Letters to Wendy's - Softcover

Wenderoth, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0970367201 ISBN 13: 9780970367204

Publisher: Wave Books, 2004

Synopsis

Letters to Wendy’s is an outrageous, tragic, genre-bending novel written over the course of a year on comment cards from the fast-food chain restaurant Wendy’s. Through the letters, the book traces a year in the life and thoughts of an unnamed narrator obsessed not only by Biggies and Frosties, but also by consumerism, pornography, and mortality.

About this title

About the Author

Joe Wenderoth grew up near Baltimore. He is the author of five books of prose and poetry, including Letters to Wendy's (Verse Press, 2000). He teaches at the University of California, Davis.

Reviews

What kind of person is inspired by a fast-food restaurant? If this new book is any indication, it's one who is by turns worshipful, disturbing and just plain weird. Conceived as a series of comment cards to a local Wendy's, this unconventional fiction chronicles the life (or lack thereof) of an unnamed narrator who spends his days drinking oversize sodas and contemplating the meaning of the fast-food icon. In his more lucid moments, the narrator imagines Wendy's as a cradle-to-grave institution, supplying IV nourishment for a person's last days in the form of "liquid fries." He also posits that Wendy's would serve well as a site for state-sponsored executions, providing both the correct quality of light and an abundance of refreshments. He's just as likely, however, to devolve into soft-porn daydreams involving the counter help and prepackaged foods. About the narrator himself, we learn very littleAno name, no profession, no home address: just an Everyman as fast-food customer. In its best moments, the book delivers some insights into the social mores of people thrown together in a public place of business, people who share the same space and general eating habits but are unwilling to share much else. In short snippets, the narrative can be intriguing; excerpts have appeared on the Web site Nerve.com. But there's no plot to speak of, and spending time with this voyeuristic stranger quickly grows both creepy and tedious. (Dec. 15) FYI: Letters to Wendy's is Verse Press's debut publication. The press will devote itself to releasing innovative works in all genres by poets (Wenderoth is the author of two poetry collections, Disfortune and It Is if I Speak).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

July 6, 1996

I was so high on Sudafed and whiskey today that I couldn t eat. I got a Coke actually five Cokes, as I could refill for free. It s times like this dehydrated, exhausted, unable to imagine home that your plastic seats, your quiet understandable room, set beside but not quite overlooking the source of real value, offer me a tragedy small enough to want to endure.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wave Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0970367201
• ISBN 13: 9780970367204
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296