Customer Reviews

Out of Touch

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Out of Touch" was an interesting read, but nonetheless a Xerox of others transgressive writers. The novel "flips" styles between each chapter as Tietz does his best impressions of Chuck Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis, his voice not too unfamiliar if you've read either of the former. I myself was let down a little after hearing quite the rave about the book, as it seems more and more young writers tend self-publish novels while completely disregarding their own style and continually copying those who have already created fresh and exciting reads. I'll be looking forward to Tietz next work once he fixes his major flaws, but for now stick with titles such as "Less Than Zero" or "Invisible Monsters." 3/5 stars.

This book is a lot of fun. That's not to say that Aidin's journey should be taken lightly. It's not a comedy, but the author does a stellar job of allowing the reader to sit "shotgun" on the same ride that the main character is taking -the primary example being "the list" that Aidin has to complete in his therapy while confronting the fact that he's lost his ability to experience any physical sensation.

Funny thing, though, because while Aidin may wake up one day to find himself stripped of his ability to "feel," it's safe to say that he lost all "feeling" long before his condition ever kicked in.

So our numb and disconnected narrator comes to grips with that fact. You'll hear about the "twist" ending and how it comes out of left field, but not really -and I won't give away that ending of course, but it has to do with a choice that Aidin makes when given an ultimatum. His choice may not make a lot of "moral" sense to some, but this is a guy who's tired of running. He already ran from Himself during the years and events leading up this story, and this is the story of how he learns to face himself and who he is.

It can be dark, sad even, but also enlightening and fun for the reader -and that complicated dynamic is what makes Out of Touch such a great read.

The writing style is also fun in the fact that it's familiar, and yet brand new -speaking to the "Palahniuk/Ellis" influence.

Tietz isn't "imitating" these influences as much as going all out in making them known and giving a certain due -and it's all there -from the airplane going down in the opening scene to the support groups.

Think Quentin Tarantino: His influences are not only obvious, but celebrated, played with, and improved upon.

It's got a very Modern Feel after all is said and done. It's a fast read, but a great way to spend a short time.

Warning: You might not be ready for this.

Brandon Tietz is a name familiar from my time at Chuck Palahniuk's website. He's an author, active on the boards, posting excellent short stories. Out of Touch is his debut novel. I see an interview with him on the site. So I write down the name of the book, of the author, hoping to pick it up sometime soon. See if the novel is as good as the stories he's crafting.

You want a synopsis? You want me to set up this review? F that, the synopsis is up there. You already know where Aidin comes from; what he's up against. Let's not talk about what it's about. Let's talk about how GOOD it is.

The prose has the same sensibilities that attracted me to Chuck Palahniuk--the fierce present tense, the resounding chorus and rhythm of the writing, the nihilistic sheen--a fast, furious read. But this isn't all style--the substance holds up, enhanced by a fearless writer's delivery, pushing at us scenes and thoughts we may not be ready for--coke (not the kind in a red can, either) and booze and dirty bathroom sex. And that's in the first few pages, and to some extent, yeah, we've seen coke and orgies before. But by the time you start connecting Lincoln Logs and terrorist activity and the themes of duality and identity, you realize that the stack of pages in your hands, surrounded by the innocence of Braille and the cute readhead on the cover--it's not what you think it is. This is rocket fuel you've got here. This is a young writer without a filter. He's ready to dose you, raw. And better than that--you can tell he's put the work in to produce writing like this. I don't have to ask him, but I know he's got rejection slips stashed somewhere--a writer's badge of honor. I know he rewrites his ass off. I know he doesn't just write or rewrite--he crafts. It's that feeling of being on a roller coaster--I know I'm in the hands of a professional, I know that the roller coaster is well-crafted and safe and the turns and twists and dips are by design--yet you still raise your hands over your head and scream with glee because maybe, just maybe, you're in danger for real.

When I was finished with Out of Touch I knew it was a pretty damn good book. It's one I'm going to recommend, one I'm going to remember--two compliments of the highest order that any reader can bestow--but what really excites me is what's next from Mr. Tietz. Where will he go? What happens when his edge gets sharper, his tools more refined, his life experiences and ideas stacking up just so to fuel his next project? And his next one after that? And after that? So he's a guy I'm keeping an eye on. You should too.

And if you are ready--or even if you're not--Out of Touch is a must-read.

Tietz's debut novel is a powerful and concise effort that grabbed me from the beginning and did not let go.

His protagonist, Aidin, is as self-absorbed as he is lost. Until that one night when everything changes.

Tietz writes with the precision of a surgeon. Not a word is wasted, not a word is misplaced. Each chapter ends with a boom, leaving me unable to put it down. And the twist at the end comes so suddenly and unexpectedly, it made my stomach drop.

"Out of Touch" is funny and powerful and ultimately, about choices. The choices we make every day that define who we are.

This is transgressive fiction at its best. Tietz reminds me of a young Bret Easton Ellis with a sprinkle of Chuck Palahniuk on top. He is a talented young writer and I am certainly looking forward to his next book.

Michael Sonbert - author of "The Never Enders."

I am not one to do book reviews on a normal basis, but with this book I had to make an exception. In the novel Out of Touch, Brandon Tietz writes an exhilarating debut novel that pulls you in from the first page and doesn't let go until the end! I admit it does start out a little graphic, however, Aidin the main character, is so intriguing I could not stop reading. He pulls you into his intricate web and winds you up so tightly you can't turn the pages fast enough to calm your anticipation. It is easy to get sucked into his life as he is so entwined in the shallow, mainstream club existence filled with drugs, sex and alcohol. I found the book to be riveting as with every turn of the page was another cliff to dive off of. It is very smoothly written and easy to follow amidst the twists and turns.

Mr. Tietz has a writing style that is quite unique. I am a person who is very easily bored and can't get past the first 2 chapters of a book and this grabbed me from the beginning and held on through the end. I love a story that resonates in my mind for days to follow after the book is finished. Ladies and gentlemen this is that story! It reminds me of the book Fight Club or Bourne Identity as in reality becomes skewed and you are left trying to decide what was real and what was in your head.

Just a warning...you may want to read this when you have extra time to finish it...you may not be able to put it down until the every word has been read (maybe even twice as you may be blindsided at the end!)

If you don't hate Brandon Tietz's protagonist, Aidin, within the first ten pages of this novel I seriously question the software of your moral GPS. If you don't desperately want to be Aidin by the last ten pages you and I didn't read the same book. Out of Touch is a novel about bizarre changes. As if caught by an atomic powered puberty, our anti-hero finds himself the victim of an unknown medical condition which leaves him entirely devoid of feeling. A cumbersome and metaphorical position for the holder of a limitless AmEx, plenty of uncut coke, a marshmallow cereal stash of pharmaceuticals and the women who er...ehm "love" him for it. As the standard accouterments of the a-hole playboy becoming fleeting reveries of feeling, Out of Touch shapes into a fantastic parable for growing up.

Tietz writes like a mid-westerner. His voice is distinct and direct. Being a thoroughly modern novel Tietz breaks all the right rules when it comes to writing. Less like a novel, less even than a speech, Out of Touch is like he's telling you his own story over a bottle of Cristal at a velvet roped club. Conversational, ignoring grammar where necessary for the sake of sounding spoken rather than read; this work is closer to poetry in that way.

The novel has its bumps. I caught spelling and other non-helpful (see above) grammatical errors. The middle of the book hiccuped somewhat. The action gets lost, the voices of all the characters lose their distinction and began to sound like ventriloquists of each other. In the end it all works out alright though. Literally. Trying to stay on the safe side of spoiling I'll just say that it's a whiplash ending. Not a "my lawyer will hear about this" twisted-metal whiplash, more the long lines for admission, zero to sixty in 3 or less and "is it over already?" kind. A roller coaster you will have to ride more than once. What's more, the ending was as thick a story as the entire preceding novel and twice as ballsy. Quite a feat and quite a save.

Read this book. A must for Palahniuk and Easton-Ellis fans, Tietz successfully pays homage to some literary heavy weights and is easily elbowing his way to their stack on the shelf.

Aidin bypasses lines at clubs, orders bottle service, has an unlimited supply of money and drugs, and beds any and all women at his disposal. He doesn't go to work, he doesn't waste his time with school. He parties professionally, getting paid in flesh and a chemically altered sense of reality. All of this is fine with Aidin. What guy, on the surface of things, wouldn't want to step into his shoes for a week or two? But this is all in the first few chapters of the book, so you know things are about to go awry for Aidin and his nightlife, because one Rules of Attraction is enough.

Aidin then engages in a drug-feuled orgy. Don't be shocked, Aidin wouldn't. It was just another late night/early morning for him, but this particular orgy is important, because after he recovers, he finds out that he's lost the ability to feel. This isn't a final season of Oprah episode, where he just wants to find the right cocaine laced woman and then everyone gets a free Kia. Punch him in the face, he won't flinch. Stab him and he'll bleed, but it won't hurt. Tickle him and the only laughter you'd hear would be caused by the futility of the exercise.

That's when we meet Dr. Paradies and her therapeutic to-do list of 366 missions, ranging from constructing a jigsaw puzzle, to buying things for complete strangers without accepting thanks. Aidin becomes obsessed with the list, completing all of the tasks, no matter how mundane, with the precision of a finely tuned metaphor. Finishing the itemized quests actually fills the void left by sobriety and monogamy until the list becomes mysterious and dangerous, forcing Aidin to make a life changing choice.

The life that Aidin leads, from start to finish, is prodigious, even while he sits on the floor of his parent's house constructing a cabin out of Lincoln Logs, because it all leads to a conclusion that no one would ever believe. Tietz plays the written word the way his main character handles his women. As the story progresses, no matter the content, you believe it as if your best friend was telling you a drinking story you must have missed. When the mountains of excess are rivaling horse-murdering quantities, you accept it as the truth without a second thought. That's the power of Brandon Tietz, a power Greyskull wishes it could master. Out of Touch is his He-Man. Buy yourself a copy of He-Man.

(review originally published at 3ammagazine dot com)

Out of Touch by Brandon Tietz is about Aidin, a wealthy socialite who at twenty-four has spent his entire life in a world of superficiality. Aidin's adult life consists of nightly sojourns to posh clubs where money is never a problem. Thousands of dollars on bottle service, drugs and women-as-objects. That's about it. Aidin knows there is an emptiness here. His whole life has been rife with it. This is how he is supposed to live. This is what people have come to expect. What else is there?

After a night of hard partying, he wakes up and cannot feel a thing. No physical sensation whatsoever. At first he mistakes this for some bad cocaine or a weird hangover, but it's more serious than that. He quickly has to learn how to adapt to the world in a new way, which means forsaking the life of pleasure that he's led up until now.

With the help of his therapist Dr. Paradies, Aidin's life takes on a third dimension. He develops a personality. He meets a woman. He participates in mysterious exchanges. Builds a birdhouse. All this through a to-do list Paradies gives him as part of his therapy. 366 items. Skip nothing. Build a Lego city, sketch a self-portrait, create a Myspace page, learn how to shoot a gun.

The story winds its way into strange yet inevitable places. Everything happening for a reason. As Aidin learns how to live with his condition, new peculiarities come into the picture. The rising action will leave readers riveted to the page. The smooth, slick style. Clever yet full of truths. The non-linear storyline is also a lot of fun as the writer jumps around from before and after `the Big Numb', also to diary entries from Aidin's childhood. All of it ties together.

This book is about finding substance and meaning in a world where so many people skip that part of life. Aidin's story questions the meaning of soul, where it is, where it's not - and it left me wondering how I can improve my own life, continue to cultivate new interests in the effort to avoid my own Big Numb.

Debut novels are seldom this good. After reading this, I can tell that Tietz takes the craft seriously. I can tell that this is one of those books that everyone should read. I can tell he'll be around for a long while.

(this review originally appeared at outsiderwriters [dot] org)

For too long I avoided this book. Many people whose opinions I respect recommend it, but no matter the pressure, I politely passed. I can assume many reasons for that: perhaps the author's online persona (which, after reading this book, I realize is actually an incredibly smart marketing move); perhaps the author's local status (he's here in Kansas City, so I feared not liking the book and having to meet him one day); perhaps it was the book cover (sexy, pouty lips scream mass market trash, to me). But, after drinks with Tietz a few weeks ago, he passed me copy, so I broke down and cracked the spine a few days ago. Today, I finished. Impressed. Honestly, sad that it took me so long to give in.

Out of Touch, Tietz's first novel, is unequal parts early Chuck Palahniuk--in tone, style, and theme--and American Psycho, with the Palahniuk influence far outweighing the Ellis. Trade the corporate disenfranchisement of Fight Club's unnamed narrator with the vainglorious obsession of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, and you get Out of Touch's Aidin [last name redacted].

Aidin, a twenty-something socialite, slowly succumbs to what he calls "the numb," a feeling of physical and mental imperviousness. And while the state seems fun at first, allowing parlor tricks involving sewing needles to lead to many bedded women, the high quickly becomes deterioration. Out of Touch feels reads like a journal of sensation loss, which would imply empathy for the character's descent given another author's hand. But Tietz dodges that mode and instead focuses on style, style, style. And I love him for it.

As I closed the book this evening, I was left wondering just how amazed I'd have been had I not been so familiar with Chuck Palahniuk's earlier work. However, though Out of Touch is derivative, it is still beautifully rendered and perfectly slick.

And the ending, surprising to say the least. I want a sequel. Get on it, Tietz

--Caleb J Ross, author of Charactered Pieces: stories

It's everyone's kind of book.

A very well plotted book with diction that just keeps you reeled in. The storyline makes for an extremely interesting and fast read because of the underlying way it relates - and that's priceless to any reader. I had an extremely hard time reading this book in the evenings before bed, as I couldn't bring myself to put it down. I would recommend this book and author (and have) to anyone.

Also, I'll be ordering the hardcover and borrowing out my paperback to people who ask me about good authors. I wouldn't dare break ties with any book worth keeping on my bookshelf, and this is one of those.