UM Book Club: The King of Methlehem by Mark Lindquist - Part I
September 5, 2007 by Greg
Next Assignment
Pages: 62-119 / up to People Want the Truth
Due: Wednesday Sep 12th, Noon.
Part I
pages 1 - 62
Characters
- Howard Schulz - Meth Cook
- Wyatt James - Detective
- Martin - Initial tweaker narc
- Amber - Second tweaker narc
- Brandy - Howard’s current meth lab owner
- Suki - Wyatt’s girlfriend
- Mike Lawson - Prosecutor
Meth Vocab
A few points I’m noticing:
- Wyatt chases criminals with drug habits and sex trade occupations meanwhile enjoying a mild drug habit and cohabitating with a stripper.
- Seattle band dorkery is a recurring topic of conversation
- I get the suspicion Mark Lindquist is living out his fantasies through Mike Lawson and Wyatt James.
What’s jumping out at you so far?
I know someone with a Kitchen Aide Mixer… It’s real nice.
Lindquist goes way overboard on the music references. So much so i kept finding it jarring me out of the story as my mind ran over stray lyrics of the songs. Instead of adding to the story at all it tended to feel like the author was attempting to make this thing double as a movie/tv script with a soundtrack he had in mind.
definetly agree with you on the whole vicarious living idea. as for the “bad habits” of those who are enforcing the laws, eh, it’s contradictory enough to mirror real life. met more than my share of individuals who unquestionly deal with such discrepacies in their lives and not think twice.
I have to disagree just a bit on the music references, at least one of them; it was cool to hear the Raveonettes mentioned- just because I like them so much
One reference though that completely blew my mind considering the Urban Monarch Book Club connection: Haruki Murakami’s book being read by Suki! What a trip.. er.. so to speak.
I too felt the hypocracy of the cop smoking pot, but as Goat said, there’s little room for perfection in human nature overall, and police/politicians are no exception.
So far, Howard is the most fascinating character. I mean, as an entrepeneur, I admire his drive and dedication. Obviously, the product he’s peddling is poison, but at least he’s passionate about his work.
Goat, I’m agreeing on the frequent media mentions. I loved haruki murakami’s background music selections and movie mentions. I thought they flowed well and silently told another part of the story. However, I think Lindquist’s execution lacks subtlety. It feels like he’s just throwing random shit out there. I felt the same about the movie quotes and book mentions… just sort of fodder.
Not holding anything against the raveonettes…
Howard is definitely the most interesting character. He seems intelligent and present despite his obsession with meth. I also like the disposable nature of all of his connections.