Customer Reviews

Now You See Him: A Novel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

One of the words that always raises red flags for me when reading book descriptions is "literary". While there's every chance that the book may be good, there's an equally good chance that a literary novel will be pretentiously unreadable. The back of my copy of Eli Gottlieb's Now You See Him has a quote from Ann Patchett describing the book as a "literary page-turner", an indication that the two things are definitely separate quality. In this case, it happens to be reasonably true: Now You See Him is both literary and a page-turner.

The narrator of this novel is Nick Framingham who recounts at the beginning a pivotal event: his childhood friend - and briefly famous writer - Rob Castor has killed his girlfriend and later himself. This gives Castor some newfound celebrity, but months later, most of the press is out of Rob's former hometown (and Nick's current one), Monarch, New York. Nick, however, cannot seem to recover from Rob's death.

His marriage, faltering even before Rob's suicide, is truly crumbling now, exacerbated by Nick's self-absorption. In addition, Rob's sister - and Nick's first lover - is back in town and sparks are flying between the two. Among all the difficulties will come a series of revelations that will erode what little stability Nick still has.

One of the things that often distinguishes literary novels from genre novels (mystery, science fiction, etc.) is that plot is often not the primary consideration, and things rarely resolve cleanly. Such is the case here; this is more the tale of Nick's slow self-destruction. The "how" of this self-destruction is obvious enough, but the "why" is a little more subtle.

Gottlieb has an easy reading style that does indeed make this a fast page-turner. In Nick Framingham he creates a compelling character who sometimes is sympathetic but often isn't. While Now You See Him may not fit in any particular fiction genre, it is still a really good read of the sort that is popular with book clubs. But even outside of a book club environment, this is still worth picking up.

After reading "Now You See Him", I was left with the lingering
feeling of having been in the company of an intriguing mysterious
character who revealed himself only slowly to us, in a series of
spontaneous candid moments. He did so while confessing the discomfort
created by discovering the truth of his own identity and the root
cause of his alienation (quite justified, as it turns out). Beyond the
hip thriller-like tension this book imparts, it uses elegant, sharp,
brilliant writing to dig deep into the soul of the main character,
Nick Framingham, and thus into our own souls as readers.

Framingham reminds me of the nice reliable friend standing on the side
of the group photo, who turns out to be not so nice and not so
reliable. But he's only one of many indelible, vividly sketched
characters in this book. I want to spend a few words on another of
these, who struck me. Shirley Castor is a grand disturbed lady who
to my mind evokes the great female personae of 1940s Hollywood cinema,
ala Greta Garbo or Ava Gardner. She is a concentrate of pure strong
femininity, a she-warrior drunkard ready to bury you and your soul
with a flicker of her expensive Cuban cigarillo, right before dousing
it in her Martini glass.

"Now You See Him" was a bonanza of page-turning surprises, and when I
was done with it, I was left wanting more.

I just finished a marathon read of "Now You see Him" read over 20 hours and I think Ann Patchett nailed the essence of why this is a great novel.

The language is poetic but the plot is also original, full of concealments and revealments and because it is 7 AM I'm still too inside this story (and now tired, of course) to write a review that does this book justice.

I do read a book a day, most days, or rather nights and after many months only a few really stay with me. This is a keeper! I think those who did not love it, maybe did not love the literary aspects which for me were almost as thrilling, or make that YES as thrilling as the amazing tale that is told her. Five stars. Excellent. Kol Ha Kovod to Eli Gottleib!

Eli Gottlieb's beautifully crafted story of a man's reflections about his best friend's death and the repercussions it has on his marriage is a compelling read.

With his entire small town reeling from the murder suicide of his closest childhood friend, who had successfully fled the grasp of Monarch life, Nick Framingham begins a sometimes self indulgent but always incisive evaluation of the events in his life that lead him to his faltering marriage and strained family relationships. Gottlieb's incredibly accurate assessment of the facets of ones relationships with those he loves adds immensely to the thought provoking story of a life gone horribly wrong and its effect on those left to sort out the reasons. It is Gottlieb's ability deftly unfold to the reader his character's inner most feelings that drives this suspenseful and riveting story.

I highly recommend this book!!

Eli Gottlieb's first novel, "The Boy Who Went Away," won the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as the McKitterick Prize of the British Society of Authors. There has been eager anticipation for his second novel, so I was pleased that I was selected to receive an Advanced Reader's Edition for review. "Now You See Him" is a literary, psychological, and moral tour-de-force. Once again, the author delights us with prose that is subtle, lush, fresh, and powerful, but it is the strong moral undercurrent of this novel that will carry you away.

It took courage to write and publish this novel! This is a dark, brooding piece that provokes the reader to argue for and against each side of a number of highly questionable moral acts. What's more, the novel begs readers to empathize with deeply flawed characters. These are normal well-meaning people who nonetheless commit appalling acts of everyday and criminal moral trespass. Many readers may simply be turned off by the whole moody, slow, introspective, tenor of the work. But those who relish moral fiction will be stimulated and meaningfully challenged.

Gottlieb gives us a set of characters stripped to their raw authenticity. He artfully makes us aware of each character's self-delusions. We get to see how these delusions resonate through the lives of friends and family. We witness the irony of characters so wrapped up in their own take on reality that they are blind to their misdeeds and how they mirror the very crimes they rail against in others. These are families with secrets, abundant sorrow, and emotional violence at their core.

The plot starts off with a media circus in Monarch, New York, the hometown of famous Manhattan writer, Rob Castor. The media are drawn to this rural upstate New York location because Rob murders his girlfriend in Manhattan and then commits suicide in Monarch. But the novel is not about Rob Castor.

The story is told entirely from the point of view of Nick Farmington, Rob's boyhood best friend. Based on court transcripts, we learn the details of Rob's crime of passion, but it is Nick's life that is the real focus of this book. On the positive side, Nick likes to think of himself as a cultured man who married the girl of his dreams, had two lovely boys, and was lucky enough to find a steady academic managerial position in his hometown. On the negative side, Nick's life has been on a steep downward spiral for many years. The book opens six months after Rob's murder-suicide, when Nick's life spirals out of control and hits rock bottom. Nick thinks: "I felt myself increasingly becalmed in life. It was as if I were on the receiving end of some mysterious large process, and singled out for special attention. 'The world knew,' I told myself. The world knew what I'd done and the world was taking action. And part of that action was to make sure that it--the world--perforated me so violently with its sights and sounds that I was paralyzed out of sheer nervous saturation." Nick is a man dead in his soul and the reader is compelled to know why.

This is a book about understanding the dark roots of human motivation, especially the strong subtle role that self-delusion plays in all wrongdoing. The book is a journey though the inner workings of Nick's mind during a period of turmoil and anguish. Layer by layer, the self-delusions are stripped away. Finally, we see Nick bare--it is as if the author were entreating: "Now you see him!" ...and yes, you will. And what will you do with this knowledge? Will you judge Nick...forgive him...condemn him? Gottlieb leaves it up to his readers to ponder these bigger moral questions...and mark my word, they will haunt you for days.

I highly recommend this book for its exquisite prose and thematic depth. This book is clearly not for everyone, but those on the lookout for outstanding literary moral fiction will be handsomely rewarded.

[Readers may be interested to know that Sharp Entertainment recently acquired the film rights to "Now You See Him" ("Los Angeles Times," January 9, 2008, p. E17). Sharp Entertainment has produced successful thought-provoking films such as "Proof," "You Can Count on Me," and "Boys Don't Cry."]

In most coming-of-age novels about friends, the friends are "initiated into adulthood" as they learn and experience. In Now You See Him, Nicholas Framingham's experiences and growth come through his childhood best friend, Rob Castor. However, Castor's untimely death, through a murder-suicide, occurs halfway through the second page. Nick's growth throughout the book cannot coincide with his childhood friend's; however, in death, Rob Castor has significant effect on the life of Nick Framingham.

Nick's life is, not surprisingly, turned upside down by this unexpected shock. His childhood memories become more crisp, more vivid, as he stumbles through the dark reality of the aftermath. Meanwhile, his wife, who has absolutely no idea what's going on in her husband's head, becomes increasingly annoyed to the point at which their marriage is on shaky ground. Add to Nick's blasts from the past, and his wife's insecurity: the presence of Rob's sister.

Nick's memories, when reviewed through his adult mind, indicate some things that are very wrong. As the book progresses, he learns some very uncomfortable truths. So does the reader.

Now You See Him is the first of Mr. Gottleib's books that I've read. It was a decent book (although I could hear my mother "screaming" at the behavior of the characters, as I read), and I would read something else by him if the quality were the same. I'd give the story a solid B.

At first, you might conclude that Now You See Him is going to be something of a tell-all novel, with the narrator, Nick Framingham (reminiscent of Nick Carraway of The Great Gatsby), reflecting on just where his famous friend Rob Castor's life veered off the tracks towards tragedy (the evidence indicates the celebrity writer murdered his ex-lover in a jealous rage, then took his own life), but it's a far more subtle work than that. Chapter by painful chapter, Gottlieb slowly discloses seemingly unconnected bits of information, illuminating both the life of the troubled author, and his friendship with Nick, which began in childhood and still affects the narrator today. The issue here is that Nick is an unreliable storyteller, partially because of things he won't admit to himself, and partially because he doesn't know the secret story behind his complicated relationship with Castor and the members of the writer's idiosyncratic family. The revelations that Gottlieb has in store for the distraught Nick will startle both him and readers, who will find themselves becoming emotionally invested in this consistently surprising, consistently moving, consistently engaging work.

I really enjoyed this book. I found that the plot and staging were very interestingly done. This was not a simple plot, a complex family drama really. Not a thriller or crime book as you might expect from the description. It is more about the main character's current and past messed up life. Very psychological. I was reminded of Russo (not a shabby comparison) with fewer characters. The ending surprised me! I recommend it highly. 10 years between this and Gottlieb's previous novel! Wow, I'll have to give that one (The Boy Who Went Away) a read as well. Enjoy!

"His name was Rob Castor. Quite possibly, you've heard of him. He became a minor cult celebrity in his early twenties for writing a book of darkly pitch-perfect short stories set in a stupid upstate New York town. About a dozen years later, he murdered his writer-girlfriend and committed suicide. . . ."

I agree with the critics, who labeled this book as a literary page-turner. Now You See Him drew me into the heart of Nick Framingham, who not only struggles with the death of his best friend, but a nagging sense of worthlessness that has plagued him throughout his life. The more I read about Nick, the more certain I became of his jealousy toward Rob Castor, who had achieved fame and notoriety while he lived an ordinary life.

Although there are some surprising revelations about Nick and Rob's background, there was no real pulse-raising suspense until the final scene between the two guys. That's where the story faltered. I wanted to know how Nick felt after he made his choice at the end of the scene because I was inside his head and reading his thought processes up until this point. But the story jumps to the present and concludes.

Despite this, I enjoyed reading Now You See Him. Gottlieb wove a great story about envy, lust, and family dysfunction. Recommended.

Now You See Him is the best book I read in 2007, and unless Eli Gottlieb publishes another novel in the next 12 months, will probably be the best book I read in 2008, because this is one of those rare novels I will actually read again (if I'm too busy to call my Nana do you really think I'm going to re-read a book?).

Take one unreliable narrator, add the premise of a murder mystery (except no one's chasing clues about the murder, not really), and mix with concise, clever, literary prose. I ended up frantically turning the pages, reading as fast as I could, to find out the truth of the life of the semi-loathsome narrator, the childhood friend of the murderer. Gottlieb is tricky. He absorbs you in his story, so that I was expecting to mainline his plot with a satisfied sigh, but instead I found myself thinking about larger themes, recognizing truths, and getting excited about finding a new writer to love.

Now You See Him presents crystalized truths about love, about marriage, fidelity, friendship, perception, trust, relativity and the human ability to rationalize just about anything.