TheEarl
Occasional visitor
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- Apr 1, 2002
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For those who don't know, Mr Undesirable is the first offering from Author's Hangout regular Boota, or Scott Carpenter, as the name on the cover attests. I understand that it's self-published (although readily available through Amazon) and hasn't been picked up by a publisher as yet.
After reading it, I'm at something of a loss to understand why.
Mr Undesirable is a story of Lenny Kapowski, an 'underachieving loser living above my parent's garage, drinking every night, thinking about suicide, and compulsively jerking off to cheap porn.' His words. Just reading the first page will tell you a lot about the novel; the first joke is beautifully placed, setting the scene whilst also drawing an involuntary snort from the reader. Kapowski's an entertaining and very vibrant narrator; a self-aware bastard who whips off one-liners with a reckless abandon as he dreams up ever more pernicious ways to torment his adversaries.
Oh, and what adversaries he has. The book opens with a superb scene that encapsulates the awfulness of the inhabitants of Rambling Hills, a private housing complex where most of the action takes place. It's the home of the effortlessly arrogant, the ignorantly vertiginous, the disgustingly self-assured upper-middle-class. The inhabitants are mostly disgustingly self-possessed, yet Carpenter manages to individualise every one of them brilliantly, from the woman so blinkered that she believes extravagant holiday displays make life tolerable for the hoi polloi, to the man with so many wrinkles that he's likened to a giant foreskin.
These people have looked down on Lenny all his life, comfortable in their wealth and in the knowledge that scum like him could never rise to their heights. Until one day, a lottery ticket pays off and suddenly Lenny has more money than he could possibly know what to do with. So he decides to do the worst thing he can think of. He's going to become their neighbour.
The book thrills with Kapowski's revenges, from petty rule-bendings to shockingly disgusting displays of offensiveness, and is very difficult to put down, simply out of a desire to see what he can possibly do next. However, it is spoilt a little by occasional references to future events which deflate the drama somewhat. Sometimes the conflict will be set up on one page, only for the future resolution to be referred to in the next. You feel cheated, unable to fully enjoy Kapowski's antics when the end result is no longer in doubt.
However, that is but a minor detraction and you are rapidly brought back in by the sparkling wit and enjoyable cast of characters, all of whom bounce energetically from the page, whether they have a cameo or a leading role. Carpenter's first novel stings of Hiassen and Colin Bateman, but really steps out on its own for sheer joy of reading. You get the feeling that Scott Carpenter probably enjoyed writing this too and it shows in every page.
If there is justice, a publisher should soon be giving this book the attention that is deserves. Very thoroughly recommended.
Mr Undesirable
The Earl
After reading it, I'm at something of a loss to understand why.
Mr Undesirable is a story of Lenny Kapowski, an 'underachieving loser living above my parent's garage, drinking every night, thinking about suicide, and compulsively jerking off to cheap porn.' His words. Just reading the first page will tell you a lot about the novel; the first joke is beautifully placed, setting the scene whilst also drawing an involuntary snort from the reader. Kapowski's an entertaining and very vibrant narrator; a self-aware bastard who whips off one-liners with a reckless abandon as he dreams up ever more pernicious ways to torment his adversaries.
Oh, and what adversaries he has. The book opens with a superb scene that encapsulates the awfulness of the inhabitants of Rambling Hills, a private housing complex where most of the action takes place. It's the home of the effortlessly arrogant, the ignorantly vertiginous, the disgustingly self-assured upper-middle-class. The inhabitants are mostly disgustingly self-possessed, yet Carpenter manages to individualise every one of them brilliantly, from the woman so blinkered that she believes extravagant holiday displays make life tolerable for the hoi polloi, to the man with so many wrinkles that he's likened to a giant foreskin.
These people have looked down on Lenny all his life, comfortable in their wealth and in the knowledge that scum like him could never rise to their heights. Until one day, a lottery ticket pays off and suddenly Lenny has more money than he could possibly know what to do with. So he decides to do the worst thing he can think of. He's going to become their neighbour.
The book thrills with Kapowski's revenges, from petty rule-bendings to shockingly disgusting displays of offensiveness, and is very difficult to put down, simply out of a desire to see what he can possibly do next. However, it is spoilt a little by occasional references to future events which deflate the drama somewhat. Sometimes the conflict will be set up on one page, only for the future resolution to be referred to in the next. You feel cheated, unable to fully enjoy Kapowski's antics when the end result is no longer in doubt.
However, that is but a minor detraction and you are rapidly brought back in by the sparkling wit and enjoyable cast of characters, all of whom bounce energetically from the page, whether they have a cameo or a leading role. Carpenter's first novel stings of Hiassen and Colin Bateman, but really steps out on its own for sheer joy of reading. You get the feeling that Scott Carpenter probably enjoyed writing this too and it shows in every page.
If there is justice, a publisher should soon be giving this book the attention that is deserves. Very thoroughly recommended.
Mr Undesirable
The Earl
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You've got a good point about my bad habit of giving away the end of certain scenarios too soon. (Ratfuck comes to mind.) But to make up for it I milked the hell out of some of the other ones. 
