Finale (Paperback)

~ Paul A. Toth (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A whipsmart coming-of-age story that comes a bit too late for our hero, Finale is both satirical and sincere; psychologically astute and certifiably insane. Paul Toth puts on the page the kind of story the Coen Brothers put on film. Someone get them a copy." --Jonathan Messinger, Time-Out Chicago

Product Description

When Jonathan Thomas receives a threatening letter apparently sent by an ex-girlfriend, he pursues the sender but finds himself unraveling another mystery he would have better left unsolved.

Finale tells the story of this wanderer's journey to a faultline deep within himself. The chapters descend from eight to zero as Jonathan travels from his most recent lover to first, finally reaching zero when he leaps into the fissure that divides him. Between lovers, internal "earthquake" chapters rise in magnitude from 1.0 to 8.0.

The lovers include: Mary Whitcomb, a Zelda Fitzgerald double now selling endangered turtle eggs; Azal, who forces Jonathan to visit her father's grave wearing the dead man's clothes; Kerrie, ex-speedfreak and comic book junky; Marnie, a future soccer mom whose seductive and very white mother has deemed herself an honorary African; Chartrise, a psychic waiting with bad tidings; Caitlin, on the way to nunhood; and Holly, who invites Jonathan and the other lovers to his "funeral." Will the funeral startle Jonathan out of self-deception, or lead to knowledge he never should have gained?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Raw Dog Screaming Press (July 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933293853
• ISBN-13: 978-1933293851
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,311,468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Avoid the Measure at Your Local Biker Bar, July 29, 2009

By	Gabriel Orgrease (Bullamanka, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Finale is a highly amusing and frisky fast-paced sexy (sort of sexy), road trip, romp, misadventure mystery where the protagonist Jonathan Thomas backtracks through the history of his male-female relationships to an unexpected, but fully plausible, conclusion.

Toth is an accomplished writer (this is the third in a novel of Fs, the first two being Fizz and Fishnet) and brings a wide variety of talents (you need to check out his podcast series that promotes the work of various flavors of contemporary writers) and interests to his work. A relatively light and at times hilarious, but not burlesque, read in a pseudo-mystery genre (though some may say it is an outright mystery I find it to be something more hybrid and original than a pure who-done-it). In bits and pieces I was reminded of Georges Simenon, James Crumley, Jim Thompson (a hard edge Mr. Toth sometimes shows but that is appealingly not very strong here in this novel where our sympathy for Jonathan builds measure by diminutive measure), and the often imaginative quirkiness of a Carl Hiaasen (cars with stuff writ on them reminds me of cars I have driven, and abandoned). At one scene there is an obvious homage to Elmore Leonard vs. the Gideon Bible. It makes my heart thump.

Finale is a combination of plot driven, backwards it seems, and depth of character based narrative. We are brought Jonathan Thomas' characterization in a first person exploration, a style of perception that Mr. Toth brings to a fine edge between paranoid sanity, absurdity and madness. I look forward to Steve Buscemi as lead in the movie as Toth's style here reminds me very much of the laid back flow of the 1996 Trees Lounge.

My favorite part of the novel is the scene after Jonathan drinks tea with Chartrise. It reminds me so much of places I have been. Likewise, I cannot imagine driving all that distance in California, or hardly anywhere on a moped. And though I have never been to Bakersfield it is nice to be reminded why I might not be in a hurry to go there.

Highly recommended for those who like to read and who enjoy the authors I have referenced above.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clear and Surreal Read, July 26, 2009

By	Ginnetta Correli "author of The Lost Episode... (Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Finale (Hardcover)

Paul A.Toths third novel Finale is a story about human self deception. Finale focuses on Jonathan Thomas who receives a threat letter that may have been sent by his ex-girlfriend. Wondering about the mysterious letter, Jonathan the character takes an absurd journey of his past while trying to escape his decent into a lack of passion and doom. An intoxicating surreal read as the reader goes backwards visiting Jonathan's past relationships of emotional demise.
I found myself laughing and crying as the character Jonathan sort of comes to an understanding of what has happened to his life and why. Climaxing at the end to ground zero when exactly appropriate.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALE is a GREAT read, July 24, 2009

By	Tony R. Rodriguez (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews

Paul A. Toth, the Michigan-based writer of the innovative novels FIZZ and FISHNET, brings to readers his third book with a one-word title that begins with the letter "F". This time around it's FINALE, a well-crafted piece of literary marvel that begs to explode across the brainwaves of rapacious readers the world over. Simply put, if someone had to give FINALE a one-word review that begins with the letter "F", many would probably say "Formidable" because it seems numerous writers will attempt to compose a great American novel and never produce anything with as much artistic astonishment as Toth has done with FINALE.