Corey Mesler

I genuinely adored this poignant and creatively dazzling novel by Corey Mesler who takes head-on a major narrative challenge and elegantly succeeds with it. This novel is a paen to youth. This particular young peripatetic writer, Jack, is haunted by the ghost of San Francisco poet and novelist, Richard Brautigan, and the story line develops around this intriguing conceit. In a sense the creativity of Jack is inspired by his creative mentor and ultimately symbolizes the victory of creativity over death in Brautigan and the young man. They both are deeply engaged in an existential pursuit -- how can one live amid so much futility, inauthenticity and the mindblowing endgame of death? What is the meaning of life and wherein does its value reside? For them the pursuit involves immersion into the experience of life itself -- not merely surviving, but living life fully. The young man's earnest and possibly quixotic striving leads him from woman to woman in a quest for real love. For how can life be lived fully without earth shattering love? The existential quest also takes them on the road and readers will sense the literary connection to Kerouac as well as to Ferlinghetti and Farina in "FRB." Jack's Big Idea is simply to live and to avoid or trade-off inauthentic life, as much as possible, for living with meager pecuniary means in the Now. I admire the young man's sincerity and integrity in his dogged, imaginative pursuit of a meaningful existence. It's clealry not all fun and games and the ending is also poignant: it left me wondering where other travels would lead Jack down the Great American Highway of Existence. The comedy in the narrative, especially the Lone Ranger joke, by his well-named brother, Lark, left me laughing out loud repeatedly. Initially, as the story is narrated in the first-person singular, I was concerned that the narrative would become overly self-indulgent. But wisely the author backs away from the creative dangers manifest in a first-person narrative style and focused on his ghostly foil, a daunting proposition which the author manages to pull off authentically. I was much impressed by Mesler's way with words and his daunting vocabulary amid a highly accessible, narrative structure. I enjoyed the realism of the dialogue and the round nuances of the primary characters. I had to laugh as Jack tried so valiantly and dutifully to steer customers in his bookstore away from pervasive, best-selling, commercial pap into the truly great books by the geniuses whom he respected. One can sense the sentiment of the author for each of the women with whom Jack and Richard tarry. I felt as if I had received intellectually well beyond my investment in reading this pithy, wise and profound novel. I sincerely entreat you to read "Following Richard Brautigan" as the odds are high that you will see yourself as a youth in your personal existential quest on every page of this great, dense, big-hearted and welcoming novel.… (more)