After The Workshop: A Novel (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Recommended to EVERYBODY who's ever lived in Iowa City. I wish I could recommend it to EVERYBODY in general, but I know some of my enjoyment came from recognizing every single place/person in the story... That said, the writing really is good. And it got better as I continued reading. There is a scene in the last third of the book where the protagonist visits a B&B with two out-of-towners that made me laugh so hard I started crying. The whole thing is hilarious. Read it. I finished in two sittings. Couldn't stop. Here are some of my favorite excerpts. I actually dog-eared pages to re-visit... I almost never do that:The man working at the front desk shut his eyes and nodded. Displays of visible irritation were not uncommon in Iowa City. Nearly everyone in town had an MFA or a PhD, and yet most were relegated to jobs that paid barely above minimum wage. For all I knew, I was probably talking to the next great post-abstract-expressionist.There are few pleasures quite like walking into an independent bookstore on a snowy evening, and tonight was no exception. Once inside, I stomped my feet and said hello to Eileen, who was working the cash register and had been an employee there before I was a student at the Workshop. Other fellow night travelers had come in from the snow, wearing knit caps and scarves, their gloves tucked into their pockets as they perused the latest New York publishing had to offer. Here we were, all lovers of literature, gathered together on a night straight our of a Dickens novel. I half-hoped to look out the window and see Tiny Tim atop Bob Cratchits's shoulders, but no: All I saw was an undergrad writing SUCK ME in the snow that covered somebody's car while another guy bent over and pressed his ass against the car's front door, hoping for an accurate imprint.Across the street, at one of the unofficial frat houses, a guy wearing only too-short sweatpants stepped barefoot onto the snow covered porch, walked over to the railing, and spewed a gallon of vomit. He remained bent over, forearms resting on the rail, panting, as steam rose from a snow-draped shrub.'No,' I said. 'It doesn't really remind me of childhood.''Too bad,' S.S. said.The college boy saw us, wiped his mouth onto his shoulder, then walked back to the front door gingerly on the balls of his feet, as though crossing a bed of hot coals. The letters across the ass of his sweatpants spelled JUICY. 'Shit,' I said when I dropped my keys for the second time. I shouldn't have been driving in the condition I was in, but what could I do? I had challenged a man to a fight, and I was going to show up as I'd promised! The fact that I had challenged this man over the comments section of a blog dedicated to rejections from literary magazines didn't matter. "I learned how to see cornfields as nature"- T.C. Boyle, on Iowa. This was a really quick and fun read. It was hilarious to read a book that takes place in Iowa City (while living and having gone to college in Iowa City). The scenes in the Foxhead and various other Iowa City establishments are dead on, and the characters "writers" who populate the page are each on their own funny little trip as they collide into each other for one crazy weekend. If you enjoy writers, or if you enjoy hating writers, here in Iowa City, this is definitely worth a read.
What do You think about After The Workshop: A Novel (2010)?
Ha! This book is funny.(You're welcome for this useful review).
—sherry
