A Clod of Wayward Marl

Rick DeMarinis, in CLOD, shows once again that he is one of our most underappreciated authors. His characters are well constructed, the dialogue snaps, but more than anything his control of the narrator and, in turn, the language makes the book a great read. In places, his subtleness allows the humor of Guido's failings to resonate; while in others--lines like "poor writing, horniness, and alcohol: a bad mix"--allow reader's to see poor Guido shrugging to himself as he struggles onward.If you want to laugh--or to learn from a master--BUY THIS BOOK!

Fans of De Marinis's earlier works will recognize bits and pieces of Guido Tarkenen, the central character of "A Clod of Wayward Marl"--Italian on his mother's side, Finnish on his father's, with a fondness for drink and a tendency toward bad trouble with women, he could be a grow-up cousin to Trygve Napoli, the protagonist of "The Year of the Zinc Penny," or to the adult heroes of any number of his short stories (see his superb collection "Borrowed Hearts"). Guido's a writer of "slasher trash" novels, temporarily teaching writing at La Siberia U., located in a border town bearing a close resemblance to El Paso. There's plenty of plot here, but the real pleasure of the book is De Marinis's gleeful genre-bending in his creation of Guido's demented little world--it's a little bit hardboiled P.I., a little technothriller, some academic comedy, with a little SF thrown in just for fun. (The book contains the best description of a virtual reality trip I've read anywhere, and it's funny to boot.) If there were any justice De Marinis would be one of the best-known writers in America, and if enough people sit up and notice this one, maybe he will be.