The Great Perhaps

This is a quirky look at an American family during the 2004 presidential election/Iraqi War. You have Jonathan Casper who has spent his life looking for a sea squid presumed to be instinct. It makes sense he'd be drawn to an isolated creature that dwells in the dark as Jonathan has epileptic seizures whenever he sees clouds. Jonathan's marriage to Madeline is pretty shaky, and they probably would've divorced long ago had it not been for their daughters, Amelia the revolutionary and Thisbe who has found God. Jonathan's father, Henry, struggles with his inadvertent involvement in the dropping of the atomic bomb during WWII. Henry lives in a nursing home, and he restricts how many words he says daily until he speaks no more. Henry just wants to disappear from the world and his own guilt. The eccentricities of each family member are actually masks of cowardice that connect them to one another. The story even begins with a look at Jonathan's legacy of cowardice through his ancestors. The family's last name Casper might even be an allusion to how fearful they each are of the world. However, there is some hope in the book. If you like contemporary literature, you may like this story. I found it to be an endearing book. We're all dysfunctional to some degree, and that's a relatable theme in the book.

"The Great Perhaps" is one of those books where you finish it and just think, "wow." The characters themselves are fairly unpleasant in the beginning, and do nothing readily remarkable. Although the characters belong to the same family, and four of them live in the same house, for much of the story, it reads like a collective monologue. Just four narcissists and a shell of a grandfather going through their insignificant lives. Then author Joe Meno works his magic. I do not want to sound gushy and I definitely do not want to give away anything in the plot, anything about the characters. If you're thinking about buying and reading this book, do. The characters will not make a wonderful first impression on you, but the narrative voice, the style, will pull you through and make you want to keep reading, and you'll be rewarded. At least I feel like I was. Rewarded without being preached at, uplifted in a way, without the use of cheesy plot devices. If you would like something to compare "The Great Perhaps" to, think of "White Noise" by Don DeLillo, which is a novel also peopled by characters who muddle through this modern world, maybe trying to make sense of it, maybe simply interested in gazing into a mirror, but it's impossible for the reader to make quick decisions about them, about the story. I cannot recommend "The Great Perhaps" enough, and the reason is best summed up by a line from the book itself: "It's beautiful because it's complicated."

I will admit that I picked up this book on a lark; from the jacket copy it looked like pretentious 'literary' fiction, a genre I do not gererally read very much of. Before reading this morning I had just gotten finished with reading a badly-written philosophy book penned by an academic, and did not have high hopes for an abstract-sounding novel written by an author I had not previously experienced. Writing this review, I can say I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel; by the end of this book, I was feeling like I had stepped into a restaurant of unfamiliar cuisine, ordered something at random off the menu, and decided that the meal I just ate was absolutely scrumptious. If I wanted to summarized the plot in just a few words, I would call it 'American Beauty meets Academia'. However, this comparison is just a little unfair; this novel is not filled with the almost continual hoplessness of that movie, even if the general foundation for the plot is similar. Our cast of characters are like those of American Beauty if we hopped them up with PhD's and gave their despair ammunition from the ivory tower. The father is a flailing, and failing, Paleontologist too wrapped up in his work to notice, or take care of, the life that surrounds him. His wife is an animal behaviorist at a loss of what to do about her family, while her experiments on the social habits of birds is spiraling violently out of control. The older daughter is angry at society and has decided that it is her mission to destroy the foundations of capitalism, starting with editorials in the school paper attempting to organize the cafeteria workers to strike. The younger daughter, apropos of nothing, has decided to become a god-fearing Christian longing for martyrdom, despite never having attended church. The grandfather, after a long, hard, and confusing life, has made the decision to become invisible and run away. By the end of the book, each of the wandering members of the Casper family has grown up a little and has learned the satisfaction of not running away from their problems. How they do this, and what they countermen along the way, takes place in surprising and unexpected ways. I suspect that most thinking people that read this book will see something of themselves, or someone they love in at least one of the characters. It may even inspire you to some understanding as to why they are they way they are, or, dare I say it, lead to some small measure of enlightenment in your own life.

It discusses religion's important roles for average family who are atheist. Yes. An average American family who each has a problem that are relatable. Sex, oral-sex, dating with older man, getting heart broken, divorce, religion, life, death, dying grand parent, passing on, mysticism, ill-communication between parents, and more. Those are just beginning of what is discussed through experiences of each characters in this novel by Joe Meno, written in 2004. It is an awesome read. Because of depiction of oral sex between underage and adult, I would have to say read with caution. It's not about sex, but, does have graphical depiction of sexual act. It also discusses many topics a normal parent would not have told their children about. It is open book of all problems that a family could encounter including friends problems and solitudes. It's a book that shows what could be but is not always true and applicable for every person. It's a good read otherwise.

As a fan of Joe's first novel, Hairstyles of the Damned (which I can't keep in my classroom because kids steal it--the sign of a truly great young adult novel), I looked forward to reading his next offering, and I wasn't disappointed. For some reason, I kept thinking of DeLillo's "White Noise" as I read "The Great Perhaps," I think because both novels give us very intimate views of typical yet unique families. Mr. & Mrs. Casper, both scientists, have two daughters, Thisbe and Amelia. The four family members are quirky but in a very real way--all possess about as much neuroses as the average American these days. I adored Amelia, and started to feel as if Meno might have been following me around in my high school days, taking notes. Joe Meno's writing is always playful, and he never takes himself or his characters too seriously, but this is not superficial stuff; it is an honest indictment of how families function in today's society... but a very forgiving indictment, truth be known. If you enjoyed Meno's writing in Hairstyles, you will love this novel as well. Just don't buy it with the expectation that it is more of the same, as this novel is a far cry from that one. It's great, just different.