As it happens, YHB was in the middle of reading Coyote when I noticed Ian Frazier’s collection Coyote v. Acme on the shelf in the children’s room of the local library. Now, CvA happens to have in it, in addition to the title essay, which only seems as if it might be aimed at children, one of my favorite Frazier bits, “The Frankest Interview Yet”. The funny thing about this is how it is simultaneously extraordinarily raunchy and strangely formal. “We discovered a mutual pursuit that gave us enormous pleasure: screwing our heads off.” In fact, it begins “I was having sex. I had had sex previously, found that I enjoyed it, and so was having it again. With a sexual partner, I screwed all over the floor.”
Now, Gentle Reader, you may or may not agree that this is funny stuff. I like it, but people are different one to another (and that’s what makes the world interesting and fun). Still, I think we can agree that the book was mis-shelved. The librarians of my small town did not intend for ten-year-olds to read “The Frankest Interview Yet”. The book itself, is slim and has a cover that could well be appropriate for a children’s book. But, you know, no. So I picked it up off the shelf, intending to just bring it to the librarians’ attention, but as sometimes happens, once in my hand I started leafing through it, just to see which ones were in it, and I wound up taking it home and finishing it.
On the whole, I agree with myself, when I said “his stuff is brilliant, but better to read one a week or so, rather than twenty-five in three days.” In fact, this collection is weaker than Dating Your Mom, not because it has more duds, but because more of the not-duds are just okay. The title essay and Frankest are the highlights, by me, but neither is as sublimely brilliant as Bob’s Bob House. The essays were funny, but they weren’t go-and-get-someone-and-tell-them-about-it funny. They weren’t even save-for-a-story-reading funny.
Now the question is when I return it, whether I should tell them not to put it back in the children’s section, or just wait and see what they do.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
I actually think large chunks of “Coyote v. Acme” are run-and-tell-someone-about-it funny, but one must bear in mind that conceptual humor pushes my buttons pretty darn precisely.