The One-Eyed Man

March 6, 2017
Since K.’s wife, Sarah, died from cancer, he’s found himself “wedded to the notion of clarity,” much to the chagrin of his friends. After he prevents a robbery and takes a bullet at a coffee shop, an enigmatic man named Theodore offers him a spot in a reality show, traveling the country and confronting various people about truth. He’s accompanied by Claire, a wry former Total Foods employee. To everyone’s surprise, the show is a huge hit. Unfortunately, K. has made himself a target, which is great for ratings but not so great for his health. In the third act, K. and Claire are kidnapped in Texas by a gun devotee with an agenda, and in the aftermath, no one will be the same again. Currie is a talented storyteller; K.’s reality show adventures, all told in K’s voice, offer sardonic humor and a healthy dose of outrageousness, but the heartbreaking passages on his wife’s last days are the real windows into K.’s damaged soul. Currie explores the pain of loss and possibility of redemption with aplomb, humor, and an empathetic hand in this heartbreaking tale.

January 15, 2017
A Swift-ian morality tale about a land of "hysteria and half-truths." Currie's (Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles, 2013, etc.) fourth and most conventional novel has an epigraph from Erasmus: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." K., our 44-year-old narrator, is a common, honest man in a contemporary America where people are all too ready to twist the truth. K.'s beloved wife, Sarah, died from cancer seven months ago. He isn't taking it well; in fact, he has become "completely unhinged." K.'s friend Tony tells him he has turned into "Mr. Roboto...you're so goddam literal." K. suffers from a heightened sense of hyperfactuality. He argues with Tony about the wording on a bottle of hand wash and ends up throwing it through Tony's window. He gets into an argument over what someone's bumper sticker actually means. At Total Foods, he gets into an argument with a clerk, Claire, about how fruits are incorrectly labeled, but, he tells her, he's "not dangerous or anything." He "just needs things to be true....Actual. Clear." Off to get his usual Grande Americano he sees a young woman in a store being held up. He knocks on the window and gets shot, saving her. To K.'s befuddlement, he's proclaimed a hero, given an award. A newsman from Fox visits him in the hospital and wants to do a reality TV show with him. America, You Stoopid follows K. and Claire (now his manager) around America. They talk with people about many issues: abortion, gun control, immigration. But the "dominant mode of national discourse"--things are either entirely right or wrong--brings about nasty arguments, and K. becomes a major star. Tomfoolery and shenanigans abound in this wicked indictment of our divided land. Even though the over-the-top ending sputters into a wild tailspin, Currie's caustic humor and deadly sarcastic bite win out.

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October 1, 2016

Outspoken after his wife's death, the cantankerous K. becomes a media hero with his own reality TV show after scotching an armed robbery. But his rapt audience eventually rebels against his puncturing their merry myths. Currie has had many fans since winning the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award for his debut work, the story collection God Is Dead.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017

In this latest from Currie (Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles), "the one-eyed man" confronts his existence by taking everything literally and challenging all trivial assumptions. As the book opens, having waited at a corner all day owing to a broken "Don't Walk" sign, he intercedes in a nasty robbery, saving a young barista and getting shot in the process. We quickly learn that his wife recently died, which might explain some of his anomalous behavior, and the novel alternates between past and present as it chronicles her death and his current antics. The media attention he receives after foiling the robbery lands him in his own reality TV show in which he plays his confrontational self, but serious consequences ensue when, as part of his show, he ruffles the feathers of some violently entrenched interests. Currie pokes fun at natural foods and gun enthusiasts with equal aplomb, offering intimately poignant prose leavened with lively action to create a compelling narrative. VERDICT Reminiscent of David Gates's Jernigan mixed with the edgy incisiveness and humor of Sacha Baron Cohen, this compulsively readable novel intrigues with its complexity and scope. Highly recommended, [See Prepub Alert, 9/12/16.]--Henry Bankhead, San Rafael P.L., CA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.