That voice is the most powerful component of “Toward You” — when Bob speaks, we listen. Krusoe’s skill both in evoking Bob’s claustrophobic loneliness (he will address any being, animate or not, as though it were capable of conversation) and in endowing him with a rich but never writerly language (he recalls Yvonne preparing to eat a bowl of pea soup “as a few croutons floated on its quiet, green surface”) ensure that he has our attention.

[...]

Krusoe’s sure and subtle imaginings of such characters — yearning, isolated and finally enigmatic — place him among the foremost creators of surreal ­Americana.

I can agree with that last sentence but the novel as a whole didn’t quite work for me:

Krusoe is clearly a talented wordsmith with a witty eye for the lives and relationships of the socially challenged. But for me it seems the combination of lead character, plot and other elements have to come together just right for it to “work.”

Related articles

• Toward You by Jim Krusoe (collectedmiscellany.com)
• Book Notes – Jim Krusoe (“Toward You”) (largeheartedboy.com)

Krusoe spins what I would describe as tales of comic absurd-ism. Little lives not quite connected to reality tempered with a connection to, or a desperate need to connect to, the afterlife.

In this volume, a furniture upholsterer named Bob has been working his whole life on a “communicator” that would allow the living to hear from the dead. But the communicator seems instead to be taking the focus off  more important things in his life – like his work and relationships with the living. A dead dog and and encounter with an ex-girlfriend kick off the plot such as it is.

Krusoe has a way with sketching witty vignettes with these desperate characters – some goodhearted, others not – that makes the reading enjoyable. But the story in this and the previous novel  just don’t have the movement and zip of the first.

I really enjoyed the first book in this absurdest death/afterlife trilogy, Girl Factory:

However you come down on what the story is really about, Girl Factory is certainly entertaining.  And short enough to be considered a novella, with a quick and engaging style, it is a quick read.  Its wry humor and insightful descriptions of human nature and American culture will bring a smile to your face and occasionally a chuckle.

But when I read the next book in the series, Erased, it didn’t have the same impact:

But for whatever reason, Erased didn’t quite work for me.  Erased is still the same blend of dream like states and all too real reality.  It still comes with a host of funny quips, entertaining characters, and absurd situations as Krusoe’s previous work.  And I enjoyed that aspect.

But it seemed to me that Krusoe turned up the absurdest and surrealist aspects of the novel to such a degree that the plot or narrative got lost.  I realize that perhaps the plot in the traditional sense wasn’t the point.  But for me there needs to be something that pulls the story forward and also causes it to cohere into something more than a collection of words; no matter how well crafted.

In Toward You it felt like the absurdity was turned down a notch or two but the plot didn’t quite come together. In other words, it felt to me that Girl Factory has just the right balance for me while the last two books seemed off – the mix not quite right.

There are some funny moments and times when he captures the true awkwardness that can be involved in social situations; captures the internal monologues and self-deceits. But it didn’t feel like the book had a pay off; it just sort of drifted to an ending of sorts,

As with so many, there is a “your mileage may vary” quality to judging this book. If you enjoy the absurd elements and appreciate the word play and subtle social commentary then you might enjoy the novel without a plot that really drives the story or comes together fully in the end.

Krusoe is clearly a talented wordsmith with a witty eye for the lives and relationships of the socially challenged. But for me it seems the combination of lead character, plot and other elements have to come together just right for it to “work.”

Abandonment, life, death, and, oddly, Cleveland are explored in the hilarious second installment of Jim Krusoe’s trilogy about resurrection.

In Erased, Krusoe takes on a dead mother who mysteriously sends notes from the beyond to her grown son, Theodore, the owner of a mail-order gardening-implement business. “I need to see you,” the first card reads. Theodore does what any sensible person would: he ignores it. But when he gets a second card that’s even more urgent, Theodore leaves his quiet home in St. Nils for a radiantly imagined Cleveland, Ohio, to track down his mother. There, aided by Uleene, the last remaining member of Satan’s Samaritans, an all-girl biker club, he searches through the realms of women’s clubs, art, rodent extermination, and sport fishing until he finds the answers he seeks.

This had me intrigued as I found the balance between absurdest comedy and philosophical questioning in Girl Factory entertaining and thought provoking. Plus, it satirizes Cleveland.  That alone has to be worth some laughs.

But for whatever reason, Erased didn’t quite work for me.  Erased is still the same blend of dream like states and all too real reality.  It still comes with a host of funny quips, entertaining characters, and absurd situations as Krusoe’s previous work.  And I enjoyed that aspect.

But it seemed to me that Krusoe turned up the absurdest and surrealist aspects of the novel to such a degree that the plot or narrative got lost.  I realize that perhaps the plot in the traditional sense wasn’t the point.  But for me there needs to be something that pulls the story forward and also causes it to cohere into something more than a collection of words; no matter how well crafted.

As the summary above makes clear, the basic plot is Ted’s search for his mother and the twist is whether she is dead or not.  Krusoe uses this search to introduce a sort of absurdest portrait of Cleveland.  In his search for his mother Ted meets some unique characters and interacts with some odd community groups and clubs.  Each time he thinks he is closer to resolving the mystery of his mother but each time he seems farther from the truth.

Much of this process is quite funny.  Ted is the sort of good nature average Joe that assumes the best of people and shrugs off bad circumstances with a stoic resolve to make the best of things.  And Krusoe warps things but in a way this simply highlights the often absurd nature of “reality.”

But as the story progressed I never really got a sense of what was underlying Ted’s quest; either in terms of the narrative or a more philosophical underpinning.  This causes the book to really bog down in the middle.  The interludes between chapters in the form of interviews with people who have come back from the dead only heightened this confusion for me.  The parts didn’t seem to add up to a more coherent whole.

The book’s pace picks up significanly towards the end as we finally begin to get some clarity as to what is going on with Ted’s mother – mostly through a rambling explanation at a bowling alley.  But even the conclusion brought little sense of what the story was all about.

I have a feeling that part of the problem was my own lack of concentration and focus.  I have been in a bit of a funk this summer and it could be that I never really got into Erased and thus didn’t give it the focus that is often needed to enjoy and appreciate this sort of fiction.  Not having read a great deal of Krusoe’s previous work it could also be that Girl Factory balanced the traditional narrative elements and the abusrd/surreal in a way that suited my tastes where Erased emphasized the narrative less.

Whatever the reason, Erased felt a bit like finding myself lost in a maze.  I could appreciate the skill that went into creating the maze, and even enjoy parts of the adventure, but when I got out I felt more relieved than excited or challenged.

So if you enjoy fiction with an absurdest and surreal style peppered with satire and social commentary then you will probably enjoy Erased.  But if you are looking for a more traditional nrrative style or plot this book may not be for you.