The Subject Steve

I read this because reviews of The Ask were so good, and I found it for a dollar. The NYTimes says it's a book "about morality." The San Fran Chronicle says it is "satire with a capital 'S'". Reviewers on goodreads mention Lipsyte's love of language.

Well, I guess that's all partially true of parts of the book. But not really. It's all kind of generic, in fact. The language is the same tired 'acidic prose' cooked up in writing workshops all over the world. You know the stuff. Intentional repetitions, sentences without verbs, concrete objects. There are some good sentences, but only one good paragraph (pp 187-8), and even that's really just a collection of good sentences. The satire is generally of the weakest kind. Only rarely does Sam show more point out the absurdity of what exists by presenting it in objective terms, and when he does, it's hilarious:

"The Subject Steve (TM) is a revolutionary media space that binds together the most innovative elements of gaming, spectacle, democracy, and commerce."

or

"You're a good man," I said. "I don't know about that," said Warren. "I feel more like a boy. Everybody my age does. it's like we're all trying to come to terms with a moment that won't quite reveal itself, and here we are, devoid of a context within which to situate ourselves--"

It's probably funnier in context, and I'm slightly worried that Warren is meant to be saying something true and deep, rather than being a vehicle for the mockery of people who take themselves to be saying something true and deep, i.e., all postmodern theorists.

More generally, though, Sam just exaggerates wildly some already idiotic features of our world, a la Pynchon, but it doesn't really work here. This tendency is particularly awful during the first 40 pages. The book gets a bit better after that, but it's very uneven. Other reviewers suggest that 'The Ask' and 'Homeland' are much better, and I'm encouraged enough by the things that get mocked here (new age 'religion'; capitalism in general; postmodernism; obsessive democracy), and the suspicion that in those novels at least he may actually write about morality, to think I'll read his later books. show less

Reading some of the more graphic passages pertaining to incest in this trippy novel, I honestly started to worry about Sam Lipsyte. Hilarious in parts, but other passages reminded me of The Third Policeman by both taking forever and whizzing around at break-neck speed. In all, a little too weird for my tastes.

Although Sam Lipsyte's talent is well on display here, the last third of the book was a struggle to get through. The long-winded monologues and conversations of the characters, though funny in effect and theory, became incredibly tedious and boring about half way through the book. I also felt that rather than each character having his or her own voice, they all spoke in the same voice and therefore were incredibly difficult to keep track of.
It was a very clever idea, but not terribly well executed. After having read Home Land and really enjoying it, I was disappointed with The Subject Steve.

Great writing, imagery, sentence structure, humor. Plot is somewhat episodic. Some gratuitous sex and violence seem to be included for shock value. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see the writing and thought process and voice that eventually comes together in the great novel, The Ask.

I'm just not really alright with satire. It bores me.