ANNIE SALEM

by Mac Wellman ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 1996

Eccentric and appealing fiction from the prolific, Obie-winning Wellman. Part trenchant social commentary, part love story, part inscrutable sci-fi yarn, the novel reads a little like Goodbye, Columbus as rewritten by Kurt Vonnegut and Sherwood Anderson. Jack Scan has a talent for spotting odd events in and around Trebizond, a dilapidated town in northern Ohio, on the Erie Canal. Jack's cousin, Uncle Krebs, a crackpot who figures the locals have become thin from eating too much fishhead stew, is a typical Trebizond resident. Out in the woods by the Anger River, Jack stumbles on blue monkeys frolicking under the moon, resolves to get busy with his sweetheart, Annie Salem (""the subject of my story. . . the prettiest girl in town"") and begins to develop an obsession with the Ku Klux Klan. Jack and Annie are from different sides of the tracks--she rides horses, he drives old cars and runs down mailboxes--but that doesn't stop them from hooking up. Nor does their affection stop Jack from wandering a bit. He falls in briefly with Gaby, whom he meets while taking a business class (""She wanted to get an upscale job in order to continue her downscale nightlife""). Meanwhile, Jack develops a new fixation, this time on Mars and all things Martian. In the midst of Wellman's dense, comedic, and sometimes sentimental fugues on everything from schoolboy ties to junkyards, from ancient maps to the ways of errant Jewish tribes, the narrative gets lost. It doesn't seem to bother Wellman, though, who eventually transports Jack to Mars for a showdown with the KKK, then returns him to Annie's arms. (""I have always liked beginnings better than endings,"" Jack says, ""because I find them happier."") A wacky blend of fantasy, whimsy, and satire from an author who clearly knows what he's doing, even if almost no one else will.

Pub Date: April 4, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Sun & Moon

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION