From Publishers Weekly
Not since Chief Bromden has there been a misfit narrator as large and compelling as 315-pound Anthony, the voice of this captivating debut novel by LaValle, author of the story collection Slapboxing with Jesus. At the book's outset, Anthony's family finds him "living wild" in his apartment, expelled from Cornell University and suffering bouts of dementia. They bring him home to his African-American Queens neighborhood, which, like Anthony himself, threatens to tip from middle-class propriety to a state of shabby but colorful disrepair. There's the local loan shark, Ishkabibble; white-collar neighbors concerned about their lawns; a pack of roving dogs with keen noses for human weakness. Most important, there's Anthony's family: grandmother, mother and sister, "three versions of the same woman-past, present and future," who are usually at war with one another. Anthony isn't the first mentally ill member of his family. His mother, unstable in her youth, becomes erratic again just as Anthony tries to parlay his vigor for housecleaning and his encyclopedic knowledge of low-budget horror movies into some sort of promising future. Throughout, Anthony reflects on his own condition and that of those around him in a smart, sad and honest voice. The narrative shimmers with his self-deprecating wit and unexpected images ("Her hair was a big loose spray of black semi-curls emanating from her skull like the sound waves of her rollicking conversation"). LaValle's first book left critics divided over whether it had the substance to match its mannered style. Similar questions may be raised this time around, but LaValle's sympathetic and original narrator is a remarkable creation.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Lavalle (Slapboxing with Jesus) creates a memorable hero in Anthony James, a 318-pound, 23-year-old, Cornell-educated schizophrenic. In order to keep a semblance of order in his unstable mind, he narrates his family's slow road to destruction. Stops along the way include a small-town beauty pageant in Virginia, a weight-loss clinic, and a McDonald's besieged by protesting college students. Throughout, Anthony remains sarcastic, intelligent, and conscious of his condition, though control of it increasingly eludes him. His experience is brought to life by Lavalle's acute sensory details and hyperbolic wordplay. The novel's events are well-conceived and pertinent to the story being told. One does wish, however, that Lavalle would have spent more time developing Anthony's 93-year-old grandmother, schizophrenic mother, and teenage sister Nabisase, whose histories and personality traits are not given quite enough room to breathe. There are also points in the narrative when explanation bails out similes that should be permitted to speak for themselves. Nevertheless, The Ecstatic is a thought-provoking debut and recommended for literary collections. Julia LoFaso, New York City
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
