Not Exactly the Front Lines

Congratulations to David Abrams, a longtime contributing editor of January Magazine, whose first novel, Fobbit, is being released this week by Grove Press/Black Cat. Here’s the publisher’s description of its plot:

Fobbit \’fä-bit\, noun. Definition: A U.S. soldier stationed at a Forward Operating Base who avoids combat by remaining at the base, esp. during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011). Pejorative.

In the satirical tradition of Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Fobbit takes us into the chaotic world of Baghdad’s Forward Operating Base Triumph. The Forward Operating base, or FOB, is like the back-office of the battlefield -- where people eat and sleep, and where a lot of soldiers have what looks suspiciously like an office job. Male and female soldiers are trying to find an empty Porta Potty in which to get acquainted, grunts are playing Xbox and watching NASCAR between missions, and a lot of the senior staff are more concerned about getting to the chow hall in time for the Friday night all-you-can-eat seafood special than worrying about little things like military strategy.

Darkly humorous and based on the author’s own experiences in Iraq, Fobbit is a fantastic debut that shows us a behind-the-scenes portrait of the real Iraq war.

You can read more about Abrams’ work on Fobbit in his own blog, The Quivering Pen. His backlog of book reviews for January can be enjoyed here. Other of his stories have appeared in Esquire, Narrative, Salamander and The Greensboro Review.

READ MORE: “Fiction: ‘Numb,’ by David Abrams” (Salon).

Fiction: The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht

Today in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht. Says Abrams:

As a writer, I should hate Téa Obreht. She’s 25, earned a coveted spot on The New Yorker’s bally-hooed “20 Under 40” list of hot young writers, and has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and Zoetrope: All-Story -- all in the time that most of us are still learning how to form coherent sentences. What’s more, she can write circles around me in her sleep. I should hate her, but it’s impossible not to love what she has delivered in The Tiger’s Wife, an impressive novel by any standards -- no matter the age or career-longevity of the author.

Non-writer readers, those who are blithely ignorant of the hard work of carving words from recalcitrant language and sculpting them into something as poised and confident as Obreht’s debut, will just appreciate the novel for what it’s meant to be: damned fine storytelling.

The full review is here.

Review: The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews The Museum of Dr. Moses by Joyce Carol Oates. Says Abrams:

The “tales of mystery and suspense” in Joyce Carol Oates’ The Museum of Dr. Moses are sneaky little things. The horror comes in on cat's paws, barely noticeable.

The full impact doesn't hit until a few hours or days or even weeks after you have set the book aside and gone on to cheerier things: whistling happy Broadway show tunes, picking daisies in a sun-drenched field, or eating a heavenly slice of lemon-meringue pie. Then, as your mind drifts back to the stories and you start to think about the sub-surface tension or picture some of those indelible images, then and only then does it smack you. BAM! You might even drop your fork as the lemon pie goes sour on your tongue.

As she has done in earlier collections like The Female of the Species, Oates builds the tension slowly, carefully, then turns everything on its head in one sharp Moment of Startle. Think of it as a dull knife pressing into your forearm, pressing, pressing, pressing, until finally the skin succumbs, breaks with a pop! and you are sprayed with arterial blood -- something you knew was there but never expected to see. That's how Joyce Carol Oates leaps out at you: you suspected she was crouched behind the corner, but when it happens -- that turn of the story -- you still jump and give a little hiccup of a scream.

The full review is here.

Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Junot Diaz’ long-awaited first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Says Abrams:

Meet Oscar de Leon, dubbed “Oscar Wao” by bullies who liken him to the foppish Oscar Wilde. Our Oscar is a fat, virginal Dominican-American teenager who carries a Planet of the Apes lunchbox to school, spends hours painting his Dungeons & Dragons miniatures, and who knows “more about the Marvel Universe than Stan Lee.” If Nerd was a country, Oscar would be its undisputed king. Oscar is the kind of kid we would avoid on the subway -- sweaty, mumbles to himself, inevitably invades personal space, probably has bad breath.

In Junot Diaz’ debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, however, Oscar is the flame and we are the moths. An earnestly open-hearted protagonist, he draws us to him until we incinerate in the intensity of his character. He's a pitiful-but-hopeful loser we can all relate to, even the Prom Kings and Queens among us (who might just be the loneliest kids in school).

The full review is here.

Review: All Over by Roy Kesey

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews All Over by Roy Kesey, the first entry from Steve Gillis and Dan Wickett's brand new Dzanc Books. Says Abrams:

In these 19 stories, Kesey takes the reader on a tour of post-modern fiction that is at once bizarre and completely familiar. Here you’ll meet a man named Martin who thinks he's a guitar string, honeymooners who are threatened by llamas, a homeless couple who initially thrive during a garbage strike, and two girls who build a castle -- complete with crenellated parapets -- out of the ingredients at a Pizza Hut salad bar.

Each story is out of the ordinary, and yet we can always point to the page and say, “That could be me,” or “Dude, he totally snagged my neighbor on that one -- you know, the secretly-gay anesthesiologist who’s totally in love with the obstetrician, the one who’s completely stuck on himself?” Yes, that guy is here, along with dozens of other offbeat oddballs who, let’s face it, are really just shredded pieces of you and me.

The full review is here.

Review: Away by Amy Bloom

In January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams talks about Away by Amy Bloom. Says Abrams:

Tucked into the first ten pages of Away, Amy Bloom’s new novel there is a scene of such horrific intensity, reading it you feel as if your eyes have been splashed with lye. For the rest of this epic, sprawling novel, those few gore-soaked pages will dominate your consciousness.

And that’s just the way it should be, since that scene is the most pivotal one in young Lillian Leyb’s life. Her entire family has just been wiped out during the Russian pogrom, butchered right before her eyes as she feigned death.

The full review is here.

Review: On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. Says Abrams:

The entire plot boils down to two simple questions: Will they or won't they have sex; and, if they do, will it destroy their relationship? I can't remember the last time the mere promise of sex had me as close to the edge of my seat as did On Chesil Beach. McEwan teases us along for 130 pages as tension and suspense build. I could not turn the pages fast enough as I watched Edward and Florence pick at their cooling dinner meal, speak to each other in fits and starts, struggle with an uncooperative dress zipper, and dart their tongues into each other's mouths during a suffocating French kiss. Sex is the hoped-for happy ending, yet we suspect those hopes might be dashed like a cold-water wave against the rocky beach just outside their hotel window.

The full review is here.

Review: Five Skies by Ron Carlson

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Five Skies by Ron Carlson. Says Abrams:

The whole book, really, is about three men searching for ways to span the emotional chasms which have, in various ways, isolated them from the rest of society. Here, in the high Idaho plateau country, they will do their best to overcome past mistakes; some will succeed, others will be cut short by new tragedies, but the point is that they’re trying.

The full review is here.

Review: The Pentagon: A History by Steve Vogel

Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews The Pentagon: A History by Steve Vogel. Abrams’ review incorporates a surprisingly personal point of view:

At this point, I should confess full disclosure: for the past four months, I have been one of the approximately 25,000 workers who report to the Pentagon every morning, shuffling through the brightly-polished corridors like automatons. I have a desk in an E-Ring office -- in fact, the precise spot where the nose of Flight 77 struck the building on September 11, 2001. The plane entered and barreled through the wall of my office and didn't stop until it got to the inner C Ring. If I’d been there on that day, I would have been vaporized. It’s spine-shuddering to think about all those people who once sat where I now tap on my keyboard. Every day, I work with ghosts.

I have not come anywhere close to walking all of the nearly 18 miles of corridors on the building's five floors. I alternately tell people I work in the "womb" or the "bowels" of the Pentagon, but honestly there's little blood-warmth in the building. For all its brightness and efficiency, the place where I spend the majority of my day remains a mysterious, impersonal hive full of strangers passing strangers.

The full review is here.

Review: The Complete Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

Today, in January Magazine’s art & culture section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews The Complete Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. Says Abrams:

I can still recall Sunday afternoons -- unimaginably long stretches of time free of the electronic jangle of yet-to-be-invented video games or cell phones -- when I would lay propped on my elbows in our shag-carpeted living room with the bright sheet of comics spread before me. In those moments I became one with Charlie Brown. His world was my world. His dog was my dog. His snatched-away football was mine. His embarrassments turned into my own social failings. On those afternoons, my head indeed felt like an oversized balloon in proportion to the rest of my body.

The full review is here.

Review: Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry. Says Abrams:

Now along comes Rebecca Barry with Later, at the Bar, a collection of linked stories which revolve around the barflies of Lucy’s Tavern in upstate New York. More than a credible example of “Lost Weekend” fiction, Barry’s debut succeeds largely on the merits of her pared-down style and her obvious love for the characters she’s created. Most of these people are on slippery slopes of self-pity and regret, but Barry tenderly gives them occasional glimmers of redemption and hope.

The full review is here.

Review: Fresh by Mark McNay

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Fresh by Mark McNay. Says Abrams:

We all know how noir-hued plots like this turn out. It's not a pretty sight. But McNay manages to pull off several surprises along the way to the point where brother collides with brother. More than just a white-knuckled ride, however, Fresh is a detailed portrait of Glasgow's modern urban jungle; the book will cling to you like cold, clammy fog. The thugs, the unrelenting Scottish slang, the pitiless violence, and the ugly side of chicken processing make this hard to swallow at times, but I can't think of a more rewarding book I've read this year. Fresh goes down bitter but has a pleasant aftertaste.

The full review is here.

Review: Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard

Today, in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard. Says Abrams:

It’s usually futile to try and describe an Elmore Leonard plot. It’s like listing the ingredients of sausage -- there are so many different things packed in there, but all you really care about is how it tastes. Up in Honey’s Room is set in 1944 Detroit, where Carl has tracked down two German POWs who have escaped from a camp in Oklahoma. The pair are hiding out at a meat-processing farm run by Walter Schoen, who is a dead ringer for German SS commander Heinrich Himmler. Walter’s ex-wife is Honey Deal (as in “a honey of a deal”), who likes to walk around her apartment topless when Carl shows up to question her about Walter’s German friends. She’s got “bedroom eyes and that lower lip waiting there for him to bite.” Leonard also throws in a spy ring, a plot to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ribald jokes and over-consumption of booze and cigarettes.

The full review is here.

Review: A Miracle of Catfish by Larry Brown

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews A Miracle of Catfish by Larry Brown. Abrams is sad, but impressed with the late author’s posthumously published novel:

A Miracle of Catfish is not just Brown’s last book, it’s his best. Yes, it’s raw and incomplete, but it’s filled with so much pathos and longing and downright beautiful writing that you just know Brown was pouring everything he had into these pages.

The full review is here.