Goats

A few years back I stumbled over and loved Poirier's excellent short story collection, Naked Pueblo, and I'm glad to report his debut novel displays the same strong writing and sympathetically quirky offbeat characters as his short stories. Like his short stories, the book is set primarily in Tucson, although there are chapters in Pennsylvania, and a few short visits to Washington, D.C. The story centers around Ellis, a 14-year-old who is leaving his odd domestic life with his mother in Tucson for a stuffy East Coast boarding/prep school. His upbringing has been somewhat haphazardly managed by Wendy-his hippie turned New Age mother whom he addresses by her first name, of course-and a quiet pothead relic of the early '70s called "Goat Man," who raises hybrid marijuana and goats while living for free in the pool house. His father...), lives out east and hasn't played much of a role in Ellis's life, so he's mostly relied on Goat Man as his male role model. Goat Man, on the other hand, is mainly a wiser, older brother figure to him, setting him up with all the herb he needs, turning him on to Peter Tosh, and going on goat trekking trips.Poirier sets this up odd background and proceeds to show Ellis's transformation as he enters the no less bizarre environment of his first year of boarding school. While he finds out that his father isn't as bad as he thought, and that there's more to life than pot, Goat Man engages in a low-intensity war with Wendy's smarmy new boyfriend, Bennet, who wants Goat Man gone. The narrative switches back and forth as both have little adventures, building to a climactic trip to Mexico and goat trek back across the border that highlights the changes Ellis has undergone and the cowardice behind Goat Man's laid-back persona.The story brims with authenticity throughout, from the crew team's erg sessions at prep school to the ornery goats in the desert. Poirier perfectly captures quintessential teenage boy moments like Ellis's first romantic interest and subsequent crushing disillusionment.As with many coming of age novels, Ellis is often remarkably mature and sensible for his age, but Poirier shows us how came to be this way, living with his space cadet mother (he pays all the bills for her). Indeed, all the characters pop from the page as fully recognizable and sympathetic individuals, from Ellis's father's genuinely nice and bright new girlfriend, to Bennet's wanna-be-slacker...niece, to Ellis's priggish roommate and his booze-soaked older brother. The pace is languid but compelling, with a sort of deadpan, wry humor coursing throughout. Somehow, Poirier manages to be poignant and charming without being mawkish or sentimental. The three closest books I can think of are Jervey Tervalon's "Living For the City," Chris Fuhrman's "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys," and Tom Perrotta's "Bad Haircut."

I really liked reading Mark Jude Poirier's GOATS. This is a smart, funny book with a lot of heart and wisdom mixed in just the right amount. I found myself laughing out loud at some points, and yet a page later, could be completely engrossed in a dramatic sequence without feeling manipulated or jolted. I disagree with Claire Lederer when she claims that Ellis's roommate and some other characters are one-dimensional. I think that's a convenient assessment and categorization of these characters on her part in order to make sense of the larger issues on the whole. Nevertheless, she eventually does realize the remarkable achievement in this book -- especially the use of an inverted bildungs-roman formula. Well done, Mr. Poirier!

If you love Cormac McCarthy, then Mark Jude Poirier is a great new author you should try. My sister-in-law recommended this to me, and I thought it was wonderful! It is the story of a boy and his surrogate family and all of the heartache he endures as he copes with his mother's gradual but pointed breakdown. At the same time, the boy is able to resurrect his relationship with his bio-father. Amazing! Also recommended to Mary McGarry Morris fans!

Mark Jude Poirier's Goats is the best new novel I have read in years, and his character "Goat Man" is the most unique I have come across since I read Thomas Berger's Little Big Man. Goats is a smart, funny book tempered by just the right amount of human compassion and warmth. Highly recommended!

The finely-etched characters, spare prose, and unforgiving landscapes (arid Tucson and wintry Pennsylvania) of Goats continue to haunt me weeks after finishing this impressive and riveting debut. Poirier's world is one in which the abundant humor is often black, the air hangs musky with marijuana smoke, and all the characters (likeable and otherwise) behave badly. Poirier makes no apologies for his characters' flaws - and all of them are profoundly flawed - yet this crew of wounded misfits somehow manage to earn enormous quantities of sympathy and respect by book's end. Perhaps it is the radical lack of sentimentality that enables the reader to adore these characters. Poirier neither flinches nor apologizes, and the result is a tight, harsh world of hard-won beauty.