Mount Chicago, Adam Levin
Adam Levine’s sprawling new novel begins with a high-concept catastrophe. One day in November 2021, a crater will open in Chicago, engulfing an area of Michigan His Avenue and thousands of people. It’s a timely setting in this era of disaster beyond parody, with Levin hilariously grappling with a lame official response. The mayor and his publicist refer to the inexplicable disaster as a “terrestrial anomaly.” earthquake event has the term “earthquake overtones” sinkhole is too reminiscent of Florida. Swamp armpits. stimulant, opossum, thrush. … The mourning people didn’t need it.
Among the mourners is Solomon Gladman, a sad sack creative writing professor, award-winning novelist, and underground stand-up comedian. Gladman’s entire family — his wife, parents, sisters, nieces, and nephews — die in the anomaly, and he becomes consumed with agoraphobic grief, blurring out to Xanax and whiskey. He contemplates suicide, but he cannot abandon his pet parrot. As such, Gladman resigns himself to living until the parrot ends his life.
Meanwhile, young Apter Schutz became the mayor’s right-hand man. Apter is a kind of meritocracy avatar. Though he’s still in his twenties, the long ramblings of “Mount His Chicago” are dedicated to his many adventures and successes. In college, while trying to raise money for a Bernie Sanders campaign, Apter plans to sell his patriotic one-page-a-day calendar that will appeal to MAGA zealots and white supremacists. came up with The product was a huge success and enabled him to become a millionaire before he turned 22. Callender After selling his business and making a sizable profit, he made another $5 million in cryptocurrency speculation, invested in a small press with his sister, and became a successful psychotherapist. In short, Apter had his 30 years much more productive than most of us.
Finally, in the wake of an Earth anomaly, Aptor’s skills are put to the test, helping the mayor raise funds for a memorial park for victims, and meeting Lollapalooza co-owners Ari Emmanuel and Perry Farrell. was sent for , in hopes of setting up a benefit concert. Apter convinced Emmanuel and Pharrell that one of her headliners was none other than comedian Solomon Gladman. But now Aptor must convince the withdrawn Gladman to sign on.
“Mount Chicago” is one of those sweeping, polyphonic, absurdist epic novels they used to make. — To me, Levin most resembles his fellow Chicago native Stanley Elkin. Like Elkin, he has a rough-and-tumble sensibility and a vaudeville-backed nihilism. Like Elkin, he has a knack for riffs and digressions. The maze-like shaggy dog joke wanders around until you almost forget it’s set up.
Unlike Elkin, Levin doesn’t always know when he’s had enough.Has a strong “Infinite Jest” The energy here is often great, but there’s something akin to a “Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson doing cocaine together” kind of vibe. I have. A metafictional chapter in which the author wonders if the reader would imagine his face when reading about Gladman or Aptar. A section about bartenders who can pick the perfect drink just by looking at you.A long digression about the outdated TV show “Entourage” and actor Matt Dillon. And a long gag about David Mamet’s opinion on Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.” There’s no doubt that Levin is witty and a master of the repertoire, but even the best comedians will at some point have an orchestra kicking in and someone behind the scenes looking for a curtain hook.
Despite its sometimes infuriating complacency, “Mount Chicago” has passages of genuine charm and brilliance. My favorite section is Gladman’s Parrot, Gogol’s Perspective chapter, which manages a very compelling, sublime, comical and heartbreaking evocation of the bird’s perspective. I loved the chapter on the mayor being a creation, wanting the memorial to be “our gloomy Auschwitz” and imagining being praised by Barack Obama. I can come up with a conceptual framework for the park, but what about this wall? Non-parallel! … If you could describe in your own words what this wall of survivors means to me, I would describe it as follows.
In the final section, when Aptar and Gladman finally meet, the author achieves a sustained, operatic balance of comedy worth the wait, sadness, and despair. came out. The last 100 pages showed us the kind of novel this talented writer is really capable of.
Dan Chaon is the author of seven works of fiction, most recently including the novel “Sleepwalk”.
Mount Chicago, Adam Levine | | 592 Pages | Doubleday | $30
