The Graduate Student

by James Polster

When anthropology graduate student Blackwell James returns from a research expedition in the Amazon, he brings home a trunk full of rare hallucinogenic vines…but no research notes. Frustrated by the young man’s lack of progress on his dissertation, Blackwell’s professor finds him a job working on a primate experiment in Los Angeles to spur him along. Trouble is, Blackwell has never set foot in L.A., and he doesn’t know a whit about primates. In fact, for a guy like Blackwell James, venturing into the City of Angels soon proves to be more dangerous than the Amazon ever was. From the moment he is thrust into the bizarre culture of Hollywood, his life becomes a wild, high-octane tale of adventure, suspense, and intrigue. Caught up in the secret ambitions of his new employers, Blackwell begins a strange trip through the surreal world of movie stars, murder, and money. A secret society, a ghost town, two large chimpanzees, and several shamanistic drug-induced journeys round out this outrageous novel, which features “cameos” by Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Depp, and Steven Spielberg. Gleefully continuing the great literary tradition of comic Hollywood novels, The Graduate Student is an exuberant and riveting ride.

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2011

Reviews

[Tim Roast · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read James Polster's "Brown" before this. That was good, this did not disappoint. The book follows lead character Blackwell James as he tries to complete his studies but it isn't a boring book about someone attending lectures where they are taught uncomprehensible academic waffle. Instead Blackwell gets mixed up in the Hollywood movie business and a whole madcap adventure unfolds around him.

The book is split into three distinct parts (each begins from chapter 1), a beginning, middle and end. The beginning part was a little slow perhaps, the middle was a forest drug-fuelled adventure and part three brought the novel to a thrilling climax.

Compared with the previous Polster novel I read this book is a more serious novel with less emphasis on the humour, although it still has fun, quirky elements, and the storyline is probably better and less far-fetched.

[Libby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah - wasn't even interesting enough to keep reading.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my type of read

An interesting fable, but not really my cup of tea. It is very well written however, and as a black comedy, it has both in spades

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Graduate Student was my first introduction to writer James Polster, so I was uncertain of what to expect. What I discovered was a fun, fast-paced, enjoyable, albeit convoluted, story. The novel begins with anthropology student Blackwell James (can you tell Polster works in Hollywood?) returning from the Amazon jungle, where he briefly studied and lived with the tribes. Instead of returning to his New England school with copious field notes, James humps a crate containing a mysterious jungle vine, known to produce hallucinogenic effects when brewed. Knowing this snafu will likely cost him the ability to obtain his degree, James begrudgingly accepts a job in Los Angeles, arranged by his professor, to work on a secret project involving primates -- so long as he brings his precious jungle vines with him. Hmm.

Once in Los Angeles, however, things start to become a little ... weird. The naive anthropology student is derailed from his original work plans, and is suddenly swept up in the Hollywood scene, working for a studio producer, hobnobbing with celebs, all the while still trying to figure out exactly what he's supposed to do on the primate project, and why his jungle vines were needed. Blackwell eventually finds himself mixed up with some less-than-credible individuals, and is uncertain if he will even make it out of the L.A. jungle alive.

Is The Graduate Student likely to win any major literary praise or awards? Probably not. But Polster's writing is fun, even if the story reads like a Michael Bay film script. Polster's Hollywood experience is quite evident in the narrative structure, so expect short, snappy dialogue, quick-paced action sequences, stock characters, and an all-too-familiar story arc. Still, if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to follow the character's bizarre journey, you'll find an enjoyable, fast read, perfect for a long plane ride or trip to the beach.

[Sofya Dolinko · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so confused, what the heck was this book about.....

So here is my attempt to summarize what I just spent months reading (I lost interest in the middle, and stopped reading it. but then for some reason unknown to me still, decided to finish it... what a waste of time)
***spoiler***
A slacker (Blackwell) who is the oldest graduate student known to mankind, comes back from jungle with a stash of special kind of roots. That this tribe used to get super high and have crazy sex. He goes to Hollywood to work on a project that involved chimps, robotics and screen plays/politics of Hollywood (still makes no sense to me). One thing leads to other he gets into mind of a crazy dude, witnesses something he wasn't supposed to know about. Dude goes all crazy and as a revenge goes into Blackwell's mind to screw around there, but not too fast Blackwell tricks him out of his mind!? Then dude and his wife, who is not really his wife, try to kill Blackwell by using chimps and instead get their heads bitten off; because duh! Chimps never liked them and had special warm feelings towards Blackwell.
Blackwell goes missing in the jungle, the end.
Confused?
Me too!

Good luck with this one, if you decide to read it.

[Laura Hassebrock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out relatively well but was disappointing in the end. Blackwell James, an anthropology grad student, returns from the Amazon where he was living with and "studying" a tribe. Instead of returning with notes or anything valuable for his dissertation, he returns hallucinogenic roots that the tribe used regularly. Luckily his advisor doesn't seem to care much about notes either since he arranges for Blackwell to go to LA to work on project involving primates (bringing the roots, obviously).

At first, it's really interesting to read about his adaptations to life in LA (especially after being in the Amazon for so long), and on top of that he's not really sure what he's expected to be doing. Soon though, the narrative turns strange--involving Blackwell "entering another person's mind" using the hallucinogenic roots. I was more or less on board with the story until that part, and after that it just didn't make much sense. Obviously not all fiction needs to be realistic, but this story was very unbelievable and all in all not that entertaining.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I debated between 1 and 2 stars and decided since I only read till chapter 13 there is no way I could give it a 2. I did skim parts to the end and was glad I didn't bother to read it. I actually quite liked it until chapter 8 - it was interesting, fun, had some weird humor that I enjoyed. Then the drug trip - which I am glad that Polster did not attribute to ayahuasca because it would have been a hugely inaccurate portrayal.

The short chapters saved me until Chapter 8 - they were like vignettes and fun to roll around in. They were done before they felt like a chore to read. After that, even the short chapters didn't help.

The beginning was like enjoying a cult - the writeup of the book saying Polster's writing is similar to Vonnegut, and I'd add Tom Robbins, was accurate. Austin Powers, Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Vonnegut and Robbins. There is something there. This book had strains of it but couldn't keep it.

I won't likely read his others.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light-hearted romp that starts in the Amazon Rain forest, meanders up to New England and then spends a lot of time in Hollywood. A bit of a thriller, a touch of adventure, all mixed up with too much money to spend and a Graduate Student who spent his PhD fieldwork year lounging in a hammock and enjoying some indigenous mind altering brew. It is this brew that is the thread on which the story hangs and instead of a stack of fieldwork notes, the graduate student brings back a trunk full of vines and roots from which said brew is made. In an attempt to rescue his PhD he is sent to Hollywood to assist in some research about which he knows nothing...

[Leigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was...painful. I received it as a gift and was concerned as soon as I looked at the back cover. The writing was painful and tried to hard. It broke all the rules about "show, don't tell". You could see the moments and sentences where the author though "Oh, hey, this is creative! Look what I did there! Isn't what I did there creative and hilarious?" This book is written in actual stream of consciousness - not the creative, well-edited versions of the iconic pieces of that style, but literal word-to-page/proof-read for typos only style. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you enjoy reading books that make you want to pull your hair out.

[Chrisj · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best parts of it reminded me of early Woody Allen (who makes an appearance in the book) and the film Being John Malkovitch. The ending and the involvement of the chimpanzees was rather disappointing. It seemed as if the topping and tailing of the book was just a way into what the author really wanted to write about.

[Andrew Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to a point, but after a while it becomes largely incoherent. It feels a bit like the author lost interest in the last third of the book. There are some funny parts, particularly early on, but in sum, it's not great.

[Drcognition · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable summer vacation book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but didn't quite get the ending. I don't want to give it away to those who have not read the book, but any insight would be appreciated!

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not love this book. started strong and grabbed my interest, but took a turn into weirdness and just didn't come back around.

[jobiwan6 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 and 1/2 stars? I was hoping for more about ayahuasca vine use than was here.

[Melissa Stringer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of buildup for a deus ex machina

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this book was like a glimpse into a drug addicts mind. I really had to push myself to finish this book. I probably shouldn't have wasted my time. I do not recommend this book.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of bizarre.