Mosley can write across genres.

The opening chapter finds Cordell, known as L to his friends, stumbling upon his longtime girlfriend Joelle, in the throes of passion with another man. Not just any man, but an extremely well-endowed white man. For his own reasons, L chooses not to confront them, or make his presence known. He simply backs away from the apartment, fleeing the premises. He finds himself jealous, excited, confused and instantly changed.

A force is unleashed in L that sends him on a journey of sexual exploration, beyond his imagination. He is also fueled by a desire to kill Johnny Fry, the man involved with his girlfriend. Killing Johnny Fry explores one man's transformation based upon insecurity, fear and obsession. Most interestingly, it might cause the reader to ask, "What would I do in L's position?"

Killing Johnny Fry is a dark, disturbing, thought provoking tale of male sexuality and insecurity run amuck. However, it proves without question that Walter Mosley is a master storyteller, in any genre.

Reviewed By: Angelia Menchan
APOOO BookClub

If you have read some of Mosley's other novels you know that there is always an element of the erotic in them as well as experimentation across the various literary genres. Killing Johnny Fry is definitely an example of Mosley bringing to the fore both of the above and it does not disappoint you. I was surprised that he chose to write such a novel, but I liked it and read it in two sittings. He did raise a lot of issues about our dark sides, our reactions to betrayal, and what lies beneath the surface of our everyday emotional responses to betrayal, sexual encounters and our usual, mundane lives. It is a very thoughtful novel.

I had been meaning to read Killing Johnny Fry for quite some time and finally was afforded the opportunity. I could not put it down. I read it while I was in Bermuda and it was the perfect read for the scenery. Walter Mosley is a master storyteller--no one can argue that--but this was a new type of offering for him. It was a study on human sexual needs and how they can sometimes become more important than everything else under the sun.

All of the characters in the book were well flushed out but the main character was fascinating. His ability to bounce from female to female to satisfy his desires can me new insight into the male psyche. The characters in the book gave credence to the fact that most of us are who we attract. I really appreciated this book. Thanks, Mr. Mosley, for doing you like only you can.

Walter Mosley, acclaimed creator of the Easy Rawlins crime novels, steps-- as they say-- out of the box in KILLING JOHNNY FRY as he joins the likes of W. H. Auden, D. H. Lawrence, Gore Vidal and Anais Nin et al, proving once again that fine writers produce the best pornography.

Cordell Carmel (named for his color?) also known as "L," quite by accident and unbeknownst to the participants, observes his copper-brown colored longtime lover and only friend Joelle Petty (who time after time denies that she has been unfaithful) in the throes of sexual abandon with one Johnny Fry, a Caucasian, who by Cordell's own admission is much larger in every way than he. In despair and near apoplexy, Cordell sets out to murder the culprit when he is not watching "The Myth of Sisypha," a DVD that he purchases at an adult video store or bedding (metaphorically of course as he has sex on the floor, in the park, on the bushes, in apartment hallways, on couches, etc.) every woman he meets. He also spends a modicum of his time selling the children of Sudan photographs by Lucy Carmichael, who is half his age and one of his sexual partners.

The sex scenes burn up the pages and shoot right off the thermometer. Mosley covers practically every kind of sex there is included (but not limited to) the front, the back, missionary, bondage, the obligatory orgy, digital, interracial, inter-generational, telephone sex, sex with strangers, by hand and with toys. Mr. Mosley comes up short, however, when he attempts to make sense out of all these couplings and tie up the loose ends. The Mosley imprint is certainly here. His skin tone palette goes from porcelain-white to "black as a blindfolded vision of midnight" and all shades in between; members of the NYPD in this instance, rather than the LAPD who harass Easy, are racist; and like Easy, Cordell has a less than happy childhood. Mr. Mosley ultimately talks about loneliness-- I suppose that's one aspect of existentialism as he does call this novel "sexistential," love, and "going home." All this moralizing works much better, however, with Easy than Cordell. Nonetheless, this novel is a hoot and, in many parts, will make you laugh.

I was looking forward to this book when I first heard about it then I started seeing it get slammed in the reviews and I hesitated. Then I thought "Mosley doesn't usually let me down so I'll take a look anyway" and I sat down in a local Borders and read the first few pages. Of course, it being a Mosley book I got hooked immediately and ended up buying it despite the bad press. I'm glad I did because it's actually one of his better efforts. Also, it delivers exactly what it promises: Lots of sex and plenty of emotional introspection. Some of the situations are certainly over-the-top but so what, it's fiction. I suspect a lot of this book's detractors may just be a bit prudish or were expecting something different going in. I wouldn't pay attention to those negative reviews because if you like Mosley's writing (which is in top form here), and are in the mood for a real-deal erotic novel then you'll be pleased with this book.

Walter Mosley describes his latest work, Killing Johnny Fry, as a sexistential novel. The protagonist, Cordell Carmel, a middle aged black man, has a sexual awakening after discovering his girl friend of 8 years having a torrid affair. Seeing his lover and only friend in the arms of another man drives Cordell to places and situations that he never imagined.

Mosley invites readers into Cordell's rapidly changing world to witness his emotional odyssey and subsequent sexual metamorphosis. Cordell is transformed from a mild mannered and straight-laced free-lance translator, to a lustfully, wanton artist's agent. Mosley details every aspect of Cordell's transformation including his nearly uncontrollable desire to kill his girl friend's new lover, Johnny Fry.

True to form, Mosley uses words to weave his intriguing tale; however, unlike his other novels, the graphic nature of the sex is atypical of his style. It's quite raw, gritty and somewhat vulgar. I was able to get past the vast sexual content and concentrate on the characters and their development. Mosley did a great job of filling the back story of the interesting cast of characters, many of whom has some form of sexual dysfunction or abuse in their pasts.

This book is not for the faint of heart. Although the sexual content is a significant part of the story, Mosley seems intent upon achieving maximum shock value. The extreme sexual content makes this an adult only read.

I have read all of Walter Mosley's ER books along with his FJ books. This book is one of the best books I have ever read, regardless of authors. Mr. Mosley takes the reader down a path that even a 41 year old know it all like myself was shocked and awed. I know this is a cliche, but I couldn't put the book down! Everytime I thought the action would slow down, Mr. Mosley went in another direction just as fast. Bravo Mr. Mosley, Bravo!

I absolutely LOVE this novel! I'm a Walter Mosley fan all the way, and so when I picked this book up to read it, I immediately was hooked. If you read most of the bad reviews on this book, you will note it is all to do with the explicit sexual content. This book is NOT about sex, it is about insecurity and so much more. We are so conservative her in the United States, that any book of this nature is deemed pornographic. I love the fact that Mosley is so descriptive. This book is a winner.

I absolutely loved this book. I liked Walter Mosley before, but now I'm in love and a fan for life! This book spoke to me directly. I know there are others out there who have a dark, unknown side, and this book sooooo catered to that part of me. I can't wait for his next novel in this style. It is mature, erotic, sick and dangerous all at the same time!