Ablutions

I haven’t finished reading it yet so don’t want to say too much, but I’m excited excited (two exciteds!) about Patrick DeWitt’s Ablutions. Yes, I know: I’m sort of late to this one. I am usually late to the good ones.

This is a quick book made of vivid characters and careful, tight, lively writing (Dennis Cooper is right to blurb it as “charismatic”). Last night I kept wanting to stop making dinner and then stop trying to sleep to read some more. The book is written as a barback's notes to himself for a novel he'll write about the bar, but this stylistic conceit only flavors the narrative and doesn't overpower it.

Anyway, consider this a recommendation. The book is for sale on Amazon for a WTF-eliciting $2.44.