Customer Reviews

Life Is a Strange Place: A Novel

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is exceptional. It made me laugh, cry, and feel empathy for the characters in the six hours it took to read this book. I really don't even have the words to describe how this book made me feel. It is a very quirky, quick paced, comical book. The neuroticism of the characters make you realize that your life is exceptional. I would recommend this book to any and everyone.

Thirty-three year old Barry Munday is single minded in his pursuit of casual meaningless sex, but his life changes forever when an unfulfilled sexual encounter with a beautiful teenage girl meets with her angry, trumpet wheedling father in a darkened theater. Upon waking up in a hospital Barry discovers that his most prized possessions, his family jewels, have been stolen. His testicles, irreparably damaged, have been surgically removed.

Reevaluating his life, Barry realizes that work has been something to be avoided, he doesn't particularly like his best friend, and he will never have children. Things seem to go from bad to worse for Barry. He is chased out of a gay bar by a group of midget wrestlers, and his ex-girlfriend's dog has taken to defecating on his front stoop. But Barry is soon lifted from wallowing in a pit of self-despair when Ginger Farley, a woman he can't remember having sexual relations with, sues him for paternity. Ironically through the loss of his testicles Barry is transformed into more of a man than he might have otherwise become.

"Life is a Strange Place" is the fourth published novel for Frank Turner Hollon; an Alabama lawyer turned author. Layered with humor and sentimentality, Hallon skillfully weaves his sometimes goofy tale of a man with no balls who discovers there is more to the meaning of life than just planting his seed.

In the beginning, I despised Hollon's protagonist, Barry Munday. Did I want to spend time with this sex obsessed man who doesn't like his only friend, doesn't particularly like himself, or his girlfriend, or her dog, Boner?

Well, yes, I decided. Somehow I was hooked and had to keep reading.

Happily, I discovered my disdain for Munday was a credit to Hollon's fine writing because I went from hating Barry Munday to loving him and laughing all the way.

Frank Turner Hollon is brillant. I enjoy reading dark humor and this is the best I have ever read. I am going to give copies to friends for Christmas. ENJOY!!!!

Hollon takes a step out of his usual subject matter to bring us a comedic novel about a guy castrated by a trumpet. With a premise like that you know this is going to be a completely wacky, offbeat humor novel, and the author doesn't disappoint in any way.

Yet again Hollon's characters are excellent. We go from despising Barry Munday as a total sleaze to getting downright sympathetic by the end. Readers can't help but be sucked in to Munday's plight - his constant struggle with the bizarre events constantly happening to him, and the quirkiness of all the people he comes into contact with.

I thought the book was really funny. Sometimes the plot got just a little too weird for me, but it was usually carried through with humor and style. Also, I was a little disappointed with the ending - though everything came together (not in way I was anticipating), it seemed way too sudden. Still, the rest of the book was excellent. I was laughing out loud in a few parts (naming the baby, buying the birthday cake, ...) So it definitely was a success!

This book is also in production as a movie under the title "Barry Munday". It should be very entertaining!

This is one of the funniest books I've come across in ages and even when I wasn't laughing out loud, I was grinning from ear to ear. Patrick Wilson apparently will play the lead in the movie adaptation, which should be brilliant. If there is first-person narration in the same tone as that of the book, it will be hilarious. I'm recommending this book to anyone who loves to laugh.

I got about 50 pages into this book before throwing it down completely in exasperation. Other than an attempt to be completely bizarre (in a kind of "Meet the Parents" sort of way), I have no idea what Hollon's inspiration was for writing this kind of gross, nonsensical story about a character I have absolutely no concern for.

Here's the skinny - Barry Mundy only cares about sex. But after a particularly painful fight in a darkened movie theatre, he awakes in a hospital bed to find that his testicles are gone. This causes Barry to re-evaluate himself, and he sees that he hates his job, has no friends, and will never be a father. Then, he discovers that a previous one-night-stand with a woman he can't even remember has resulted in a pregnancy. He feels as if he's been given another chance, and he seizes the opportunity to turn his world around.

Throw in midget wrestling in a gay bar, a support group for men with genital mutilation, a jealous ex-girlfriend, an Asian exchange student, blocked toilets, dog turds, vomit and lewd scenes in showers, bathrooms, and the back seats of cars, and you've about got it.

And did I mention that I didn't find it funny at all?

Against my policy of ONLY reading 50 pages of something if it sucks, I soldiered on. It never really got any better. I wasted my time on this one, and I'm posting this review so you don't waste yours.

I will die if Frank Hollin doesnt tell me.


Frank I emplore you.



Remeber that time in Fair Hope when.................. ehhh never mind