Bottomfeeder

You couldn't have gotten me to read a vampire novel if you bribed me. The beauty of this book is that it's a hip, literate, New York urban-smartass black comedy written in the first person by a guy that probably sounds like one of your friends, only he happens to be a vampire, and his waking hours ain't much fun. He does a lot of kvetching about the logistics of this life (well, undeath might be a better word) he has to live in order to survive. Having to feed on other people isn't something he's exactly proud of. In fact, he feels so guilty about it that the only acceptable way he can do it is to pray on homeless derelicts who wouldn't be missed anyway. But it's still not without guilt. Especially for an average Jewish guy from Queens with an average apartment, who doesn't have much of a social life anymore since he can't be out in the daytime. He pays the rent by working the night-shift scanning and archiving slides at a stock photography house. The fun begins when, after 27 years of this lonely and boring existence, (in which he hasn't visibly aged a bit, even though he's in his mid-50s) he encounters by chance another one of his own kind. A mischievous, thrill-seeker with a good heart, who takes him under his wing and insists on getting him a badly-needed social life by introducing him to a diverse underworld of other bizarre characters who are willing to accept our guy as "one of us" but he isn't so sure he wants to be accepted... It's a smart and funny read.

Bottomfeeder is a great novel, exploring in a very realistic way what it might actually be like to be a vampire. You've got to cut your connections to your old life--friends, relatives, etc. You've got to change jobs every few years. If you've got any sense of self-preservation, you will probably target the homeless, the crazy, the dregs of society least likely to be missed. It's a very lonely existence and it's one that Phil Merman has been living for the last 27 years as the novel opens. He's lost his wife, his parents have both died, bouncers and bartenders look at the date on his passport and wonder how he can possibly look so young, and he's got a soul-killing job as a photo archivist that he can work nights. The one tie to his old life is the pathetic Shelley, an alcoholic who lost his entire family in a mysterious fire many years before, and a man who seems to turn up every time Phil turns around. Then Phil meets Eddie, another of his kind, and his world unexpectedly opens up... This is an excellent novel, by turns funny, heartbreaking, horrifying, and very touching. Fingerman's take on vampirisim is very reminiscent of what Charlie Huston is doing in his Joe Pitt series, and it also reminded me of Andrew Fox's Fat White Vampire series. What this is not is Anne Rice, "woe is me" vampirism. In fact, that whole genre comes under frequent satiric attack in Fingerman's novel, which is often a very, very funny book. If anything, I would have liked the book to be longer. I fell completely under the spell of Phil and his nocturnal adventures and would love to read more. Very highly recommended!

Holy. Cow. Up until a year or so ago, I wouldn't have even responded if you had asked me if I like vampire fiction. Let's be honest, it has a bad wrap by most of society. The main of vampire fiction is, frankly, dorky. Overly dark, gaggingly brooding, melodramatic, cheesily gothic - archaic. I've tried to read Bram Stoker about four times and failed every time. When I think of a reader of vampire novels, I somehow think of techno music, big black pants with chains, and a love for watching, reading, and making anime music videos to put on youtube. But there have been a few recent vamp reads I could sink my teeth into (bad pun which i didn't notice until i started typing it). Bottomfeeder by B. H. Fingerman is certainly one of them. (also see author Charlie Huston) It's not a dramatic tale of woe and darkness, it's a memoir of a fairly regular seeming jewish guy with a somewhat regular night-job and even a regular apartment. Oh, and he happens to be an immortal bloodsucker. Phil Merman is fifty-something years old, but he still looks 30ish. He's pretty much completely alone in his New York City life and doesn't know of a single other vampire. He has a code of ethics for his prey. He only feasts on drugged up vagrants that seem like they won't be missed and then he stashes the bodies away and no one is the wiser. He feels pretty bad about what he has to do, but you gotta do, ya know? Despite some flaws, you have to like and emphathize with Phil. You root for him and hope everything works out. The plot isn't very deep and the climax really isn't that high(not in a dramatic sense. it's certainly high in an emotional sense), but Phil's dark humor, and Fingerman's skillful writing kept me glued to it at every free moment I had. I repeat - Fingerman writes amazingly well. It sounds like Phil is just talking to you over dinner. Just reminiscing. Some of the stuff in here, I don't know how Fingerman came up with. The guy is witty as hell. This book, overall, is shocking and darkly funny. I rarely smile for everyone to see when i'm reading a funny novel, but this one got me multiple times. It also gets very serious and very desparate. My only problem is that by the end there are a few questions left unanswered. I didn't really appreciate the book until the end when I was left dumbfounded, amazed, and wanting more. This is the vampire fiction that needs to hit mainstream. The genre needs a makeover and authors like Charlie Huston and B. H. Fingerman should be in charge of the rennovation.

First off, this is a fun book to read. The characters are compelling and real, the plot is a wild ride, and the tone moves effortlessly from comic to tragic to downright frightening. It's the setting that shines the most, however. Fingerman is at his absolute best when observing the culture and flow of New York--its dark corners and its subterranean passages. In this picaresque vampire novel he shows us the city as he sees it, a unique perspective not to be missed.

This is the best vampire story I've ever read...and I've read a lot of them. B.H. Fingerman offers a fresh take on the old tale of the "life" of a vampire. I thought Anne Rice had cornered the market on "it's-kind-of-a-drag-to-be-a-vampire" books, but Fingerman goes her one better, with both humor and pathos. Plenty of scenes will have you saying "yeah, I never thought of that." The descriptions of people and places in this novel are detailed and graphic, without ever slowing down the pace of the narrative. The characters are vividly and economically drawn. New York comes alive. If prose can be hip, gross, and lyrical at the same time, Fingerman's nailed it. You can expect a laugh and a cringe on every page. Fingerman is a very gifted writer, and this is an impressive debut novel. At the end of the "acknowledgements" section of the book Fingerman writes, "stay tuned," and I will. Looking forward to the next one!