Mr. Either/Or

by Aaron Poochigian

Aaron Poochigian’s Mr. Either/Or is an ingenious debut, a verse novel melding American mythology, noir thriller, and classical epic into gritty rhythms, foreboding overtones, and groovy jams surrounding the listener in a surreal atmosphere. Imagine Byron’s Don Juan on a high-stakes romp through a Raymond Chandler novel. Think Hamlet in Manhattan with a license to kill.

Aaron Poochigian earned a PhD in Classics from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University. His book of translations from Sappho, Stung With Love, was published in 2009. The Cosmic Purr, a book of original poetry, was published in 2012.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Novels, Thriller, Mystery

Audible Audio

Published June 15, 2018

Reviews

[Mattia Ravasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRt5k...
Featured in my Top 20 Books I Read in 2017

The best nine dollars you'll spend this year. Combines the most spectacular of plots on alien invasions and ancient curses with two majorly kickass main characters, all drawn in the sleekest iambic pentameter. Can turn from hilarious to majestic and back in the span of two lines.

[Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blog Rating: 4.5/5

Mr. Either/Or by Aaron Poochigian is a remarkably unique book that will simply blow your mind!

Initially, when I started reading this book, I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but as I read a few pages and started getting in the flow of the writing I knew I was in for good. In spite of being written in the form of poetry, this book has all the elements that make is a complete fiction in every sense. It has a beautiful characterization adorning a dramatic storyline which is further complimented by humorous connotations,  along with some, as unusual it may seem, science-fiction details. As I said, it is a remarkably unique book.

The book is well written in the form of poetry with deliciously rhyming words and perfectly clear imagery. Moreover, beautiful characterization adorns the dramatic storyline which is further complimented by humorous connotations,  along with some, as unusual as it may seem, science-fiction details. As I said, it is a remarkably unique book.

I liked the lead characters, Zack Berzinski and Li-Ling, very much and enjoyed reading about them as well as other secondary characters as well. 

Reading this book was a very enjoyable experience and I'd recommend this book to each and every reader who doesn't want to miss out on an exceptional new book.

You can also read this review at The Reading Bud

[LindaJ^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a real treat to read -- 4.5 stars rounded to 5 because of its uniqueness. I bought it after watching the Bookchemist's review on You Tube, as he made it sound so good.

This is a novel written in verse. It has great cadence and, surprising to me, I had no problem following this wacky story. Mr. Either/Or is a secret agent for some US agency. He is sent on two missions in this tale. In the first, he is sent to pick up a box that contains the evils of a certain dynasty stolen centuries ago by a Dutch pirate and handed down from generation to generation because no one has been able to get into the box. The last member of the family wants to give it to the US government. Our "hero" gets the box, but others apparently know its important because he is almost killed. He escapes only to have the box stolen by a gang member and then to find himself in the middle of a gang war. But the fun doesn't stop there because there are still others after him, including a group that considers him their leader because he has the box. Along the way, he links up with Li-ling, a mythologist at the Metropolitan Museum who is kidnapped because she knows the story. Li-ling and Mr. Either/Or make a great team and suffice it to say no one gets the evil box because of the heroics of our team.

Then Mr. Either/Or is tasked to retrieve a "brain." A UFO crashed in the New Mexico desert 30-40 years ago. Recently a band called Miasma has turned up with the brain and Mr. Either/Or is sent to retrieve it. But he is thwarted by a bunch of non-humans made up to look like humans. But their are two groups of non-humans -- the good guys and the bad guys. From the good guys, Mr. Either/Or learns the bad guys are planning to annihilate all humans. Li-ling figures out a way to attack them -- it is ingenious and requires a shopping spree at the party store.

There is lots of action and some great characters.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Either/Or is something completely different in format, tone, and presentation. While it is a gritty pulp story about magic and detectives and spies and gangs, it is presented in the form of extended sometimes rhyming alliterative prose. It is in that sense more like Allen Ginsberg's Howl or Jim Morrison's Celebration of the Lizard than anything a crime fiction reader is used to reading. It is more of an extended rap on crime fiction. There is a story that you can follow, but it plays a secondary role to the tone and the rhythm and the phrases. I found it rather interesting and clever, but I am not sure I would want a steady diet of such prose.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noir/ science fiction meets iambic pentameter. I had to give it a go, and I chose the audio-book version to get the best out of it. It was actually interesting and quite well done, but I couldn't help feeling the elements don't really go together, and I would have preferred a more straightforward version. Good attempt though!

[Nadine in California · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book on the strength of a rapturous review by the Booktuber TheBookchemist who usually isn't such a gusher. I was also egged on by the publisher blurb, "Imagine Byron's Don Juan on a high-stakes romp through a Raymond Chandler novel. Think Hamlet in Manhattan with a license to kill." Turns out, I liked the blurb better than the book. Which is not to say I disliked the book.

For me, it was more of a "Men in Black" written in entertaining verse with a rollicking tempo. I sometimes felt like I was reading a comic book, with the pictures in my head. Neither is a bad thing, they're just not my thing. But there was one big disappointment that couldn't make up for the author's way with words or creative energy - the sole female character was a cardboard male fantasy, as was Mr. Either/Or himself, a secret agent masquerading as an NYU student. You could say that's a feature of the book, not a bug, and I agree. Considering I'm the wrong reader for this book, it could have been worse.

[The Reading Bud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blog Rating: 4.5/5

Mr. Either/Or by Aaron Poochigian is a remarkably unique book that will simply blow your mind!

Initially, when I started reading this book, I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but as I read a few pages and started getting in the flow of the writing I knew I was in for good. In spite of being written in the form of poetry, this book has all the elements that make is a complete fiction in every sense. It has a beautiful characterization adorning a dramatic storyline which is further complimented by humorous connotations,  along with some, as unusual it may seem, science-fiction details. As I said, it is a remarkably unique book...

Read the entire review here: The Reading Bud

[Maryann Corbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute page-turner of a plot, and a poetic pleasure too. Really inventive rhyming and great use of meter both sweep the reader along.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that should become a ‘cult classic’ – a book that is so good and so unusual that word of it will spread from one to another till it becomes one of those legendary pieces of literature that light the literary world.

Who would know that a novel in verse could be one of those so hard to put down that I was up late last night finishing this thriller in verse, for that is what it is.

Part mystery, part crazy sci-fi invasion tale, part satire of thrillers and sci-fi, part love story this is one eye opener, work of an uncanny writer writes like a hipster, as if Allan Ginsberg had gotten his head out of the drugs and written a thriller that by all account should be a best seller.

See what you think – this is a not to be missed work of thriller literature that will be with you long after you finish it!

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inventive and enjoyable use of verse. I always enjoy quality poetry and appreciate authors who push in new directions - this book is a wonderful example of both.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like noir fiction, and I don't like prose that relies heavily on alliteration. It's not you, book, it's me.

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Nabokov couldn't make me love the poem-as-novel, then Poochigian sure can't. Still, this was well done and fun for what it was.

[Suzie Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was great. This book had me laughing my butt off from start to finish and that left me one happy reader. A snarky yet romantic hero, an uptight yet passionate heroine, a salacious yet serious love story--it should be remembered as a ‘cult classic.’ Can't wait to read what else this author has for me!

[Suze · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Mr Either/Or an FBI agent with a double identity as a student is involved in dealing with dangerous mythological artifacts, gang wars, bloody fights and battles with aliens. He's constantly under threat and tumult is always looking for him. However, there's an intriguing art historian who's often by his side. Therefore he must have the time for romance, while simultaneously trying to uncover evil plots against him and the people living in his city.

Mr. Either/Or is a story in verse. It's brilliantly written with beautiful sentences, rhythm and fantastic original words. The story is a thriller with science fiction elements, it's poetry noir in its best form. It's a fast-paced adrenaline rush filled with chaos, intrigues, combat, shootings, destruction and more. This combined with the stunning literary style Aaron Poochigian writes in makes the book a unique work of art. I was blown away by his style, his eloquence and his impressive sense of timing.

Mr. Either/Or is versatile. The story is gripping, often dark and sometimes filled with humor. Aaron Poochigian has written a masterly book. It has many different facets that all come together in a terrific way. There's tension, mythology, love, plenty of blood, espionage and much more and everything works incredibly well together. It takes a lot of skill to pull that off. Mr. Either/Or is an excellent read, it's entertaining, intelligent, inventive and smooth. It's a story to enjoy over and over again and I highly recommend it.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Either/Or is one of the best books I've read this year. Equal parts beautiful poetry and fast-paced, can't-put-it-down thriller, this is the kind of book that will stick with you after you read it with the nuance to make each read a unique experience.

[Mari LivTollefsonCarlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take an ancient legend, warring gangs (including a septic group of misfit-zealots and an interplanetary crew), politics and two savvy agents, fashioned in epic verse, Aaron Poochigian creates his own genre. In MR. EITHER/OR, he saves the world through poetry, with the help of a student-cum-FBI interlocutor, Zack Berzinski (aka Bob), and his “would-be wife,” Li-Ling, a PhD curator at the Met. Or, characterized by the author: “the young man universal;/she, your trusty sherpa, showpiece/and better half” (171). These two first force a phoenix and statue to outdo each other. Then, they combat aliens ready to take over New York. Not the usual content for a saga in meter, but that’s what makes it alive. The words want to leap off the page as, in their innovative usage, they transport us to our imaginations. We can imagine the scenes taking place on a stage. “Chill til chance/chooses a path” (30) describes our mindset while reading. Like Mr. Either/Or’s temporary side-kick, “a dork,” we witness heroism riding right along on a half-urban-half-fairy-tale adventure through sub-cultures and big ideas. Poochigian tackles forces of good and evil facing us today in a jaunty, on-edge style that inspires and jars. With Independence Day looming, I came away from this read with jazz in my ears and pride in my heart. “No Marx for you, though. Nope, to you this land,/like, Duh, is, was, and always must be free/from Alcatraz to Lady Liberty” (157).

[SanFranTrans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Li-ling Levine is the best!

[Danielle Urban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Either Or by Aaron Poochigian is quite an interesting read. This novel, is layer out in a unique way. I was hooked. Aaron Poochigian is a talented writer indeed. His protagonist isn't like most. I loved how the words took me through the book. It was like reading one of my favorite literary novels - tone wise and had the alluring nature of the fictional reads I've read and come to love. Each section is intriguing. Readers like myself will drink up this work of fiction. Engaging, well-told, and different. Mr. Either Or is very entertaining from beginning to end. I recommend it to readers worldwide.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this book, this book—it’s crazy. The hero is “you,” a secret agent named Zach Berzinski who lives undercover as a student at NYU. The rhythm of the poetry carries “you” through wild adventures all over (and under and on top of) Manhattan. The love-interest, Li-ling Levine, is my hero—she is so much smarter than “you” is but seems to love him anyway because of the craziness he brings into her life. Their lop-sided relationship is weirdly beautiful.

[Nikola Novaković · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two tenuously related stories, whose plots are of the B-movie variety (crazy ancient relics; alien invasions), told in verse. Although the verse is brilliantly done, the stories are totally uninteresting, so I kept wondering why this book was written. And it seems to me the only reason is to show off the author's skill at writing verse. He's obviously good at it, but one doesn't read books to marvel at their sentences like some gaudy, pretty things: the content needs to satisfy too.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Quentin Tarantino and the Anglo-Saxon bard of Beowulf decided to write a verse screenplay for the next Men in Black movie it might look and sound a lot like Aaron Poochigian's "Mr. Either/Or." Modern verse novels are rare birds in the poetic universe--the last one I met was Suzy Zeus Gets Organized by Maggie Robbins (Bloomsbury 2005). Poochigian and Robbins are both New Yorkers and share a sense of the rhythm and cadence of city life, injecting their poems with a flagrant irreverence for high language and normative values. First, let's meet Suzy:

Suzy hails from Indiana,
land of crops, of Fords and farms.
Suzy lives in New York City,
land of cops and car alarms.
Suzy lives six blocks from Harry.
Touch him and she'll break your arms.

Poochigian's hero, Mr. Either/Or, an undercover agent posing as a student at NYU, matches Suzy’s swagger and brio, though we meet him in the second person, a difference that launches the reader headlong into the poem:

You and Cruella take a tree-lined trail
at jailbreak speeds until you shake the wail
of pork collecting around the battle-scene.
Because the groves and shrubberies that screen
Frederick Olmstead’s monumental lawn
are late night sanctuary from the law,
you meet, in passing, knots of derelicts:
freebasers bleeding from a recent fix,
a squeaky shemale and her Wall Street john
mid-ooh-la-la, and bums, a wind quintet,
snoring around an empty bottle. Ah,
New York, New York at night.

Poochigian uses a limber iambic pentameter with variable end rhymes for the narrative portions of the poem. As a running meter it is very effective: it sluices its second person hero/reader through all manner of dicey situations that arise in the course of the poem’s action plot. In the fight scenes Poochigian shifts to using “four-stress alliterative lines in the manner of Old English” (Maryann Corbett, Connotation Press Review). This change in meter has a slo-mo effect that allows Poochigian to concentate the reader’s attention on the scene and amplify the sights and sounds of hand-to-hand combat. Further, the alternation of the four-stress lines creates a visual effect that mimics the back-and-forth exchange of assailants.

What Poochigian has achieved in "Mr. Either/Or" is a fast-paced, hard-hitting, post-modern epic poem, replete with nods to the cagey wiles and adventures of Odysseus and the merciless, blood-soaked battle scenes of the Iliad. True to this form, he renders his hero’s female opposite number, Li-Ling Levine, as a modern-day Penelope/Bond-girl mash-up:

Monday, the Met Museum’s Asian wing,
and she is primping objects in their cases,
eying, aligning, looking deathly lean
beneath a charcoal blouse. Her pencil skirt
back-slitted, liver, and below the knee,
her footwear loud of heel and squeaky-clean,
the whole ensemble labors to assert
I’m, young, but you don’t want to mess with me.

Together, these two deliver a delicious, feisty, cinematographic romp across Manhattan that is well worth the price of admission, and Poochigian’s verse is up to the task. If you appreciate skilled poetical Jiu-Jitsu, you will revel in his wordcraft which, with a hustle all its own, courses beneath the storyline without once breaking the spell of the plot. Finally, both the title of the poem and its eponymous hero hearken to the choice presented to Achilles in Iliad 9: to win undying fame on the battlefield at the cost of a short life or to settle for homecoming and an anonymous long life—a choice, Poochigian hints, we must all face sooner or later.

[Pallavi Sareen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Either/Or is different than the usual novels that I have encountered. With a plot and characters like a traditional novel, it is written poetically and I mean it in the literal sense. The book is written like poetry with rhyme schemes and stanzas while telling an intricate story which borders on thriller and mystery.
It is an action packed book that I enjoyed reading a lot. I loved how the protagonist added humor in proportions making this book highly entertaining.
One one hand there's an ancient legend, on the other, there are gang wars. And the protagonist is an agent who saves the world with his future wife. It was interesting to read about the story but what won me over in the end was the writing.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaron Poochigian’s Mr. Either Or

A good many contemporary novels in verse are written for young adults. This one certainly isn’t. It’s snarky, it’s fun, it’s compelling, it’s fantastical. Poochigian’s verse novel differs from the wondrous Dorothy Porter's and the whimsical Jane Yolden's in that both of those authors employ chapters that stand somewhat alone as lyrical poems. Poochigian’s chapters arrive, in this respect, as more standard novelistic affairs that require the reader to continue for plot and development. And while Poochigian does share that last characteristic with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Byron’s Don Juan, he differs from them in that his verse does not take on a formal (other than being iambic pentameter) scheme of rhyme or stanza.
Briefly, Poochigian’s novel follows an on and off drop-out college student cum FBI spy as he resolves two bizarre cases that threaten the world’s very existence—and acquires a smart Ph.D. lover/fiancé in the process! Poochigian accomplishes all this through second person narrative—and lest that style turns you off, rest assured that his narrator is not the typical angst-ridden type normally accompanying said form of narration. Oh no, the voice is completely camp and up-to-date. Here, from the opening when the protagonist first confronts a gang who’ve stolen an antique piece of art with a deadly curse: “It's bad, but not that bad. You know this gang /. . ./ a pretty normal horde of adolescents / stuck in the hood with nothing else to do. / Still, even kids can pack a piece or two,/ and their demeanor says they find your presence/ luscious as dumpster juice. . . .” And much later comes this social commentary, “Big Burger owner Roger Teague is large ‘n’ / in charge, nicknamed the ‘Sarge’ and thrilled to pay / an hourly pre-tax wage of $7.50 / because it turbo-pumps his profit margin / and schools his crew of losers to ‘be thrifty’ / (the Boy Scout way). He likes to think that they / will send him thank-yous in the mail someday: / Thanks, Sarge, for teaching me what words like ‘earn,’ / ‘obedience’ and ‘duty’ really mean.
All in all, this novel is great fun with its combination of camp and onrushing plot. More, Mr. Poochigian, more!

[Lyra Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Such a strange uniqueness read, along with being a fun and thrilling ride.

I forgot how I found out about this book actually (probably a Jack Edwards rec), but I had thought I was going to read a gritty crime novel told in verses. That's sorta the half of it while the other half is fast and wacky hijinks with humor.

I gotta admit, I liked the first half a bit more with that noir film vibe where our character ends up in one situation after another. Once they finish the first mission and we go to the second welll... It's fun!!! Absurd in a great way, just not as grounded as the first (as grounded as an antient evil glowing box can be lol).

I really enjoy our main character and his heroism-ness. He gives me og Fallout vault dweller vibes ending up in a situation and goes along until he's able to get back on track. I think Li-ling is fine as our secondary. Bit of a sas who can hold her own is always a fun character.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful quick book to pull out when you want something short and maybe a break from thinking too hard about characters and plots. I enjoyed this very much and I can't wait to reread it in the future with a better grasp onto what exactly I'm getting into!

[J.L. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked?

Oh my goodness! The rhyme was my favorite. I’ve rarely read anything like this where the author utilizes the rhyme of poetry with all the suspense of what is essentially a mystery novel of fiction with full-on development.

It was very clever. I loved it from start to finish!

What I didn’t like?

This was perfect in my opinion. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

Overall?

If you love poetry as well as thrillers, give this one a go. It’s all the way amazing and lit.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly did not understand the significance of writing this book in verse, and I felt that it undercut the plot. The writing was amateur in terms of style, fitting the style to the form and also convoluted and confusing a lot of the time. Referencing characters with constantly shifting adjectives made it hard to understand who was doing what, and what was going on. I'm thankful that the publishers sent me a copy to review, but it was not an enjoyable read for me.

[Carol Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever, but not groundbreaking. I wouldn’t call it a novel; more a pair of tenuously linked longish short stories. The verse is well constructed, with some nice rhyming, and clever use of language. The plots reminded me of (a) Big Trouble in Little China, and (b) Men In Black. As always, I could have done without the aliens.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I thought it was okay. But I'm just not hip enough or literate enough to have gotten all the references, innuendoes, etc. I got the gist but I'm sure I missed a lot.

A book in verse. So if you like an easy (?) read and one that apparently is / was the rage, go for it.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karaktärerna är kanske lite väl endimensionella, och handligen är ibland lite för tokig. Ändå helt k. Själva diktandet är välgjort, enligt mig.

[Mais Khoury · Rating 5 out of 5]

true treat for a reader.