Telephone

by Percival Everett

Book Overview

An astonishing new novel of loss and grief from "one of our culture's preeminent novelists" (Los Angeles Times)

Zach Wells is a perpetually dissatisfied geologist-slash-paleobiologist. Expert in a very narrow area--the geological history of a cave forty-four meters above the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon--he is a laconic man who plays chess with his daughter, trades puns with his wife while she does yoga, and dodges committee...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1644450224
• ISBN13: 9781644450222
• Release Date: May 2020
• Publisher: Graywolf Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Brillant

The writing draws you in, keeps you invested. Like the rest of the family, I felt Monk was special too. You will laugh, and be amazed throughout.

Outstanding!

This book offers perhaps the first great protagonist of the new century. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison, college professor, author of "dense" experimental novels, and recipient of seventeen rejection letters, is forced to leave L.A. and return to his childhood home in D.C. to care for his ailing mother. He parlays his frustrations into "My Pafology", an exploitive novel that represents everything he hates about the publishing industry. The novel, written under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh, catapults him to the forefront of literary scene, causing Monk's wildest dreams and worst nightmares to unfold simultaneously. Using Rinehart (from Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man") as a role model, Monk's pseudonym becomes all too real and comfortable for him. The elusive Stagg is able to show just enough of himself to impress a Random House editor and sell the film rights to his novel for a whopping $3 million. To his shock and horror, Monk now finds "My Pafology" on the short list for the most prestigious book award in the country. The compelling plot takes many interesting turns, addressing themes of race, family, and publishing. A murder, family secrets revealed, and his mother's worsening condition all swirl around as Monk's literary transformation unfolds. He grapples with his creative integrity, but it is hardly a moral dilemma over taking the money. The conflict lies in his extreme sense of isolation, even in his own family, and his level of acceptance at "selling out". While Monk is ultimately able to come to terms with "My Pafology" as his masterpiece, his sense of isolation remains all too real. With multiple layers of satire, "Erasure" takes no prisoners in its assault on the publishing industry and its notions of "African American literature". Percival Everett thumbs his nose at the literary snobs and the commercial hounds alike. Television is also a target for his wrath, as he dedicates several unforgettable scenes to exposing the adverse role it can play in literature and the stereotyping of Black people. Everett masterfully executes this novel-within-novel ("My Pafology" is presented in its entirety, comprising 75 pages of "Erasure"). The result is a multidimensional protagonist interacting on several different levels. There is Monk, a lover of wood, fishing, and intellectual humor; his altar ego Stagg, the pimp-like ex-con-turned writer; there is also Van Go Jenkins, the shuckin-jivin main character of "My Pafology"; and finally, there is the prevailing voice of Everett, threatening to turn the literary world on its ear with his relentless attack. This is not a good book by a Black writer, nor is it a Black book by a good writer; it is a remarkable work of fiction that transcends labels. With his strong intellect and satirical wit, Percival Everett has seemingly resolved his own place in the literary spectrum while providing readers with the best of both worlds. "Erasure" is a compelling and insightful read, and a must study for serious writers.

A Writer Who Deserves More Readers

ERASURE is an amazing book, though as Everett's too-few readers already know, each of his books are in their own way challenging, inventive, and well-written. In book after book, Everett creates characters and scenes that remain with the reader long after the book's been put back up on the shelf or lent to a friend. They come back around to me like the details of a particularly vivid dream. I'm still haunted by the characters in CUTTING LISA and BIG PICTURE. Anyway, what I appreciate most about ERASURE is that despite the sensational aspects of this story -- the situation Thelonious "Monk" Ellison creates for himself after writing a book in dialect under the name Stagg R. Lee -- it is still the characters who shine. The members of the Ellison family are distinguished by their singular voices and their singular actions. Memorable voices, vivid scenes, believable conflict. I hope ERASURE helps more readers find Everett, in both his back catalog and his future releases.

Not an easy read...in a great way

My last few reads have been easy reads, just a step above watching televison in terms of depth and plot. Hey, sometimes I enjoy a nice breezy read. With Erasure, Mr. Everett isn't making things that simple. It's not a complicated, boring textbook read but you will have to *think* (and in some cases, bust out a foreign language dictionary) and the more you think, the more layers you'll uncover. While the main plot centers around Monk, a writer with marginal success, and his sudden fame at writing a ghetto fabulous new-wave Mantan novel, the incidents that surround this rise to fame touch deeply on other themes - family ties, socio-economic status, and love (to name a few). Everett covers a lot of ground with this book and ties it all together masterfully (and with quite a bit of humor).If you're at all interested how race intersects with the publishing industry (i.e. "Hey, I wrote a book about plumbing and I happen to be Black, why is my plumbing book in the African-American section of the bookstore?"), pick this book up. If you want a good read that will make you think without making you choke on your own yawns, pick this book up. Hey, even if you like stereotypical novels filled with difficult to read Ebonics, pick this book up - just skip to Monk's mini-novel in the middle.

Intimidating and wonderful!

I've recommended this book to about 10 people since finishing it about a week ago. This writer blew my mind and I cannot wait to read his previous titles. Nails the black lit scene to the wall, makes you laugh out loud and throws in enough obscure references to send you running back to college textbooks. A wonderful book from top to bottom.

Witty, Intense, and Right On Target

I wanted to be the first to say it but someone beat me to it. Erasure is a Awesome, a multifaceted satire of the NEW Black Literature scene, dead on target and right on time, no doubt one of the best books I've read this year. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is a lit professor slash writer who has had marginal success with his previous novels and now can't get a publisher for his new book because he doesn't write "black enough". While visiting his mother and sister in his hometown, Washington DC, he steps into a Border's bookstore and is mortified by the fact that one of his previous works was found in the "African American Studies" section of the store when his book has nothing to do with African American studies but instead a Greek tragedy. He comes across a book called, We Lives In Da Ghetto, and his sister lets him know that it's the hottest selling book right now and will be made into a movie. He opens the book and reads the first few paragraphs and again, mortified, "this is the black experience that they want him to write about." So he does, under an pseudonymous alter ego. The novel catapults him to instant success and money, which he is in need of badly to care for his mother who has Alzheimers. The psuedo novel is included in Erasure and is complete with have finished sentences, Ebonics to the tenth degree and lots of explicatives that describe sex, violence and finally, life in da ghetto. Alas, he's written a "true gritty black novel." The pressure mounts when his publisher wants him to make a public appearance as Stagg R. Leigh, his alter ego. Does he show his face to the literature community that he once mocked for it's incompetence and ingnorance? The cover of the book pretty much tells the rest of the story.