and i hate to go against flavorpill, but this would go on my list of underrated books that are actually overrated. there is a blurb on the back by dave eggers that likens handler to nabokov, which is a huge compliment and yes his prose is quite clever but it wasn't that impressive. and i have to admit, eggers in a bit overrated in my book as well.
adverbs is called a novel, but i would consider it a collection of short stories. there are a series of elements that threads that the chapters together. initially, i felt that it was the name of the characters, but as the reader discovers on the front jacket, characters may have share the same name. however, i did not believe handler, all of the characters were the same person except there may have been two keiths. he does admit at the end of the chapter, "truly", that we can not follow the names through the book that there are other elements to trace throughout the book, birds, stranger you spot outside of your cab, cocktails, pop songs. and i did admire him for these added elements that connect the stories to create a novel, magpies, cocktails with silly names like "morning sickness", pop song lyrics like "baby, baby, oh, baby", a snow queen and of course, cabs. it was like being on a treasure hunt, every discovery of these elements felt like an inside joke or ah-ha moment and i have to give him credit there.
i must also admit that "truly" (all of the chapters were titled with adverbs) was my favorite chapter, because it felt true. the novel made sense after reading it, it felt like the heart of the novel. it told us point blank why handler was writing as opposed to all the word play and coyness of the other chapters. i liked how straight forward he was in this chapter.
the overall theme of the novel was love, all sorts of love. for example, the novel opened with falling in love with a total stranger (there was even the added element of it being gay love, that sounds bad but you know what i mean.) but this is my favorite kind of love, a missed connection sort of love. it reminded me of the yacht song "psychic city", "i used to live in a heartbreak city, i swear i'd fall in love every minute on the street". there was unrequited teenage love, best friend love, love of money, and love for thy neighbor (literally).
and with it being about love there were some great quotes:
the opening lines set the bar for me, "love was in the air, so both of us walked through love on our way to the corner. we breathed it in, particularly me' the air was full of smells and birds, but it was the love, i was sure, that was tumbling down to my lungs, the heart's neighbors and confidants."
(after reading that, i had high expectations, but the novel fell kind of short for me.)
"they say love's like a bus, and if you wait long enough another will come along, but not in this place where the buses are slow and most of the cute ones are gay."
"you meet people who are in pain in life and love and you forgive them for behaving the way they do."
"love is like candy from a stranger, but its candy you've had before and it's probably won't kill you."
"it is not the diamonds or the birds, the people, or the potatoes; it is not any of the nouns. the miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done. it is the way love gets done despite every catastrophe."
"and when love is over when the diner of love seems closed from the outside you want all those hours back along with anything you left at the lover's house and maybe a couple of things which aren't technically yours on the grounds that you wasted a portion of your life and those hours have all gone southside."
"they say when you're really in love, the word becomes gossamer and gorgeous, but in my experience the world gets grimy, and the love object is in stark relief from the surroundings. this is love, a pretty thing on an ugly street."
"love is really liking someone a whole lot and not wanting to screw that up."
and of course i loved:
"they looked at each other like a pair of parentheses." (i just love the idea of people as parentheses, it's that blow song!)
so i know all of these great quotes, so clever and sweet, so how did i not enjoy the novel? because as i read i became confused by the need to make everything cohesive. these quotes were like gems and hided under weird story plots. i got caught up with the characters names, when maybe i should have focused on the elements and the love. i should give it another read, i guess. i don't know. i mean these quotes are great, maybe i just need to buy myself a copy and highlight the love quotes. maybe i will love it more.
but for now, i think it is overrated, every though it has amazing quotes on love!
