I met a friend for coffee this morning — a friend that also happens to like writing — and like we usually do, we talked about the idea of starting a writing group and getting out of our own way when it comes to … writing.
I did a lot of creative writing as a kid, but somewhere along the way, I stopped. Not for lack of desire, more for lack of time. Then that became the excuse. Now that I could likely find the time, the task seems daunting. Especially when I find myself eyeballs deep into a 900-page book and am easily intimidated at the thought of writing something comparable.
So when talking about it today, I was reminded that just in the last few weeks, I’ve read at last two novels that aren’t that sweeping of sagas — both centered on a single day in the lives of the characters. And both as engaging a read as any Franzen-sized book.
Such is the case with “The Material” by Camille Bordas. A single day in the lives of wannabe/student standup artists and their faculty at a local university in Chicago, Bordas takes readers deep into their individual and very complicated psyches. And we’re reminded that everyone has some kind of pain integrated into their origin story. Some are just better at mining it for the humor.
There’s Artie, who is considered by his friends too be too pretty for standup. He’ll try all the sure-fire tricks of standup before he ever leans into the storytelling goldmine that is his wayward brother.
Artie’s secret crush is Olivia, a classmate trying to avoid talking about her twin sister and the stepdad she wants to forget and her sister wants to sue. Then there’s Kruger, a B- or maybe even C-list comedian that has had some success but is still just outside the comedic circle of fame. He’s still trying to earn his father’s love, and his father just wants him to be able to shoot a gun.
On faculty with Kruger is Dorothy, another longtime comedienne gearing up for a comeback and more than a little excited that an old friend is headed to town — Manny, a very popular comic in the throes of a Louis CK-ish controversy. Is a teaching appointment the thing that gives Manny a second chance to reconnect with his adult son?
It’s all drama in this peek into the lives of funny people. Bordas does a splendid job of shining a spotlight on a small group of artists that individually are trying to make it happen and finding some solace in each other along the way. Missteps, misfortune and mayhem are the plot points on which this story twists and turns from early morning to a very late night.
Trigger warning for anyone who can’t do anxiety reads at the moment — these characters are anxiety personified. But if you are in the mood for complicated and take comfort in fiction that makes anything you are dealing with seem easy in comparison, then this is the book for you.
LitzyDitz 
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