Man Martin

The town I grew up in was not exactly like Man Martin's Deepstep, Georgia. For one thing, it was in Kentucky. For another, it was certainly much bigger (small as it was) than Deepstep. But it was populated with people who can best be described as "characters," in the can-you-believe-what-he/she-just-did? sense, and at times it seemed that the swirling morass of often unusually directed energy was without purpose except to keep everyone in place for all time, as though they'd been hit with show more cosmic hairspray.

The main characters of Days of the Endless Corvette are at the center of just such a vortex. Earl is a mechanic with an intuitive ability to repair close to anything and even wind up with parts to spare. He thinks he could harvest enough left over parts to build a Corvette from nothing. Ellen is curious, well read and thoughtful in a way that makes most of Deepstep uncomfortable. She gave up a lot to have her daughter, including Earl. They are in love, but they can't be together.

But Martin handles this with such easy grace that the story aches but does not hurt. Some might find this a bit too sentimental or easy, but that misses the larger point. True to small towns (and to most people wherever they live, I would venture), the folks who populate Days of the Endless Corvette are most all decent people who are doing the best they can. With two notable exceptions, there are no people in the book out to bring down Earl either through malice or indifference. Instead, Earl's greatest struggle is with himself: he must learn to live with disappointment.

The story's narrator is a bit of a curiosity, too, and Martin knows it, having the narrator feign outrage at one point that the reader might doubt his veracity. He is, however, at the only place in the story where the paths of Earl and Ellen consistently cross, and then only in tangent. show less

Bone King is a professor whose specialty is etymology, the study of words. He’s published one book on the subject and is working on another, but not fast enough for his publisher. His wife is a former student – although they’re the same age – and he suspects she’s cheating on him with the yardman. Bone also has a sudden medical problem. Sometimes he freezes up and can’t walk through doors.

You might spend a good deal of this book frustrated with Bone King for being so clueless and show more stupid in love with his cruel, vapid wife. He’s a pretty flawed character, loving his wife more than she deserves and being pretty much constantly distracted by words – which is part of the problem. But as things progress you may come to see Bone King as the embodiment of the goodness and optimism in all of us. Or most of us anyway. show less

Adam Newman is a piece of work: Good hearted, accident prone, given to flights of fancy – that might be real. It’s the 1960s in Orlando, Florida. Adam and his ex-wife Evelyn spent the best years of their lives together when they owned Paradise Dogs. “Just hot dogs. But the very best hot dogs.”

Now he’s trying to win Evelyn back before he marries their former waitress, Lily. He’s lost a quarter million dollars worth of diamonds. But first he has to deliver a baby, conduct some show more marriage counseling, repair a television, provide legal advice, find his next drink, get his son a better job at the Sentinel, help his son’s potential girlfriend (currently his step-son’s girlfriend) retain her fellowship at the University of Florida, and get committed to Chattahoochee.

There’s also the matter of several mysterious corporations buying up land south of Orlando, including two parcels that Adam owns. He suspects communist involvement.

Adam is a wonderful master of chaos who makes all the wrong moves for the right reasons. The adventure comes in seeing how it all plays out. show less

This was an Early Reviewers copy. From back cover: Adam Newman yearns to reunite with his estranged wife and recapture the edenic life they once had running their legendary hot dog restaurant. In the meantime, our delusional protagonist--who has a knack for assuming others' identities--delivers a stranger's baby, saves a couple's marriage, talks himself out of a ticket but into Chattahoochee, and attempts to foil a conspiracy in which shadowy forces are buying up land to block the show more construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

That said, this book was so funny that it made me laugh out loud (a rarity) and actually snort a couple of times. I also kept imagining the film it will make. Imagine Clouseau in Florida. As a Floridian, I have a soft spot for Florida literature (even when written by a Georgian), but I hope non-Floridians will pick it up. Adam, the bumbling hero, has nothing going for him, but you root for him anyway. 5* show less