The Abortion (1970)

Despite its title, this is a charming little book. It’s about a library where anyone can submit unpublished manuscripts regardless of quality. One could say it is a library for the people, which attracts quirky characters. This is a small book so I won’t describe the girlfriend-abortion plot, other than to say, this book is a parody. So the book is humorous, BUT the most impressive thing is the writing. Brautigan was a poet and has a Hemingway-poetic style. If I was a writer, this is how I would do it.
“The air was hung with nets of travelling excitement and people were entangled with them and we became a part of the catch."

“The toilet was so elegant that I felt as if I should have been wearing a tuxedo to take a leak.” [Description of an airport toilet.]
The book also inspired a native from Vermont to open a library as described in the novel. Soon, they will be accepting submissions online for those who cannot visit the library.

Recommended - entertaining. ( )

I'd like to sit the desk in that library... ( )

Beautifully done. The library can be seen as a metaphor for so much. I see it as a repository for lost things. These books are put into the library because they won't be published and they won't be read. These are all books that will go unused. They'll be sealed up in a cave and never seen again, much like the librarian and everything that matters to him. The trip to the Mexican abortion clinic was almost like having a lucid dream. I was aware of my surroundings and knew I wasn't thinking my own thoughts, but still I was sitting with the librarian and his beautiful girlfriend. Brautigan's description, and frequent, reminders of her beauty really helped keep me in a place where I understood what was going on. Lots of people have had shady abortions. But this wasn't anyone. This was likely the most beautiful woman in the world. His words reminded me of the personal nature of such a story, where it could so easily go into the dark territory of a botched procedure and immoral doctors. But it didn't have to. What happened is what happened and that was moving enough. ( )

I cannot fully understand, or put into words, the effect The Abortion had on me, and I have the feeling that overanalyzing the work will only dilute its already-fragile nature. There is very little in the way of plot, and the work as a whole has the effervensence of nostalgia. It's part fantasy, part romance, and part jarring clash with reality. There is no way the narrator's job can exist, and I never once believed it could (although I desperately wanted to believe). The Abortion is a clumsy little beast, and hard to defend from any traditional narative standpoint. But it is one that engenders great affection.

Read the rest of the review here. ( )

This is one of the quirkiest books I’ve ever read. It’s about a lonely guy who works in an obscure library that’s purpose is to home for all the books that have never been published. The novel is filled with extraordinary characters that Brautigan somehow makes believable. The books contained in the library have been written by random people, amongst them are children who submit tales told in crayon about their toys; teenagers who have written about their problems and worries, and elderly folk who’ve written their memoirs. All of these books are not shelved in the traditional Dewey Decimal System, but by placement on whichever shelf the author feels happiest with. Eventually the librarian meets a beautiful but insecure woman and they fall in love. She becomes pregnant and they travel to Mexico to get an abortion. At this point you have to remember the book was written in the 1960s and points of view were vastly different then. Brautigan created a surreal world with this novel, full of whimsy and offbeat humour. It’s an amazingly creative piece of writing and one that I will never forget.

The ‘Brautigan Library’ now actually exists, currently housed in the San Francisco Public Library ( )