Glenn Gaslin's first novel, Beemer (TM) is a fresh, though perhaps too non-confrontational exploration of the media cultural landscape seeping into our collective mindscapes. The novel centers on the title character, a Mountain Dew-addicted vagabond media-consultant who lives in his car and advises corporations on the advertising potential of video games. Led by his ambitious girlfriend, Paul (manager of the ultimate upcoming non-threatening boy band, a quintet of neutered pop sensations called Eunuch Town), Beemer gives up his life on the outskirts of America and makes the transition into "Regularland" aka Irvine, California. He lives in the basement of his girlfriend's parents' house and lands a job with a mysterious ad agency, which may or may not control the future events of America.
Stylistically, the novel is witty, fresh, and swims effortlessly through an ocean of pop references and corporate logos, a tactic which the author uses to the highest effect. Gaslin presents a society which has forgone religion, art, and community for the lure of popular culture in a far less damning fashion than Bret Easton Ellis and certainly in a way far more relevant and accessible than Don DeLillo could ever hope for.
Stylistically, the novel is witty, fresh, and swims effortlessly through an ocean of pop references and corporate logos, a tactic which the author uses to the highest effect. Gaslin presents a society which has forgone religion, art, and community for the lure of popular culture in a far less damning fashion than Bret Easton Ellis and certainly in a way far more relevant and accessible than Don DeLillo could ever hope for.
The first 80% or so of Beemer(TM) had me excited for a new perspective on this new society, however the last part of the novel becomes bogged down in a surreal poetryscape. The final few chapters of Beemer(TM) leaves nearly every story line unfulfilled and seems interested less in any literary exploration than in desperately trying to avoid saying anything. It's sad that there is such a stigma for writers to avoid being moralists that a "grey" ending is sometimes pursued against the grain of a story's soul. With an evolving technological and capitalist world flirting with genetic manipulation and nanotechnology, we are in need of artists who are able to reflect something more layered than blank check neophobia-Beemer(TM) hints at, but ultimately shies away from this.
Beemer(TM) is certainly a work due some attention and proves Gaslin a more than compelling storyteller, however it leaves the reader thirsty for a final punch of literary flavor that never arrives. If nothing else, Beemer(TM) nominates Gaslin as an eligible spokesmodel for the views of the Nintendo generation, we'll just have to wait and see if, with a future work, he will be willing to take the pulpit.
Beemer(TM) is certainly a work due some attention and proves Gaslin a more than compelling storyteller, however it leaves the reader thirsty for a final punch of literary flavor that never arrives. If nothing else, Beemer(TM) nominates Gaslin as an eligible spokesmodel for the views of the Nintendo generation, we'll just have to wait and see if, with a future work, he will be willing to take the pulpit.
