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Gross
45. blade of egg beater. 97. bullet casings, brass. 132. travel-sized toothbrush.
Many people live perfectly normal healthy lives with celiac disease. Frank, the baker, did not. He didn’t handle it well. You can see it on the coroner’s report when Frank’s pica took over. You can see the things he ate when the going got rough–the paint chips and light bulbs and tin cans. You can see where he felt useless, you can measure the time he lost with his daughter. Get to know Frank through the contents of his stomach, spilled out and itemized in little jars. It’s the only way to understand him now.
Many people live perfectly normal healthy lives with celiac disease. Frank, the baker, did not. He didn’t handle it well. You can see it on the coroner’s report when Frank’s pica took over. You can see the things he ate when the going got rough–the paint chips and light bulbs and tin cans. You can see where he felt useless, you can measure the time he lost with his daughter. Get to know Frank through the contents of his stomach, spilled out and itemized in little jars. It’s the only way to understand him now.
Paperback
First published November 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2022
Gross,
by Dave Proctor, is easily one of the best debut novels I've ever read. Written with a mature and fully-formed voice, emotionally rich, with interesting characters, and an very interesting premise.
And Lego.
Frank is a 59 year old baker and father, struggling with a run-down bakery, a run-down relationship with his only daughter, and a rare illness -- Pica -- a compulsion to eat inedible objects. His barista/artist daughter, Jackie, is frayed at the edges from responsibilities with work, her art, her unmet goals, and her faltering father. There is much dysfunction but also love in what they make of what they share. There is also great humour and poignancy woven throughout.
I absolutely loved the way Gross was written -- Proctor's writing style, or voice -- which was so full of unique turns of phrase, and fresh ways of seeing or saying things; there is a true poetry and imagination to the language that doesn't insist upon itself but rather very much created an excitement for me to continue reading. (This is what truly nourishes a reader, in my opinion, and yet seems to be a dying art, in favour of sparse, simple sentences and ideas.) As a Canadian, it was also nice to see it set in the familiarity of Toronto, and it's neighbourhoods and environs.
I will recommend this book to friends and most definitely look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Extra note: my copy of the book also included a folded insert, listing the 144 items Frank ingested during the course of the story; funny, scary, preposterous, endearing, and of course, gross.
And Lego.
Frank is a 59 year old baker and father, struggling with a run-down bakery, a run-down relationship with his only daughter, and a rare illness -- Pica -- a compulsion to eat inedible objects. His barista/artist daughter, Jackie, is frayed at the edges from responsibilities with work, her art, her unmet goals, and her faltering father. There is much dysfunction but also love in what they make of what they share. There is also great humour and poignancy woven throughout.
I absolutely loved the way Gross was written -- Proctor's writing style, or voice -- which was so full of unique turns of phrase, and fresh ways of seeing or saying things; there is a true poetry and imagination to the language that doesn't insist upon itself but rather very much created an excitement for me to continue reading. (This is what truly nourishes a reader, in my opinion, and yet seems to be a dying art, in favour of sparse, simple sentences and ideas.) As a Canadian, it was also nice to see it set in the familiarity of Toronto, and it's neighbourhoods and environs.
I will recommend this book to friends and most definitely look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Extra note: my copy of the book also included a folded insert, listing the 144 items Frank ingested during the course of the story; funny, scary, preposterous, endearing, and of course, gross.
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January 26, 2014Hi, Everyone! Please check out my interview with author Dave Proctor as we discuss his debut novel, Gross (Meat Locker Editions, 2013). Read the interview and an excerpt from the book on my TTQ Blog now. http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.c...
November 9, 2014
A touching, disurbing story in the best way.. Loved it, and I think you will too.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews