The Muse and the Mechanism

The Muse and the Mechanism, Josh Davis, Pretend Genius Press, 2004

This is the story of Charlie Fell, a twentysomething writer living in the small town of Alton. It's a rather grubby sort of life, watching his friends smoke, drink and use various other illicit substances. James, one of Charlie's housemates, is a fall-down drunk who imprints the outline of his body in Charlie's ceiling because of one of his falls. Charlie finds himself less and less interested in Lola, another housemate, and wonders how to make a reasonably painless break with her.

Charlie's mother and stepfather go on a week-long vacation and ask Charlie to housesit. Naturally, the house becomes the site of a week-long party, populated by an ever-changing group of friends and friends of friends. Throughout much of the story, Charlie is engaged in the pursuit of Grace, a lovely, and to Charlie, extremely compatible woman.

This is a beautifully written novel. It will also take some work on the part of the reader. There will be periods where the reader will wonder what happened to the story. The plot is laid out in broad chunks with little or no advance information. By all means, stick with this book. It is very much worth reading.