Sophomoric Philosophy

by Victor David Giron, R.A. Miller (Editor), Karolina Faber (Illustrator)

"Victor knows small towns, and definitely knows drugs and chicks. He also knows what we listened to, watched and read in the eighties and nineties, adding a layer of time and place that is both uniquely Chicagoland and full of pop culture awareness. All of this is done with wit and nuance, but what allows Victor and this novel to transcend, and expand, on the genre is the exploration of the immigrant experience, and frankly the sense that this is where literature is heading..." - Ben Tanzer, Chicago author of "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" and others."Even Accountants Need This Gen X Mexican American college grad tackles the prickly world of easy assimilation in Chicago. He, bookish, shy, athletically ok, but caught between the old world of the family and the nerve wracking skirt chasing he is obsessed with, He's on a quest for meaning, what ever the fuck that might be. This book is perfect for soul searchers and girls that want them to man up. Decent foray into the world of ‘I don’t know if I can take this job anymore but can’t give up the money either.’ Does he get anything he wants? Or does he want it because it’s there?” - Paul Hasegawa Overacker (Paul HO), Co-Owner/Director/Producer of Filmlike Films, Producer/Director of GalleryBeat Media"It seems easy to abandon one's dreams for security. "Sophomoric Philosophy" is a novel of the life of one Alejandro Lopez, an artist who abandoned his art to become an accountant. As midlife approaches, he reflects on his choices that led him down this route, and the possibility of pursing the dreams and choices he left behind. "Sophomoric Philosophy" is a thoughtful read that will resonate strongly with many readers, highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review"The book is essentially the fictionalized autobiography of Alex Lopez, an accidental 30-something year old accountant who looks back on his teenage years as possibly the best years of his life. Giron practically wrote me into a 1990's coma with all his references to the music and fashion statements of those times. Bands like R.E.M., The Cure, Front 242, Ministry, and The Pixies who were forced to give way to grunge rock trend setters like Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana.. Horrid clothing like Z.Cavaricci's and french cuffed jeans giving way to the open flannel shirts, baggy jeans, and converse sneakers. It was like he had somehow been spying on me during my high school years. He was speaking about my generation! Those were my memories he was writing about..!" - The Next Best Book Club

Genres: Fiction

408 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 16, 2010

About the author

I'm the son of immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and now live in Chicago. I'm a dad first, accountant second, and writer third. My short work has appeared in Rougarou, Umbrella Factory Magazine, Jersey Devil Press, Diverse Voices Quarterly, ZaftigZen, The Logan Square Literary Review, Chicago Parent Magazine, and others.

I started Curbside Splendor Publishing in late 2009 to publish my first novel Sophomoric Philosophy (Nov 2010). Sophomoric Philosophy is a coming-of-age story featuring Alejandro ("Alex") Lopez, a 30-something Mexican-American accountant living in contemporary Chicago. If you listen to any best of 80s Hair Metal band albums and watch the movie Dazed and Confused, you'll get the idea.

Curbside now publishes stories and poems online, and makes books. We present a bi-monthly reading series at Beauty Bar Chicago (occurring the second Sunday of every other month).

Visit us at www.curbsidesplendor.com.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

From author
Read 4/28/11 - 5/10/11
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended
Pgs:396

Sophomoric Philosophy is a highly deceiving little novel. The title and design reminds you of something you might find on the cover of a college textbook, doesn't it?

Funny story... During the Little League Opening Day Ceremony, I stood out in the field holding this book, watching my kids getting their team photos taken and I was asked by the photographer what I was reading. Holding the book out to her, I said "Sophomoric Philosophy". She nodded and said, "Are you a student, then?", and I said, "Uhm...no. It's independent literary fiction." - I suppose you had to be there....

Though it is fictional, it very much reads like non-fiction, and for good reason, as it draws heavily on author Victor David Giron's actual life experiences. Giron wanted to write about the things he knew best - being a first generation Mexican-American growing up in Chicago surrounded and influenced by the music, movie, and drug trends of the 80's and 90's - without being held strictly to the facts. (Which is similar to the way Jessica Anya Blau and Michael Kimball approached their latest novels, Drinking Closer to Home and Us, respectively.)

The book is essentially the fictionalized autobiography of Alex Lopez, an accidental 30-something year old accountant who looks back on his teenage years as possibly the best years of his life. He tells his life story out of order, in a series of short chapters as the moods or memories hit him, pondering deep and meaningful things that he feels childish speaking out loud about now - things like God and religion, the universe, life and death.

He reminisces over all the lost loves and missed opportunities he's had, dissecting specific moments from his past over and over again from different angles. He is a constant worrier and noticeably sweats when he get nervous. He is awkward and honest and painfully complicated when he doesn't need to be. He is hyper-aware of his inability to fit in socially and hides from it under the cover of some really awesome music.

Giron practically wrote me into a 1990's coma with all his references to the music and fashion statements of those times. Bands like R.E.M., The Cure, Front 242, Ministry, and The Pixies who were forced to give way to grunge rock trend setters like Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana.. Horrid clothing like Z.Cavaricci's and french cuffed jeans giving way to the open flannel shirts, baggy jeans, and converse sneakers. It was like he had somehow been spying on me during my high school years. He was speaking about my generation! Those were my memories he was writing about..!

Filled with a lifetime worth of drug use, sex, partying, and havoc-wreaking, Sophomoric Philosophy is going to speak loudest to those of us who have reluctantly given up our 20's and firmly refuse to stare our rapidly approaching 40's in the eye. Giron is not afraid to make his narrator look like an asshole, openly admits his fear of making the first move on the fairer sex, and dispels the whole opposite-sex-being-friends myth by exposing it for what it really is.

What? You think I am going to give everything away? Do yourself a favor, my fellow GenXers, and purchase yourself a copy of this novel. While you are placing your order through it's publisher - Curbside Splendor - please check out a tiny excerpt and the books trailer on my blog : http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

Many many thanks to our good buddy Ben Tanzer, for turning my head and pointing it in the direction of this book and it's author. Many many thanks to it's author-slash-co-founder-of-Curbside-Publishing for making the review copy available to me.

[Ben]

Victor knows small towns and definitely knows drugs and chicks. He also knows what we listened to, watched and read in the eighties and nineties, adding a layer of time and place that is both uniquely Chicagoland and full of pop culture awareness. All of this is done with wit and nuance, but what allows Victor and this novel to transcend, and expand, on the genre is not only the exploration of the immigrant experience, specifically being first generation Americans navigating American culture, and frankly the sense that this is where literature is heading, because this is where the world is heading, but the idea that all of these kids are dropped into these small towns and even as they try to determine what their relationship will be to their parent's places of origin they still chase girls, take drugs and behave like total idiots. In essence like everyone else. Imagine.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad I read this book. There was a lot I could really relate to like trying to balance art/passion with security/reality, as well as, looking back idealistically on youth and the fun times/conversations that sometimes as adults, we don't have any more.

Now that I'm 30, (actually 18 with 12 years of experience), and almost all of my friends are married and starting their own families, I can totally relate to Alex when he says he doesn't want those things. I too want adventures, experiences, and philosophical discussions. I'm not saying having a family is a bad thing, it's not. I thoroughly enjoy being the 'fun' Aunt to my friend’s kids, but I'm also happy to give them back at the end of the weekend. I guess I really enjoy my free time a little too much.

I also really enjoyed Alex's commentary on music and Chicago being a great city. I now need to check out Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago

Finally, I really liked the textbook feel of the book, which was great with drawings for each chapter, and even though the book was fictional, it felt like I was reading a well done memoir. I really liked the stream of consciousness writing with precise details, as well as, Alex's self deprecating humor, which I found to be irresistibly wicked.

I think this will be one of those books I will find myself going back to from time to time, just to re-read my favorite passages while listening to the music he mentions throughout, which was a lot of fun too!

[Lavinia Ludlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review here:

http://plumbblogdotnet.wordpress.com/...

[Ayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! It tells the story of a man (Alex) struggling with the machine of his modern adult life as he fondly looks back at the excitement, future unknowns, and adolescent ideals of youth. This novel grabbed my attention from the first few chapters, and was a great read as it transitioned smoothly from past to present and back again on a number of relatable topics. Highly recommended, especially to those in their 30's looking to explore what the hell happened in their own lives over the past 15 years.

[Ellen Beals · Rating 5 out of 5]

This coming-of-age story is narrated by Alex who tells his story in an easy, casual and engaging voice. This book will appeal to many readers, especially Chicagoans and fans of rock and alternative music from 1980s and 1990s.

[Sara Molinaro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad writing, poor editing, spelling errors. Repetitive and way too much woe-is-me lamenting. One star given for the shared experience of growing up in the Chicago suburbs.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

I find myself with mixed emotions, now that I've finished Chicagoan Victor David Giron's literary debut, the lightly fictionalized memoir Sophomoric Philosophy; because on the one hand, it's an undeniably earnest and plaintive book that I very much wanted to like, all about a second-gen Mexican-American who's been pushed his whole life towards the bland middle-class financial-sector job he currently has, but who finds himself more and more dissatisfied with the lack of artistic and intellectual opportunities in his life, or indeed even peers who similarly feel like something is missing in the first place, a powerful source of existential angst that I imagine a lot of CCLaP's readers can relate to. But on the other hand, it's impossible to deny that this is a classic case of a self-published novel that reads much more like a blog, full of random observations and digressive reminisces that often go nowhere, so heavily peppered with highly specific pop-culture references that I sometimes lost track of what Giron's point even was; and as I've said before, while none of this is a problem when reading in small doses on a daily basis (and indeed, is a big reason why we love blogs in the first place), it can get awfully tiring awfully fast in the context of a full-sized bound book that one is trying to read 50 or 100 pages of in a single sitting. (And here's a tip, by the way, to other beginning writers in a similar situation -- that if the anecdote you're thinking of adding ends with everything falling apart at the last second, it's ultimately not going to be very interesting to random strangers, no matter how fascinating the details leading up to the failed climax.) And so that's why the book gets an only limited recommendation from me today, an author who is obviously in command of the basics of writing and who asks intriguing questions, but who now needs to work on the answers he comes up with, as well as the journey his characters take to find them.

Out of 10: 7.1

[Curbside Splendor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming-of-age, Mexican-American style. Dazed and confused meets High Fidelity meets Gone With the Wind, and a touch of The Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao.

"Victor knows small towns, and definitely knows drugs and chicks. He also knows what we listened to, watched and read in the eighties and nineties, adding a layer of time and place that is both uniquely Chicagoland and full of pop culture awareness. All of this is done with wit and nuance, but what allows Victor and this novel to transcend, and expand, on the genre is the exploration of the immigrant experience, specifically being first generation Americans navigating American culture, and frankly the sense that this is where literature is heading...” – Ben Tanzer, author of Lucky Man, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine, 99 Problems, Cool, Not Removed, and You Can Make Him Like You.

“Even Accountants Need Philosophy: This Gen X Mexican American college grad tackles the prickly world of easy assimilation in Chicago. He, bookish, shy, athletically ok, but caught between the old world of the family and the nerve wracking skirt chasing he is obsessed with, He's on a quest for meaning, what ever the fuck that might be. This book is perfect for soul searchers and girls that want them to man up. Decent foray into the world of ‘I don’t know if I can take this job anymore but can’t give up the money either.’ Does he get anything he wants? Or does he want it because it’s there?” - Paul Hasegawa Overacker (Paul HO), Co-Owner/Director/Producer of Filmlike Films, Producer/Director of GalleryBeat Media

"It seems easy to abandon one's dreams for security. "Sophomoric Philosophy" is a novel of the life of one Alejandro Lopez, an artist who abandoned his art to become an accountant. As midlife approaches, he reflects on his choices that led him down this route, and the possibility of pursing the dreams and choices he left behind. "Sophomoric Philosophy" is a thoughtful read that will resonate strongly with many readers, highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review

[Victor Giron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since this is my book, I love it, and I think it's a five. Instead of writing my own review, here's one from somoene I don't know and that was put up at Barnes & Noble dot come by Paul Hassegawa Overacker ("PaulH-O") who is film-maker and artist based out of New York. I love this review because I feel like it captures the essence of the book, although he only gives it a 4. Here it is:

"Even Accountants Need Philosophy:

This Gen X Mexican-American college grad tackles the prickly world of easy assimilation in Chicago. He, bookish, shy, athletically ok, but caught between the old world of the family and the nerve wracking skirt chasing he is obsessed with. He's on a quest for meaning, what ever the f**k that might be. This book is perfect for soul searchers and the women that want them to man up. Decent foray into the world of 'I don't know If I can take this job anymore but can't give up the money either'. Does he get anything he wants? Or does he want it because its there?"

- PaulH-O

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. It's so full of honesty, self deprecation, and humor that I couldn't put it down. Victor threads strong themes throughout the entire book which include balancing passions with his career and maintaining his Latin American heritage. The serious themes are often separated by humor as we look into the main character, Alex, struggles (and triumphs) with sex, drugs, alcohol, fear of commitment, infidelity and defining his own interests. These situations were written so realistically that I couldn't help but compare my own awkward younger years and laugh at the similarity

[Ray Charbonneau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a memoir of a not-particularly-interesting person, thinly disguised as fiction. But a well-written example thereof.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. I injoyed reading it.