online novel book review

8/14/2019 Online Novel Book Review

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Note: This is a book review of an online novel.

Tom Drake: Consumer Anti-Hero

Very rarely does a writer capture both a character's emotional depths

and the culture thatproduced them. Seth K. succeeds at both. Hesucceeds at drawing a realistic portrait of our celebrity-addled cultureand conjuring a remarkable representative for that culture.

When I first read the novel, the beauty of the language carried meaway. Ironically, this very language is being contested within the WFGforums; see Eli's criticism. But to me, Seth has an incredibly light handat prose, his paragraphs flow seamlessly from one into the other, and Iadmire the sharp observations and consistent voice.

But quality of writing aside, what drives a good story is often a good

idea. What we love about Anna Karenina or 100 Years of Solitude orFahrenheit 451 is the vision--the potential space it offers ourimagination.

The Tom Drake Experience takes a couple dominant themes in ourcontemporary culture and explores them through the rampant desiresand addictions of a single character. Self-image is everything to TomDrake. Fashion is his narcotic and his ego is as gigantic as it ispathetically small. We read"power swelled within Tom after everypurchase." We read, "I'm never satisfied. I'm the eternal consumer."

In TDE we have the intersection of image, self-improvement,capitalism, consumerism, fashion, corporate life, and manhood. Theauthor adroitly weaves these strands into what is--on the surface--asimplistic story.

Tom Drake is a bachelor who resigns from his low-paying job to accepta position in so-called Corporate America. He has an immense love of fashion, and in the beginning we don't understand the full implicationsof this talisman.

Fashion is the pivot point around which novel's entire representation of

culture and individual revolves. Why fashion? When you think aboutit, fashion is the perfect symbol for our times. Fashion combinesindividualism, self-image, identity and consumerism into one idea.

As the novel progresses, we learn a little more about Tom's past, whichthrows his present self and situation into relief. The scenes alternatebetween the uncoolTom of the past and the fashion savvy Tom of thepresent. The author must walk a fine line in describing Tom in the

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http://escapeintolife.com/



present, and here is where some reviewers, I believe, are mis-readingthe pathos of the novel.

The first reviewer, Grace McDermott, missed the second level of meaning entirely. And it's easy to do, so I'm not blaming her. As a

text, TDEis vulnerable to Grace's cursory reading of the novel as theglib portrayal of a shallow, superficial Tom.

What I'm saying is--there is another level to this writing.

I can even see why Grace interpreted the novel the way she did. TomDrake is cocky, self-obsessed, and typically male; and the prose teeterson the misogynistic, which to a female, I could imagine is disarming.But this reading of the novel overlooks the fact that Tom relies on hisexpanding wardrobe to provide himself with security and confidence--especially in the highly competitive world he's about to enter. He is

intoxicated by his delusions of grandeur and when they wear off he's just as miserable.

The second reviewer, Chris P., gave the novel a higher rating. Havingdiscovered the element of Tom Drake's self-hatred, Chris argued thatthere was depth to the main character and thus the narrative was aneffective one. I agree. However, TDEis more than a good characterstudy. Yes, it presents a full, three-dimensional character with seriousinner conflict and real emotions, but it reveals something else too,something about our culture and us.

Now before I move on to my thesis; let me discuss the latest review of TDEby Eli James. Eli writes, "But Tom’s view is also vastly under-utilized. Let us ask ourselves simple questions: what does Tom workas? Is Lexi his wife? If she is (and I believe the writer says she is), thenwhy are vast swathes of their shared lives together not explained tous?"

Tom is a corporate slave; he probably works in an investment firm.Lexiis his friend and confidant. Ginger is the woman he falls in lovewith. These seem like such basic questions to me; I'm forced towonder why Eli gets tripped up here.

As much as I love to read Eli's writing (I'm a huge fan of Novelr), I don'treally think he gives a thorough critique of the novel itself. Hisstrongest point is his attack on the style of the novel, which he arguesis forced, awkward, too "careful" and lacking "creative heat". Toconvince us of his point, he takes us through an interesting discussionof what a Steinbeck Statement is. He says that TDEis full of these sortsof literary general statements. He interprets the tone, then, as false.



He also interprets the character as "repulsive" and false. Which is tosay, Eli falls into the same trap as Grace.

The narrator is purposely ambiguous as to what Tom's goal is. Weknow he wants to be a "superstar" and have "hot chicks" but that is

hardly a worthwhile explanation for a character that I believe is acontemporary archetype.

Tom Drake has adopted a persona. He has internalized the projectedideals of a society, society's "standard of perfection". The countlessreferences to exact types of clothing, the brands, and the realisticdescription of them demonstrateone irreducible fact: Tom Drake istrying to create a perfect self through material objects.

In a capitalist culture, consumer objects are of the highest value. TomDrake has his sights fixed on the holy grail of consumerism, the most

expensive brands, the top name labels, the independent designers;this is the cream of capitalism, Ladies and Gentleman.

Now if only Tom Drake can clothe himself in these rich robes then--andonly then--will he become "more than a man."

What does that mean? What does it mean to become more than aman?

If you think it means nothing, then you're absolutely right. It's anutterly meaningless statement. Because to be "more than a man" is to

be no man at all. It is to be some monster of perfection. Someunhuman being.

This novel is a rare event. Read it and then think about itsimplications. Don't be swayed by the reviewers who only see thesurface; the surface is misleading.

CRA

online novel book review

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