Back Flips and Party TricksI hated the first chapter of this novel, so much so that it took almost 200 pages for me to recover and trust Daniel Handler.Still, once it all started to come together, I did an amazing about face.By the end, I loved “Adverbs” and felt sad that I had to leave this crazy assortment of characters behind (or was it them who left me behind?).I didn't want the party to end.Across the Great DivideThe first chapter concerns an unnamed apparently heterosexual male character who leaves his partner, Andrea, catches a cab and immediately falls in love with the homophobic male cab driver, Peter.I couldn’t understand why Daniel Handler wanted to confront me with this character so early in the book, when we're just starting to get to know each other.I mean, who would be so totally self-deluded as to think you could instantaneously fall in love with an unsuspecting character across both the sexuality divide and the passenger’s seat?What prospects of success could this character (or indeed, this novel) have after an opening gambit like that?At First SightWas Handler being homophobic? I don’t think so. Certainly, there was no hint of homophobia in the rest of the book. So it’s quite possible that he was just making the point that many of us can (or believe we can) fall in love this instantaneously (incidentally, the name of the chapter), that we can experience love at first sight.Indeed, many of us sustain ourselves with the hope that one day it might happen to us, and that it will involve somersaults and other party, if not circus, tricks (even though, as Handler points out, there is no more impossible task than “falling in love in a nightclub”).So this novel provided me with a valuable lesson in my ongoing literary sex education.Don't hurry the author.This early in a book, they might just be engaging in foreplay.Give them time. They might grow on you. You might get in the mood. You might like it.Sometimes, you can't judge a book by its lover.To Boldly Go Where No Grammarian Has Gone BeforeAnother reason for my skepticism was the structure of the novel.It consists of 17 chapters, each of which is headed by an adverb.Most of us are taught to eschew adverbs in writing.Here, Handler has won and asserted the freedom, not just to use them, but to bring them forward and upfront, if that’s not too adverbial.In Which the Author Proceeds Listily...My initial gripe was that they’re not a particularly inspiring choice of adverbs, at least superficially (which wasn't on the list).I don’t think any (or many) of them would be on my (or perhaps even your) list of favourite adverbs on which to base a novel.Here is Handler’s list:"..., immediately, obviously, arguably, particularly, briefly, soundly, frigidly , collectively, symbolically , clearly, naturally , wrongly, truly , not particularly, often , barely, judgmentally , ..."...When He Could Have Proceeded LustilyWhere are the adverbs you can get excited about, like these examples that I have chosen randomly (you might have ones that are better or otherly): "..., suddenly, strangely, wonderfully, amusingly, tantalizingly, wholeheartedly, equally, madly, unconditionally, courageously, gently, secretively, quietly, noisily, gracefully, adoringly, pathetically, sweetly, heavenly, ..."But then, these examples are probably just the adverbs that we have been counselled to eschew.Something They Don't Teach You in Grammar SchoolSo what did Daniel Handler have in mind?Why did he choose such a neutral, neutered, sexless bunch of adverbs?How did he plan to handle his subject matter?How did he plan to seduce us with such words?How did he plan to give us full body massages using these words as his hands?How could he tickle our fancy using these words as feathers?Impossible.Or so I thought.Love Traversed AdverballyThese words mean almost nothing by themselves.Without more, they are just adverbs.Handler’s trick is to recognise that his recipe required one more ingredient.Step 2: Just add verbs. Adverbs can't pleasure us alone.They need a verb to qualify. They need a word they can relate to.And the word is Love.Love Probed Facetiously Love is a diamond and each chapter explores a different facet through the eyes of different beholders.There is some contention as to whether the book is really a novel or a collection of short stories.However, the chapters are not discrete in the sense that they have no relation to each other.Daniel Handler adds detail, chapter by chapter, so that meaning and understanding accumulate over the course of time, like a magpie assembles its nest, or photos add up to a photo album, or songs with similar themes add up to a concept album.Characters, or at least names, from one chapter turn up in later chapters.We learn new things on the way, constantly revising our opinions and speculating about the destiny of the characters.So there is a cumulative wisdom at work, which unites the chapters into a novel of sorts.Do You Believe in Miracles?Everybody in the novel strives for love.If we are lucky, love will touch and enliven us.If we do nothing, we die.It's a struggle of Sisyphusian proportions. Life is short, time conspires against us.We live on fault lines.There are catastrophes occurring all around us.We can also be distracted by petty troubles and worries, the detritus of past relationships that hang around to haunt us.We are mad not to seek out and seize the opportunity for love while we can:"What are we thinking? A volcano could destroy this town tomorrow, or guys with guns. Or both. Of course there’s going to be another catastrophe.”The Magic Bus that Takes Me to YouThe novel is not so much a hero’s journey, as a trip on a love bus, perhaps a shortbus.Each member of the ensemble cast departs from their past, probes around while looking for love, and arrives at their own different version of the destination they aspire to.Ultimately, with "Adverbs", Daniel Handler has lovingly crafted "A Series of Fortunate Events" for our delectation and inspiration. Hitching a Ride with a Cab DriverFor each of us, there's a different way to find love.And how we go about it can influence our prospects of success.We must make choices on our journey: "They say love’s like a bus, and if you wait long enough another one will come along, but not in this place where the buses are slow and most of the cute ones are gay. "‘I could take the bus,’ Joe said out loud, ‘but a taxi is better...’”So in the last chapter this particular Joe chooses a taxi to fast track him on the next phase of his journey, wishing and hoping the miracle of love will bless him:"Love is a preference, and Joe found one as he was summoned to do. "He found the love story he preferred, although he didn’t render this judgment officially until three years later when he and this cabdriver right here [Andrea] lay laughing and naked over how giddy he was during the miracle, during the blatant afternoon they met.”I Never Metafiction I Didn’t LikeIt would be remiss not to mention the sense of humour that winds through the novel.At first, I thought I detected a cruelty, a sourness, a bitterness that seemed to be working on a sublemonal level, the occasional lemony snicker.In retrospect, I think I was wrong.I rushed to judgment, when I should have been patient.The characters are diverse, but Daniel Handler loves them and their quest for love equally.He likens love to diamonds and lovers to birds (specifically magpies) “looking for shiny things and carrying them around in their beaks”.He deftly and humorously works real books about magpies [they are described as “attractive, artful and aggressive”] and a diamond ring [which is lost in his work and found in the other, real book] into his own work.He locates his own bird tale in another bird's nest, he places his diamonds in another jeweller's setting.He co-opts a whole world of fairy tales, fact and fiction into his own story.In Which Our Lovers Arrive, Eventually...Within his fictional ecosystem, “it is not the diamonds or the birds, the people or the potatoes [that are the miracles]; it is the adverbs, the way things are done. It is the way love gets done despite every catastrophe.”Finding love is a miracle, the stuff of fairy tales, a legendary achievement, though not everybody experiences their own miracle:"It can’t happen to everyone – as in life, some people will be killed off before they get something shiny, and some of them will screw it up and others will just end up with the wrong kind of bird – but some of them will arrive at love."Surely somebody will arrive, in a taxi perhaps, attractively, artfully, aggressively, or any other way it is done.”And so it is that at the end of the book, Andrea takes Joe to his destination, stops the cab and announces, “You’ve arrived.”He has come a long way for love....And the Reader Nods, AgreeablyThe significance of the novel is not necessarily that they found love (the verbs), or that love happened to Andrea and Joe (the nouns), the significance is how it happened to them.In Daniel Handler’s grammar of love, it’s the adverbs that make the difference.He proved his point attractively, artfully, and aggressively.By the end of the novel, I agreed with him. Wholeheartedly.
A proper summary of this whole book is as follows:"It is not the diamonds or the birds, the people or the potatoes; it is not any of the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done. It is the way love gets done despite every catastrophe [...] attractively, artfully, aggressively..."-Daniel Handler, Adverbs, p. 194. I have mixed feelings about this book! Though, the mix of my feelings is mostly positive, with just a few dashes of uncertainty and confusion and mild disappointment. So, lemme start with the bad stuff:I just didn't get a lot of it, honestly. Man, I wish I did. If I did, this'd probably be one of my favorite books. But I'd finish some of these stories, and be left shrugging my shoulders and throwing my hands in the air and asking "What am I supposed to take from that?" Daniel Handler is clearly way to smart for me. That's my biggest gripe with this book, is how difficult it can be to understand. I'm not smart or well-read enough to say whether that is a problem with me, or the way this book was written, but I just wish, wish, wish I could understand it just a bit better, because I really love everything else about this book.That's all the bad stuff. It's why this lost a whole star, among a few other smaller gripes.The way this book is written is kinda interestingly... I mean, if you've read Handler's other stuff, you'll most definitely notice the motifs of his writing. The way he repeats himself, and seems obsessed over certain themes or objects (in this book, birds are a big one). He's a unique writer, and in no other book have I seen him exercise his unique brain than in this one. He wasn't writing this for anyone else, but for himself. He was quirky to no end. Some may argue quirky to a fault, but I love it, honestly. It made it tricky to read sometimes. Sometimes, I had to go back and read passages over just to get what he was trying to say, but whatever, I didn't mind, because I actually enjoyed it. It's interesting. It's not entirely transparent, but it's not overwhelmingly difficult to understand. I think the difficulty only comes from how unique it is. This isn't, in my opinion, bad writing. Just different. I wish someone else I know had read this book. Someone I can talk about it with. I want to try and gain a better understanding of it, but a book can lose its special-ness if you can't really understand it all by yourself. But I wanna talk about it with someone.This book is written in a way that makes you think a whole lot, but not feel a whole lot. I may or may not be inclined to argue that a good book does a really good job of making its reader do both, thinking and feeling. Unless, of course, the author intends otherwise, which Mr. Handler very well may have.But, nonetheless, I'm left thinking about it.This is the first collection of short stories I've ever read. It's really a bit of a hybrid between a collection of short stories, and a novel. And I like it. Mr. Handler is one of my very favorite authors, and after reading this, I am eager to read more of his work. All in all, I liked it. I wanted to understand it better. At some parts, I wanted to be entertained a little more (but don't get me wrong, I don't think this book is boring). But it makes you think.This book is easy to relate to if you've ever been in love, but can be hard to relate to if you haven't been in love multiple times. I fall in to both of these boats, so while some of this book resonated with me, others simply did not, because of my lack of experience. I may enjoy this book more as an older person. I may return to it after many years. Maybe I'm just too young, which is why I didn't get a lot of it. I dunno. But still, really, I liked it.I think you should read it. Honestly. I wanna know how other people may think of this, because I think this book may mean something different to everyone who reads it, because of their different experiences.It's interesting. Handler never disappoints. I'm glad I read it, even if it wasn't the best thing I've ever read.It's good, though.Read it.
What do You think about Adverbs (2006)?
This is the kind of book that makes me want to go back and take all my 5-star ratings down to 4, so that giving this one 5 will mean more. This is the kind of book where, all while I was reading it, I was thinking about how I would read it again, more slowly, more thoughtfully, with more intense concentration. And so I did; I read it twice through, one after the other, and good fucking grief, it is so achingly good. The second time maybe a tiny little bit less so because I already knew so many of the good parts, but still, oh my god please read this book. He does this stunning thing where all of the chapters / stories sort of have the same metaphors and themes, but they are very vague. Like in almost each story there's a someone dirty and sad, carrying their shoes, who will fall in love or be fallen in love with. And there's magpies and volcanoes and the Snow Queen and taxis and other amazing sort-of recurrences, or maybe more like fragmented repetitions, because each time it's a little different. Anyway, although it's a novel, the chapters live on their own, and if I can't convince you to read the whole book, please please please will you just hurry up and read "Particularly," "Soundly," "Not Particularly," and "Often," because I think if you don't I will cry.
—Oriana
I've never read Handler's kid stuff but Adverbs did make me feel young again, if you don't mind that dust-smudged cliche. Not that I'm old even. And I certainly don't yearn for a lost childhood. Adverbs, the novel, or rather Adverbs: A Novel, made English over for me again, for the little while I was inside it. I had that giddy feeling I remember from my toddling times after reading my first "grown-ups" book -- that is, my first book without pictures. I don't know what that book was but it doesn't matter. It's the feeling that's important, that twang of wonder. And I have to say with some chagrin, because it makes me sound sentimental (or simply mental), but this book gave me the grins, like one of those drugs plucked from under forest ferns I haven't taken since high school. I felt like a fool while reading this book. The kind of fool that people point too and say: "That idiot must be the luckiest man alive."
—Brent Legault
A reviewer on the front cover writes: "Anyone who lives to read gorgeous writing will want to lick this book and sleep with it between their legs." Well, I can think of many other things I'd rather sleep with between my legs than this book! At first, I didn't realise this is a novel rather than a series of short stories. Hell knows what the plot is; maybe there isn't one. The chapters seem disjointed. Half the time you don't know whose the "voice" is. Where names reoccur, you're not sure if they're referring to the same people, as in one chapter Mike is 10, in another maybe 20 - is it the same Mike? I don't know! There's a touch (a large touch) of surrealism to this book. I'd like to say the author obviously has a mental health problem, most likely schizophrenia, except the writing is just that bit too clever - it's all very deliberate. Very playful with words. I almost want to abandon this book as hell knows where it's going - it might not even go anywhere. But I can't abandon it. It's just a bit too good to be abandoned, though it is decidedly odd.
—Martine Peacock
