Tibor Fischer

Midlife crisis? Gatwicklungsroman? Picaresque?

Not really sure how to classify this one. There's no real character-development, though there is nostalgia and some peripheral soul-searching. Many things happen, but there is no plot to speak of.

As always, Tibor Fischer's writing is entertaining and engaging, a healthy bit of British wordplay garnishing every page.

The fish-out-of-water story about a Londoner transplanted to Miami quickly settles into an episodic narrative of a guy who has turned out to be surprisingly good at not really doing anything. There's an attempt to create a philosophy out of this: the guy fails when he tries, but succeeds when he doesn't try, and his religious message to the masses is "don't expect a reward".

I feel that more could have done with this, both from a narrative standpoint and from a "what the hell, let's make an anti-Dianetics and see if anyone bites" standpoint. That would have made for a novel easier to recommend, but probably less enjoyable -- and certainly suffering from the hypocrisy that proselytizing the First Church of Slackerdom would entail. A truly do-nothing, expect-nothing ethos could only result in the novel we are given.

So why not? Three stars, then.… (more)