Mourning Wood: A Novel [Hardcover]

Daniel Paisner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

Best-selling author Daniel Paisner makes an indelible impression with a moving and funny novel reminiscent of Carl Hiassen and Peter Lefcourt. From its dramatic and humorous opening to its touching conclusion, Mourning Wood hooks readers with its eccentric characters and offbeat sense of humor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Paisner, a frequent collaborator on celebrity bios, plays a cheeky game of cat-and-mouse in his debut novel, which revolves around a famous but fading movie actor who fakes his death and creates a bizarre new existence for himself. Terence Wood is the thespian protagonist whose encounter with the muddy, icy roads of coastal Maine proves disastrous when his SUV goes off a cliff and into the water. Wood survives the accident, but instead of reporting it and providing the media with more celebrity scandal, the Maine native decides to hide out in a nearby fishing village, where he lands an unlikely gig working as a costumed lobster in a local theme park and falls for an overweight but attractive diner waitress called Grace, who is nicknamed "Two Stools." Meanwhile, an obituary writer for a prominent Maine paper named Axel Pimletz lands a book deal to polish an autobiographical manuscript Wood left behind, after fraudulently pasting together a final newspaper tribute to Wood. Pimletz struggles to finish the book with a libidinous assist from one of Wood's ex-wives. Paisner's terse but breezy style makes for a fast, engaging read, and Wood has more than enough character to carry the novel, especially with some strong comic relief from the hapless, bumbling Pimletz. But the ex-wife gags fall flat; another tangent involving the travails of Wood's son, Norman, is perfunctory; and despite Pimletz's funny moments, the potential of the biography subplot goes largely unrealized. Paisner recovers nicely with a sharp, funny ending, but the novel's various parts never quite cohere.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The author, a prolific ghostwriter (his string of credits includes books cowritten with George Pataki, Willard Scott, and Anthony Quinn), published his first novel, Obit, in 2000. It featured Axel Pimletz, an obituary writer for a Boston newspaper. Paisner's second novel, also starring the hapless Pimletz, is altogether a superior piece of work. Where Obit was lumbered with a clumsy mystery plot, this one is a breezy comedy that moves at a brisk pace. Terence Wood, a famous actor, apparently has died, and after Pimletz's lengthy obituary is published, Pimletz is approached for an even bigger assignment: writing Wood's memoirs. How does a minimally talented obit writer produce the memoirs of an actor about whom he barely knows anything? And what will happen when he--and the world--discovers that the actor is not dead? Paisner has polished and expanded all the good things in his first novel and jettisoned all the things that didn't work. If there is anyone who could write a good novel about a ghostwriter, it's a ghostwriter, and this novel is just a whole lot of fun. Here's a book that, with enough word of mouth, has the makings of a cult favorite. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566252091
• ISBN-13: 978-1566252096
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,095,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Paisner is one of the busiest collaborators in publishing. He's written over fifty books, on topics ranging from business and sports, to politics and popular culture, including eleven New York Times best-sellers.

He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams; MSNBC News personality Mika Brzezinski; real estate developer and co-star of "Celebrity Apprentice" Ivanka Trump; Ohio governor John Kasich; former New York City mayor Ed Koch; and, Academy Award-winning actors Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Quinn, among others. He is currently completing projects with former world champion longboard surfer Izzy Paskowitz and legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley.

Over the years, Paisner has worked with dozens of "ordinary" individuals with extraordinary stories to tell, including Krystyna Chiger, whose chronicle of her family's horrific ordeal in a Polish sewer during the German occupation, "The Girl in the Green Sweater," makes an important contribution to the literature of the Holocaust. The story is the basis for the forthcoming film, "In Darkness," from Academy Award-nominated director Agnieszka Holland.

Perhaps his most notable collaboration has been the best-selling account of a New York City firefighter's epic tour of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, "Last Man Down," written with FDNY Battalion Commander Richard Picciotto. The book was #1 on the London Times best-seller list, and remained a top ten seller in the U.K. for over six months; it reached the #1 spot on the Amazon.com.uk "Hot 100" list.

Paisner has also written several books of his own, including "The Ball: Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream," which was hailed by Amazon editors as one of the best sports books of the year. If you want to really make him happy, consider reading one of his novels, "Obit" and "Mourning Wood."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, perceptive and highly entertaining!!, May 23, 2004

By 

billy packstein (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mourning Wood: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a great book. A real surprise. What a treat.
On the one hand, this is a tale of reinvention. It's a story about having (or having had) everything you wanted - and then still wanting to call a do-over.
On the other hand, it is hysterical. Sometimes it's hysterical in a laugh-out-loud sort of a way. Sometimes in a sneak-up-on-you-the-next-day-in-the-shower sort of a way. It is a biting, insightful look at pop culture through the lens of a one-time A-list Hollywood leading man who sees the opportunity to make himself relevant again - to himself and to the world, by dying. Sort of.

From the writer's bio it seems that he has written a number of books with celebrities. And that inside feel really comes across when you read this book. You have the feeling of getting into the mind and culture of someone who has lived his life under the watchful eye of the media and his adoring public. There's a kind of Being John Malkovich thing going here - as the writer brings you into the head of a Jack Nicholson kind of guy, and he's got the street cred and the chops to really pull it off. On the other side of the story is this kind of hapless, deadbeat newspaper obit writer - and the vivid accounts of his life and perspective, to often bitingly hilarious result.
I highly recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely entertaining,, June 7, 2004

By 

Dav id Buss (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mourning Wood: A Novel (Hardcover)

Paisner is consistently good. Whether he is writing one of his numerous celebrity biographies or a novel, his style and story keep you interested from page one. The characters in Mourning Wood are so innovative and interesting; they are a breath of fresh air from your standard pop culture fare. I believe this is the second novel of Paisner's and I can only hope that he turns more of his attention to fiction as both of these have been treats.

5.0 out of 5 stars are you serious, April 5, 2006

By 

craig clement (cambridge, ma) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mourning Wood: A Novel (Hardcover)

"mourning wood". surly this guy realizes the joke. make sure to get the HARDcover version.