"[A] wry and unnerving story of bad love gone rotten. [Mohr] has a generous understanding of his characters, whom he describes with an intelligence and sensitivity that pulls you in. This is no small achievement." -The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)
“Similar to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment: the most crucial action serves as a portal to and wellspring for the various psychologies of its characters. But Mohr's storytelling is so absorbing that Termite Parade does not read like an analytical rumination; if he is examining the very nature of these characters under a microscope, he at least lets the specimens speak for themselves.” —San Francisco Chronicle
"Termite Parade is a sucker punch to literary complacency, without a hint of authorial self-absorption. Mohr is a post-millennial Bukowski with a dash of Hubert Selby, Jr. thrown in for good measure, and with only two published novels under his belt, he is rapidly becoming one of my favorite American novelists." -Powell's Review-A-Day
Termite Parade is the follow-up to Joshua Mohr's San Francisco Chronicle bestselling first novel - and one of O, The Oprah Magazine's '10 Terrific Reads of 2009' - Some Things That Meant the World to Me.
Termite Parade tells the story of Mired, the self-described "bastard daughter of a menage a trois between Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Sylvia Plath, and Eeyore." Mired catalogs her "museum of emotional failures," the latest entry to which is her boyfriend Derek, an auto mechanic (whose body may or may not be infested with termites), who loses his cool carrying her up the stairs to their apartment.
As Derek's termites wreak havoc on his nervous system, Mired pieces together the puzzle, each character revealing aspects of their savage natures, culminating in a climax of pure animal chaos.
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JOSHUA MOHR is the author of the novels Some Things that Meant the World to Me, which was one of O Magazine's Top 10 reads of 2009, and the newly released Termite Parade, which was an Editor's Choice selection of The New York Times Book Review. He has an MFA from the University of San Francisco and has published numerous short stories and essays in publications such as 7×7, the Bay Guardian, Zyzzyva, The Rumpus, Other Voices, the Cimarron Review, Gulf Coast and Pleiades, among many others. He lives in San Francisco and teaches fiction writing. Please visit him at joshuamohr.net.
Product Details
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio; First Edition edition (July 1, 2010)
JOSHUA MOHR is the author of the novels "Termite Parade," an Editors' Choice on The New York Times Best Seller List, and "Some Things that Meant the World to Me," one of O Magazine's Top 10 reads of 2009 and a SF Chronicle best-seller. His most recent novel is "Damascus" about which the New York Times said:
"The author's jaunty voice [is] Beat-poet cool...Mohr nails the atmosphere of a San Francisco still breathing in the smoke that lingers from the days of Jim Jones and Dan White, a time when passionate ideologies and personal dysfunction intermingled and combusted."
Mohr teaches in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco and has published numerous short stories and essays in publications such as The New York Times Book Review, 7×7, the Bay Guardian, ZYZZYVA, The Rumpus, among many others. Please visit him at joshuamohr.net.
I loved "Some Things That Meant the World to Me," (STTMTWTM), as it was one of those books that the characters are so real and alive that they almost feel like disturbing family memories. I wanted to read another book like that and after reading the reviews of "The Termite Parade," I thought I'd get my fix. I have to say, there were times that I was reading it that I was just bored with the story and the characters altogether. I mean how many back and forth view points did I have to endure before Mired walked into the apartment? I ended up just skipping forward to just get to the undramatic point. It was like sex without the orgasm. I just didn't care about Mired's plight, Derek's whining self absorption and Frank's insipid movie. Sorry, I just can't rave about it like I can, "STTMTWTM." It felt like a formula book.
Thank you Joshua Mohr for pushing me out of my comfort zone again. This is a dark twisted ride, and a brilliant exploration of betrayal that brings to mind Kafka and Dostoyevsky. Really. You'll never look at a stairwell the same again.
Readers who want different characters to speak differently should take a look elsewhere, because Joshua Mohr, one of the Bay Area;s best fiction writers, is not interested in helping you out. That old style of developing friction or conflict by careful, some would say obsessive, detailing of characters is not needed here. Though Mohr has his own obsessions, as those who have read his first book will know. But this is not one of those novels that depend on how cozy you are with the author's previous fictions. Indeed it marks a drastic change in Mohr's attitude towards developmental procedures--as Frank O'Hara would say, it marks a "step away from them."
I never actually think that characters with unusual names, unusual to the degree that the narrator has to explain how to pronounce them, ever escape the cute factor entirely, but in this case Mired's foreign air and her general lack of propriety fit in with her Lena Dunham lifestyle, plus one. I felt sorry for her from the beginning, and when Derek steps in to complain about her to make her feel bad about herself, the novel immediately plunges into one of those he said-she said things that always attract me, both in life and in writing. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but with more drinking.
There are surrealistic overtones to the story, which I am loath to spoil, but suffice it to say that the title is well worth brooding about, for it is like the gun in Chekhov's dictum that does not fail to go off in act three. Derek is a perfect pest and a woman hater, but he has his own fears and kinks, he is not merely a twin of his more articulate twin brother. Oh, I forgot to say, if the dilemmas of twins grate on you, again take a hike, but for those of his with twin fantasies, this will be a treat, as it was for me.... Can't wait to see what Mohr has in store!Read more ›
Weirdly wonderfully dark hopeful novel that broke my heart but still made me laugh out loud. Something about the people in this book that get inside your skin and you can't help but to fall in love with them. There's something about Joshua Mohr's writing that leaves you breathless anticipating the characters next self destructive move. You so want them to want more for themselves, you really hope for them all the way along. The only problem with this book is that is sort of ruins you for other books for a long time. I wanted to immediately find another book like this one, but I don't think it exists. Mired, Derek and his twin Brother spiral downward to a final scene that explodes with emotion. I found myself holding my breath. You won't regret reading this. Then after you are done you should go and read 'Some Things That Meant The World To Me' because that's the only thing thats going to cure your longing.
Joshua Mohr's second novel, Termite Parade, can best be summarized by the scraps of its own prose. The regurgitated chunks of text when spread out on a blank page are all one needs to understand the painful themes he has so tactfully woven into the perfectly paced plot. Ignoring any traces of sophomore novel angst, Mohr unabashedly allows the reader to wallow in the "vibrancy of creation" while he holds up "a mirror to humankind, so the animals could see themselves."
The idea of humans as animals is the backbone of Mohr's tale. He forces the reader into the cages of three characters who "reveal every contortion of their flimsy spirits," in everything they do and say. He unhurriedly creates a tapestry of shame, guilt, and regret. But rather than pity these lost souls who are trapped in their self-inflicted "dilapidated zoo," and floundering in their "arrogant betrayals," Mohr forces us to see ourselves in their malice and indignity.
Mohr's characters and their abusive existences act as a reminder to us all that the human spirit, while masquerading as noble and benevolent is really just, "seconds from crumbling away."
Early in the novel, Mohr states, "maybe there is no difference between evolution and devolution as long as it leads to change." He then spends the remainder of the book deconstructing his three characters down to their most base emotions, and he painfully unveils the animal in us all. By allowing us to relate to their self-loathing, Mohr helps us unhurriedly peel back the duplicity we all hide behind to survive. "What's the difference between lying to yourself and being redeemed?" He asks. Mohr dares us to admit that we don't all constantly lie to ourselves....
While Termite Parade is a book that forces you to acknowledge the "neglected, hoarse conscience," within us all, ultimately it is a novel of hope. Mohr may expose the hypocrisy of human happiness, but at the same time he alleges that perhaps when broken down to our most animal instincts we can, help the unveiled animal get "it's voice back and sing."
This novel is an honest and tender testimony to what it means to be human in the face of a world trapped in it's own apathy and tedium. With every sentence carefully crafted, and every word chosen for immediate impact, it is littered with intense visceral scenes. You may be able to read it in one sitting, but this is a novel that will stay with you every time you look in a mirror and lie to yourself.Read more ›
