Sorrentinoesque?

In the Philly Inquirer, Andrew Ervin compares Percival Everett to Sorrentino and Steve Erickson. I'm offically intrigued:

Percival Everett, author of 20 books to date, may be too brainy for his own good. Like Gilbert Sorrentino or Steve Erickson - two names familiar to every admirer of innovative, contemporary literature - his fiction resonates clearly, but only on the lower frequencies, just outside of the mainstream, commercial-publishing establishment. That's not necessarily a complaint, as it seems like most of the best books published recently have come from indie and university presses. When Everett holds his philosophical concepts in delicate balance with compelling storytelling, as in Erasure and his new The Water Cure, he produces some of the most beautiful, erudite, and incendiary novels of our time.

Comments

[bky]

One little mentioned fact about Percival Everett: line-by-line he is a bad writer. I've read a couple books of his short stories and three novels (Cutting Lisa, American Desert, Erasure), and in every book there are clumsy, awkward, groan-inducing sentences. Also, he recycles the same stuff over and over again (fly-fishing, painters). Whenever he gets press, it's always good, but undeserved. I've never understood why he is always lauded whenever he is written up. He is not too brainy for his own good. He always has a conceit (that what is meant by being brainy) that is barely held up with prose that alternates between wooden and wobbly. Erasure, however, was pretty good. The truly ironical thing is that the parody novel within the novel is the best extended thing he wrote, judging from what I have read of his. Like I say, on the whole, Erasure is pretty good, compared to say, American Desert (conceit: guy gets his head cut off and lives), which sounds like it was written by a very talented high school kid who had read lots of Vonnegut and Hunter S Thompson. If he has produced "some of the most beautiful, erudite, and incendiary novels of our time," he has also produced some of the worst prose.

[!]

He's no Sorrentino.

[jon]

I just bought Erasure last week and may afford some pause to Naked and the Dead to examine such this weekend. Thanks.

[Andrew]

Thanks for your interest my review. I'm always glad to spark a smart discussion like this one.

Very best,
Andrew

[mike]

Interesting allusion to Invisible Man's last line ("Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?") to describe Everett's what, appeal or readership? Radio waves belong to the lower frequency part of the electromagnetic spectrum and in the 1930s and -40s while working as a book reviewer for The New Masses, Ralph Ellison supplemented his income by building custom stereo systems.

"Wounded," Everett's Wyoming novel seems related to the Matthew Shepard murder. Annie Proulx was called for jury duty in that case but not selected.

[Emily]

Hi - just had a question regarding Everett's "Cutting Lisa" for anyone who has read it. Does John take Lorraine's sleeping pills and slip them into Lisa's drink at the end? This certainly isn't on the page but wondering if the reader is supposed to infer this or if the reader is supposed to infer that John has come to terms with the disillusionment he faces throughout the story. Really readable book with some good characters created with such few words. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks