Tim Wirkus

With full knowledge that most of the Western United States, not just Utah, is “Mormon Country,” some readers may not appreciate the depth and honesty, especially in its treatment of religious extremism, gender-specific survival, and marital fraud as forms of performance and reinvention. A summer read filled with manufactured authority and varied metaphors about how organized religion shapes masculine perception, it's humorous and will likely resonate with women who know that survival show more requires improvisation, wit, and emotional calculation. It's also a modern exploration of the history of erotic and religious economics, institutional hypocrisy, and survival through performance. Historical facts related to the LDS Church demonstrate that religion has always been a form of power and that it can be used to destabilize and to build systems that align with radical ideals. A quick read with historical grounding, religious mythology, lots of spectacle, and the politics of secularism. show less

What just happened? That's the end?

I mean, I think it was brilliant...or crazy? As in, crazy like a fox? I don't know. I don't know what I'm supposed to think. I was glued to the story--the stories--because they're good, and then after writing 40-odd stories within stories, suddenly Tim Wirkus decides to...drop his narrative mid-beat? I don't know what he's trying to do and maybe I need to think about it more...or maybe I'm just not sophisticated and deep enough.

Okay, let me back up. If I show more was Wirkus, or Danny, or Harriet, or Sergio, or any number of other characters, I would tell you in detail how I found the book, who handed it to me, and how I forgot to read it because I was rushing to work, but then I stumbled upon it later, and as I began to read became absorbed in the mysticism of the tale. And the fact is, I very much enjoyed "The Infinite Future." It's one of those story-within-a-story-within-a-story stories, and Wirkus spins out story after story as each person has to tell every other person "what happened" with a perfectly constructed tale, not the quick off-the-cuff type stories you and I tell around the water coolers, but the kind that you only find in a novel, complete with descriptions of the environment, clothes, emotions, etc. But it works. Wirkus is a fantastic and creative storyteller.

Interwoven into the story are elements of the LDS faith, the Book of Mormon, and the culture and religion of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It seems like Wirkus is grappling with the faith--maybe his faith?--and the contradictions and trials of faith that modern members of the LDS Church have to deal with. What's less clear, and perhaps this is part of his point, is whether Wirkus has a conclusion. To boot, the book is as much a look at the creative life, at writers, and at the conflict between pursuing one's passion and pursuing a solid and stable career, and I'm not sure if it's an ancillary theme, or intentionally woven in with the religious themes.

Whatever the intent, Wirkus tells compelling and interesting stories, each one worthy on its own. I was often reminded of a quote from Orson Scott Card when responding to a question about where he finds story ideas: "Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any." Wirkus is capturing a few more than the five or six that a good writer finds. He just can't settle on any one particular story. He wants to tell them all, and he wants to weave into all of them the same narrative.

And then, with all those great stories, Wirkus suddenly spins to a narrative denouement and drops the whole thing mid-beat, ending the story, the novel, the whole thing, in the middle of a story. It's a bit unnerving and unexpected (I was listening to it--it's a great audiobook), and I went back and checked three times that I hadn't accidentally missed something. But no, it had ended unexpectedly and somewhat unsatisfyingly.

Maybe this is the whole point, to leave the reader with a sense of the incomplete nature of many of life's questions. I don't know. I am still unsure what to think, but maybe that's what metafiction is all about, right? show less

What a strange book. I guess the moral of the story is that a Mormon will find meaning and inspiration in the wackiest story. I don't mind replacing Jesus with a space pirate, actually. I think it would make the bible more engaging.

This going to remain a DNF for now. There are subplots that go nowhere, completely unneeded 20 page diversions to supporting character's backstories, and the formatting simply wasn't working for me. It's unfortunate because the sci-fi ideas presented are interesting, but the format simply wasn't working. Perhaps I'll pick it up again in a year or so and see how it fares then.