Sean Beaudoin

From the beginning of Welcome Thieves, Sean Beaudoin’s first story collection, you realize you’re in rare literary territory, the text before you built not only on erudition and propulsive (at times near breathless) prose but drugs and crime, rock n’ roll and philosophy. Above all else, though, there’s humor. Beaudoin is, no question, one of the funniest, hippest writers out there.

Plumbing the quest for sensory experience at the heart of youth, Beaudoin’s style recalls T.C. show more Boyle’s, a flash of formal experimentalism (Coover? Celine?) thrown in to keep the reader off-kilter. The mix is a highly enjoyable, stone-cold literary endeavor that manages to succeed on a commercial level as well. These aren’t “New Yorker stories” per se—you’re not going to find some middle-aged dentist bitching about his Mercedes in Beaudoin’s pages—but they’re so polished you can’t help but see the potential for them to reach (and please) a mass audience.

From Beaudoin’s fearless use (and purposeful misuse) of pop culture, particularly the fight game in “And Now Let’s Have Some Fun”, to the macabre, apocalyptic satire of “Base Omega Has Twelve Dictates”, his spin on a sort of creation myth in the title story, “Welcome Thieves”, and the failed Americana at the heart of the entire collection, perhaps most notably in “The Rescues”, these stories succeed without exception.

On the off chance that Beaudoin’s six previous books and his massive output of quality nonfiction (Salon, The Nervous Breakdown, The Weeklings) hadn’t confirmed his talent, Welcome Thieves is sure to. Sure, likewise, to prove attempts at comparison must in the end fall short. There’s just no other writer quite like Sean Beaudoin. Read him and be glad you did.

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/kbaumeister/2016/07/the-nervous-breakdowns-re... show less

What happens when you cross improvisational theatre with a literary event looking to create a truly collaborative novel? For me, the answer to that question is Hotel Angeline, a novel written in chapters penned by each of 36 participating authors - including two chapters with a graphic approach to the story - over the course of 6 days. A writing marathon, if you will. The end result: a fun, refreshing and quirky coming-of-age story that has its unexpected left turns while still retaining a show more unified, collective voice.

The story focuses on 14 year-old Alexis Austin, our narrator. Alexis lives in the Hotel Angeline, a run down residential hotel/apartment building her mother Edith runs, with Alexis' assistance, on Seattle's Capitol Hill. The Hotel Angeline has an interesting past, as a former mortuary, and an eccentric group of residents that are as much a part of the building as the creaky stairs and the bad plumbing. While only fourteen, Alexis has been doing more around the hotel to help out since her mom became sick. When one of the residents, LJ, informs Alexis of a phone message he took for Alexis' mom, Alexis takes on adult responsibilities in an effort to keep the life she knows at the Hotel Angeline.

That is all I will mention about the plot as it is difficult to summarize the plot without giving away the interesting plot developments. I loved this novel for a number of reasons. First off, The characters are fantastic. Second, the story is unpredictable, which provided an extra level of interest for me as I am not a fan of formula plots where I can predict what will happen next. Third, it is not just a coming-of-age story. It has a nice mix of mystery, YA, fantasy, comedy and tragedy. Lastly, I loved the fact that you could feel the story shift and develop in unique and wonderful ways under the pen of each author as they took they turn picking up the story where their fellow authors had left off, and just running with it!

If you are expecting exceptional literature, well, as mentioned in the forward written by Garth Stein, "It was never our intention to accomplish in six days what took James Joyce eighteen years to accomplish with Ulysses; we knew we were not writing a literary masterpiece. It was our intention to build a solid, fun story that was a collaboration between three dozen writers, various editors, and an audience both live and virtual - what we created was a community." I think the group hit their mark with Hotel Angeline and I can confidently say that this is a novel I recommend for anyone that is looking for a fun, offbeat and endearing coming of age story. show less

Background: Nick aka Nero has been sent away to juvenile delinquent camp for bleeding all over chicken at his job and while he is away rehabilitating some weird things start to happen. Nick along with his "camp" mates soon become part of their worst nightmare when their peers and counselors become zombies, yup straight outta the movies, zombies.

Review: It took me a little while to read this book, not for lack of excitement or witty-ness, but you can only have so many zombies before falling show more asleep... I had zombie dreams for about a week. What does this say about Beaudoin's writing- IT IS AWESOME! His characters, Nick, and the others are hilarious, even in the face of dangers and while being eaten. The descriptions are right on, zombie kids eating someone in a pot-o-potty?... I mean, what is not to love?

Some things that took some getting used to: Nick aka Nero talks to the reader like an audience- cool but weird, he does this to state his "Zombrules." Then there is The Rock, yes, wrestler, actor, producer man with the eyebrow thing- he is in Nick's head, sort of... Nick hears someone talking to him and the voice is that of the Rock. So there is a lot of question as to if Nick is talking to others or himself, or hallucinating...

I must say though, that the ending was my favorite, it was ready for some BS it was all a dream cop-out, but that didn't happen and I am super thankful for it. I was also super excited when an explanation was given for the Zombie outbreak and what had caused it all, I think that is what some zombie movies and books are lacking recently. So good show Beaudoin!

If you are a zombie lover or a fan of chicken-- yes I know this sounds weird-- go grab this book! show less

It's no big secret that I love all things Zombie. What is not as widely known, is that my family has a sick sense of humor. The more gore, disgust and creepiness you throw at us, the more we like it. The Infects has all these factors in spades.

Baudoin's writing style is a masterful blend of humor, snark, whit, intelligence, horror and at times, just enough tenderness and caring to pull at your heart-strings.

Nick is a slightly less than average guy who goes to school, crushes on a girl from show more work at the local chicken factory and earns money to provide a constant supply of Asperger's medication to his younger sister. Mom is absent, Dad is worthless and Amanda relies on Nick for her care. After he has a costly accident at work and is sent off on a three month juvenile delinquent boot camp turned zombie apocalypse, all Nick can think of is surviving long enough. Long enough to find Petal, the girl of his dreams, who also happened to be sent on the trek due to her involvement in the accident, and getting back to Amanda.

Nero has taken Nick's place. Nero is focused. Nero is not going to let the infected stop him. Nero is not going to let the infected eat him.

This Infects is a fast paced, bloody-mess, intestine-nibbling, smart-ass filled good time. The group of teenagers Nero wades through zombies with are not your typical boy scout type, nor do they curl up and cry for their mommies. They are the kids who go balls-out, who walk through a mountain of death armed with nothing but their sense of humor and pure willingness to survive. Is it how I would expect a group of teenagers to handle waking up at a secluded camp site with the counselors eating a few of their mates? Um...hell to the no. But, the banter between these ridiculously over the top characters makes for one hell of a good time.

Towards the end of the story it takes an unexpected and profound turn. Nero, Petal and Amanda take the steps that will change the world forever. I loved where The Infects started, how it traveled and where it ended up. It's the perfect combination of crazy humor and profound thought.

I don't think this is the book for everyone. It has such a unique writing style and not everyone will find it's appeal, as I did. It's unbelievable story and reactions also won't be followed by all. As well as it's crude and moderately mature sense of humor. But if you want a fun, gory, quick read ~ give this one a shot. show less