Don't miss the fun!
You could read Godawful Dreams--Two Tales of Academic Scandal simply as two novellas of academic politics.
But if you did, you'd be missing the fun!
You can find plot summaries elsewhere. But the real point here is not the plot. It's the fun.
Start with delight. Because this is a book for those who truly delight in the written word. In this book, a building doesn't just get "old." A building "suffers from premature creakery." A character is a "rapscallion." And descriptions like "a female sociopath in possession of verbal stilettos," abound.
Language lovers will savor the wordplay of an author who is having fun. So much so, that he wants you to have fun too.
I began my trek through the world created in these two tales with a pen. Marking phrases, characters or dilemmas that sparked a smile a chuckle or a nod of recognition. But after not too many pages at all, I gave that up. I was having too much fun just reading. The book is chock full of tongue in cheek literary humor. Phones don't just ring. Instead, bells toll. As somewhere far away Hemingway chuckles in approval.
But the delight is not simply in the written word. Here you will find the fun in literature as part of the greater world. In this book there is even a moment where "Wallace Stevens might say that the elements have a mind of their own. (Speaking figuratively of course.)" Yes, you have to think about that for a moment. But the wisdom of your author even makes that fun.
The path for fun through this book, leads through backstabbing, an obscene poem and even murder. But somehow even that's fun. This most interesting sentence giving all us readers insight as to why all this bad stuff totally works at keeping the fun going. "It was as though every human disappointment and loss had occurred only so that they might be written of in books."
The fun here comes with substance. Like when a character comments on coming across "at least five impresarios who specialize in meetings and lectures of moral uplift. The great US of A is filled with these God-bothering types."
And a bit later, this key point, "One of the most dispiriting things of modern life is the constant need to turn august things into something like pals or buddies. This can even happen to God, who is all that is holy and loving and not some best friend . . ."
The book is set in academia. But it is an incredibly inclusive story for all of us. Everybody wants to have fun.
The quiet, yet obviously strong affection of the author has for the academy comes across like an invitation for everyone to come inside. "Take a look," he's saying. Isn't this silly? But it's also true. It's real. It matters.
All good stories lead to unexpected, even individual paths. That's part of the fun! Somehow this book led me to, of all places, the Protestant theology of Yoder, Barth and Hauerwas. Their work echoes with the phrase "Let the church be the church." Don't try to make the institution something it is not.
And in Tom McBride's great new book, Godawful Dreams, I kept hearing, in my head, a similar phrase. "Let the academy be the academy!" Read the book and you'll hear it too. The Professor standing at the door of the academy, motioning to all who care to listen, "Welcome! C'mon inside and take a look! You'll find a place that has so much value in the world at large. A strange but true place deserving of a smile. C'mon inside. You'll find fun!"