The book jacket states Ablutions is Patrick deWitt’s first novel but
it’s really, as the subtitle suggests, notes for a novel — notes made
by a nameless fictional bartender working at a down-and-out Hollywood
dive. Throughout, we’re introduced to a variety of characters who are
patrons of the bar, such as Curtis — a disconsolate man with a
law-enforcement fetish — and Merlin, a 70-year-old with short white
hair who chain-smokes More cigarettes. We also have Sam, the bar’s
principal cocaine dealer, and the teachers, Terese and Teri, who have
matching tattoos of worm-ridden apples on their lower backs and who
have slept with almost every doorman at the bar.
These characters and
others show up at various times in the book. They all have one thing in
common: They drink a lot and take a lot of drugs. So does the nameless bartender who drinks right along with his
customers. He’s married at the beginning of the book, hides his
constant hung-over vomiting from his wife, splits from her, sleeps with
patrons at the bar, goes on a drunken road trip to the Grand Canyon
and, at the end of the book, deals with divorce while being drunk or
high on cocaine or both. The images are so fleeting with each character
in Ablutions: I didn’t feel like I came to know them beyond their
addictive side, and in turn I didn’t care that much. Some of the
rambling notes are interesting, I was shocked a few times and felt
compelled with the writing other times, but it didn’t keep my interest
enough. Ablutions might be a new twist on the classic tale of addiction
and its consequences, but too often I found it too disjointed and
depressing. Grade: C
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There was a mention of this book on The Book Report, go to http://www.bookreportradio.com/index.html to check it out or the new and upcoming shows!