Work Shirts for Madmen [Paperback]

George Singleton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2008

Renegade artist Harp Spillman is lower than a bow-legged fire ant. Because of an unhealthy relationship with the bottle, he’s ruined his reputation as one of the South’s preeminent commissioned metal sculptors. And his desperate turn to ice sculpting nearly led to a posse of angry politicians on his trail. With the help of his levelheaded and practical potter wife, Raylou, Harp understands that it’s time to return to the mig welder. Yes, it’s time to prove that he can complete a series of twelve-foot-high metal angels—welded completely out of hex nuts—for the city of Birmingham. Is it pure chance that the Elbow Boys, their arms voluntarily fused so they can’t drink, show up in order to help Harp out in a variety of ways? And why did his neighbor smuggle anteaters into desolate Ember Glow? Is it true that there’s no free will?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest from Singleton (Drowning in Gruel) is an engagingly comic but finally underpowered study of Harp Spillman, a once busy avant-garde artist whose metal sculptures dot the cityscapes of the American South. Harp's heavy drinking has dead-ended his career; his existence is every bit as barren as the landscape of Ember Glow, the desolate patch of upstate South Carolina where he lives with his wife, an in-demand potter named Raylou. Harp gets the chance for a comeback when he is offered, on a tight deadline, a commission from the city of Birmingham. He dries out, and his AA buddies try to help, but sobriety and hard work do not necessarily make the world a less confusing place to him. Singleton has a flair for capturing Southern eccentricity, and Raylou's imperturbable patience is just as funny in its way as Harp's self-loathing. By the end, however, the book feels less like a cohesive novel than a collection of vignettes, some of which (particularly a late appearance by Harp's filmmaker-wannabe mother) seem gratuitous. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

PRAISE FOR WORK SHIRTS FOR MADMEN

 

"If there is a fiction genre blending the riotous, bleary-eyed excess and absurdity of gonzo journalism with the rather earnest sensitivity of a John Irving hero—who always does right by his wife in the end—Work Shirts belongs to it . . . it’s a fun read . . . an adventure to be undertaken."—Newsweek

PRAISE FOR GEORGE SINGLETON

 

"George Singleton writes about the rural South without sentimentality or stereotype but with plenty of sharp-witted humor . . . A raconteur of trends, counter-trends, obsessions and odd characters."—NPR Morning Edition

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156034395
• ISBN-13: 978-0156034395
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,667,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Whenever I drink, I break out in handcuffs.", October 17, 2007

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Work Shirts for Madmen (Hardcover)

Told in an offbeat and colloquial style, artist Harp Stillman's account of his attempts to give up drinking and return to a more productive life is by turns a satiric, absurd, and wildly comic romp through contemporary American life. Associating with wacky characters who lead even wackier lives than his own, Harp, always full of self-mockery, tries to overcome some of his disastrous public mistakes and free himself from the control of alcohol so that he can fulfill his commissions to create large public sculptures in a variety of cities throughout the country.

It was Harp's calamitous foray into ice sculptures for a $5000 per plate Republican fund-raiser in Columbia, SC, which turned him into a pariah. Commissioned to create busts in ice for all the most famous southern politicians--Strom Thurmond, Newt Gingrich, and the three Presidents (Reagan, Bush, and Bush), among others--the wildly creative Harp produced sculptures within sculptures. On the outside, the busts looked exactly like the men they represented, but as the sculptures melted under the lights, their inner sculptures were revealed. Strom Thurmond melted into Mussolini, the three Presidents became Curly, Moe, and Larry, and Newt Gingrich became Koko the gorilla. And that was just for starters.

In rehab, Harp discovers that all the in-patients are wearing work shirts, and since he has just won a large commission for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, to build twelve huge angels in metal, he is delighted to see that one of the participants wears a shirt bearing the logo of a welding company. He quickly hires him, only to discover that all the work shirts are used and that his new employee has never touched a welding torch.

Harp's attempts to complete these twelve sculptures and stay sober form the body of the novel, and the characters he meets are some of the most bizarre characters in modern fiction--three characters whose elbows will not bend (the "Elbow Brethren"), a character who gives himself a tracheotomy, a man who lives with four giant anteaters, Harp's own father (who runs a unique scam) and mother (now a film director), a Kampgrounds of America director who is a Native American with a PhD, and even a potential assassin.

In keeping with the frenetic activity and crazy characters, author George Singleton keeps his style simple, allowing the sometimes bizarre action to drive the novel. Down-home images add to the sense of place and provide local color, and the voice of Harp Spillman rings true, providing a larger than life, and sometimes satiric, picture of rehab, southern country living, the art world, and the extremes to which a man may be willing to go to in an effort to accomplish his goals. n Mary Whipple

The Half-Mammals of Dixie

These People Are Us: Stories

Novel

Drowning in Gruel

5.0 out of 5 stars this isn't good for my recovery..., February 9, 2008

By 

Sean Nolan "I love a good story" (Greenville, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Work Shirts for Madmen (Hardcover)

Come and listen to my story about a man named Harp... Trying to stay on the wagon, Ice sculpting and angry republicans, The Elbow Boys, anteaters, twelve foot tall angels, Raylou...

I assure you, it all makes sense in the end!

4.0 out of 5 stars Novel about making sense of life, December 14, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Work Shirts for Madmen (Hardcover)

Reviewed by Janelle Martin

"If you can't make sense of life, you can at least scratch your head and laugh at it." -Michael Ray Taylor on how southern writers approach literature, Nashville Scene

Harp Spillman has spent lost count of the years spent living in the bottle. He's ruined his reputation as a metal sculptor, joked himself out of a lucrative career as a freelance ice sculptor and is now living off the good graces of his wife Raylou. When a commission of twelve-foot-high metal angels made out of hex nuts for Birmingham, Alabama gets approved (although he can't remember applying), Harp realizes it's time to hang up the bottle and return to the mig-welder. Fate decides he needs some moral support and sends him the Elbow Boys, although Harp wonders if isn't just another of Raylou's schemes.

Confused? Don't be surprised. George Singleton's writing epitomizes Michael Ray Taylor's quote from Nashville Scene, this is Gonzo fiction at its finest. In Work Shirts for Madmen, Singleton paints with words using wide brush strokes. Readers may not always know what is going on, but there will be a vivid picture running in your head while you try to figure it out.

With novels and short stories chock full of unfathomable characters and surreal situations, Singleton's forte is his uncanny ability to keep readers laughing even while their hearts are breaking. Many of Singleton's characters seem to have just stepped off a film set-I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Elbow Boys showing up in Tarantino's next movie. And Harp's ice sculpture creations melting at the Republican convention begs to be captured on film.

Even though there is such a strong cinematic quality to Work Shirts for Madmen, beneath all the laughs and eccentricities at its heart this is a novel about making sense of life after hitting rock bottom. Whether you're attracted by the title or fiction featuring anteaters, make sure to grab this one for a day when you need a dose of surreal. You'll be awfully glad you did.

Armchair Interviews agrees!