Beemer: A Novel - Hardcover

Gaslin, Glenn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569473293 ISBN 13: 9781569473290

Publisher: Soho Press, 2003

Synopsis

"Sharp and entertaining . . . Beemer™ is a blisteringly funny satire on the acquisitive self, a welcome detour out of the mounting rubble of Terminators, Hulks and Living Histories into the dark heart of the American dream."—Chris Lehmann, Washington Post

"Gaslin’s scorching satire of consumerism hits like a mallet to the funny bone . . . A jolt of pure wicked fun."––Boston Herald

"Beemer™ is the genuine article; a novel of ideas and comedy . . . what you’d get if Thomas Pynchon and Mark Leyner had somehow been joined at the head." —St. Petersburg Times

"Giddy, gaudy, inventive, slapdash satire. Loads of fun, often over-the-top, yet in its way as simple and earnest as On the Road."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Gaslin is officially pledging the fraternity of J.G. Ballard and Chuck Palahniuk, and he’s certainly earning his letters . . . A blitzkrieg of sharp, unpredictable consumer satire."––Seattle Weekly

At twenty-five, living (and working) in your Honda Civic may seem like a dead end. But Beemer Minutia intends to make it very big very fast, turning his name into a cash magnet––a trademark splashed across billboards around the globe: Beemer™.

His four-wheeled home is parked in Orange County, Calif., where the constant sun casts an "exclusive preview" glow on the strange mallscape rising out of the desert around him. The taco stands look like food courts, the gas stations look like movie theaters, and the movie theaters look like small cities whose streets are paved with golden possibilities. "Goddammit," Beemer cries, "I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t live in a America."

Glenn Gaslin has worked in fast food and newspapers. This is his first novel. His journalism has appeared in Slate, Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Southern California (where else?).
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

About the Author

Glenn Gaslin is co-author of The Complete Cross-Referenced Guide to the Baby Buster Generation’s Collective Unconscious. He lives in southern California (where else?).

From Publishers Weekly

Beemer Minutia, a 25-year-old Southern California drifter, has already lived in 15 different cities at the start of this breezy debut novel, a paean to consumerism. Currently, Beemer lives out of his Honda Civic, sustaining himself with makeshift meals from the 7-Eleven, and moves from strip mall to parking lot in search of his big break. Reared in the '80s by two detached parents ("Reagan watched over us, and Atari kept us busy"), he entertains visions of his name mass-marketed on everything from "motion pictures to action figures." His more immediate, practical future, however, involves a decision to move in with his feisty, power-obsessed girlfriend, Paulina ("Paul") and her family in "Regularland." Beemer scores entry-level work at an advertising firm, and his creativity is rewarded with a promotion to more high-profile assignments on another floor of the building (accessed via an otherworldly porthole in the men's room). Random explosions mark the first in a series of random anti-consumerist attacks, and Paul flees the drama to tour with Eunuch Town, the boy band she manages, leaving our dejected hero alone at the mercy of Paul's Uzi-toting mother and computer-whiz brother. Is there any hope for L.A.'s laziest slacker? Worldwide success for Eunuch Town and a surrealistic long-term project for Beemer seem to point toward pseudohappiness. Gaslin's story meanders along at a comfortable clip, though the plot has a tendency to detour into chatty psychobabble. A behind-the-scenes sequence at a fast food restaurant and Beemer's unique marketing campaign for "Death" are both clever and insightful, demonstrating Gaslin's potential for greater things. But like Beemer's sugary soda habit, this novel's empty calories supply a modest rush but little else. Coupland does it better.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1569473293
• ISBN 13: 9781569473290
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288