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Drawers & Booths
Beginning as a modern military civil affairs action, Drawers & Booths spirals into a metafictional journey, testing the boundaries of reader and author, narrative voice, and characterization--the wrapping for Ara 13's satirical analysis of morality in light of evolutionary psychology.
- GenresFiction
228 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2007
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52 people want to read
About the author
Ara 13
6 books1 followerAra 13 is a 2008 IPPY "Outstanding Book of the Year" winner, a recipient of an Eric Hoffer Book Award, and a Marine Corps journalist awarded medals from four branches of the U.S. military.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2011
On the one hand, I put this book aside because the military story was boring. I don't read military stories. Drawers & Booths caught my eye due to promises of the meta-fiction, evolutionary psychology, and philosophical discussion. In my opinion, the good parts started about 18% into the book (I read it on Kindle). After taking time off to read a different novel, I opened Drawers & Booths again, and enjoyed it immensely. So, on one hand I give it 2 stars (but only my reaction for hating war stories), and on the other hand I give it 4.5 for creativity, cheekiness, and intellectual discourse. This type of out-of-the-box thinking is refreshing.
One more observation: the characters struck me very differently than in other novels I've read. In a good escapist novel, the characters are flesh and blood, and take on a life of their own outside the author. In Drawers & Booths, the characters are sketched, like a graphic novel, or comic book. This doesn't detract from the experience; it made the reading a unique experience. I found no emotional involvement, as the story must have been rendered totally in the left side of my brain. Very different reaction on my brain's part - which I enjoy every now and then.
One more observation: the characters struck me very differently than in other novels I've read. In a good escapist novel, the characters are flesh and blood, and take on a life of their own outside the author. In Drawers & Booths, the characters are sketched, like a graphic novel, or comic book. This doesn't detract from the experience; it made the reading a unique experience. I found no emotional involvement, as the story must have been rendered totally in the left side of my brain. Very different reaction on my brain's part - which I enjoy every now and then.
April 6, 2009
Before starting the book, I looked up metafiction. I was not exactly sure what it meant. Here is what Wikipedia says
Metafiction is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. It is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually, irony and self-reflection. It can be compared to presentational theatre, which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play; metafiction does not let the reader forget he or she is reading a fictional work.
I was worried how a debut author could pull that off and why in the world would I be interested in reading something that always reminds me that I am reading fiction?
The book starts with a marine corp. and journalist taking a military assignment in the third word country. The author builds up a nice premise with some suspense and then suddenly ‘Wham’, he pops in and tells you the fate of all the characters in the book. Now why would anyone be interested in reading the book after that? But I kept on reading and trudging through all the military jargons to know what would happen next. This was completely new territory to me. Here’s an example of the metafiction element I am talking about,
“Father Atkinson?” he called.
“No,” I reply, emerging from the dark.
Kick turns to his right, “Who the hell are you?”
“Nobody.” I measure him up, wondering how he will react.
“You don’t belong here,” he senses. “What the hell are you doing? You are going to fuck everything up.”
….
“Relax, no one is reading this. Do you know how hard it is for a first-time author to get published? It’s just as hard to find an agent as it is for the agent to find a publisher…harder in fact.”
“We’re not supposed to talk about the process…about him,” Kick whimpers.
“You mean the author? His name is Ara.”
I don’t think just by saying its metafiction and that it’s a great book will make you want to read it. So for that purpose alone I will have to introduce a spoiler here. But let me also specify that this spoiler in no way will hamper or lessen your reading experience.
“Please state your name for the record”
“God”
Yes, my dear friends, we have God on trial here. It’s not about whether God exists, it’s more about whether he is responsible for what happens in the world or not. Okay, enough, end of spoiler. Whether or not you agree with Ara’s point of view or the reasoning in the book, it definitely makes for an interesting read. The characters are constantly uprooted from one scene to another .It’s the kind of book that pushes the readers boundaries and forces the reader to think beyond the traditional notions of what a novel is. Ara’s sense of humor is situational, intelligent and the kind that makes you think, ‘How does he come up with all this stuff? ‘. Here’s the only example I found which is not a spoiler-
At this point, I would like to address you, the reader. I have provided some blank space so that you can jot down any concepts lingering in your head, such as: “Wow, that was the most insightful stuff I’ve ever read. Now, I understand everything about everything,” or “what a pedantic piece of junk. Thank God I am almost done with this book so I can move on to the upcoming bestseller…..
All said and done, let me also tell you that this book is not for everyone. Read it if you want to read something really unique and intelligent. If you do get your hands on this book, please be patient for the first 40-50 pages, the rest will be worth it.
Drawers & Booths won an IPPY—the world’s largest international book awards competition, independent or otherwise. Ara 13 competed against releases from production houses such as, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale, and other university presses, as well as Pulitzer finalist Dave Eggers’ production house, cSweeney’s, and Barnes & Nobles’ alliance press, iUniverse. Ara 13’s novel was selected from 3,175 entrants representing 16 countries: Trinidad to Thailand, Croatia to Czech Republic, and France to Finland. Drawers & Booths was one of 32 books to receive the moniker, “Outstanding Book of the Year,” and Ara won a Bronze Medal as “Storyteller of the Year.” According to 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Ara 13 exhibits “the courage and creativity to take chances, break new ground, and bring about change, not only to the world of publishing, but to our society.”
This review was originally posted at http://violetcrush.wordpress.com/2009...
Metafiction is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. It is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually, irony and self-reflection. It can be compared to presentational theatre, which does not let the audience forget it is viewing a play; metafiction does not let the reader forget he or she is reading a fictional work.
I was worried how a debut author could pull that off and why in the world would I be interested in reading something that always reminds me that I am reading fiction?
The book starts with a marine corp. and journalist taking a military assignment in the third word country. The author builds up a nice premise with some suspense and then suddenly ‘Wham’, he pops in and tells you the fate of all the characters in the book. Now why would anyone be interested in reading the book after that? But I kept on reading and trudging through all the military jargons to know what would happen next. This was completely new territory to me. Here’s an example of the metafiction element I am talking about,
“Father Atkinson?” he called.
“No,” I reply, emerging from the dark.
Kick turns to his right, “Who the hell are you?”
“Nobody.” I measure him up, wondering how he will react.
“You don’t belong here,” he senses. “What the hell are you doing? You are going to fuck everything up.”
….
“Relax, no one is reading this. Do you know how hard it is for a first-time author to get published? It’s just as hard to find an agent as it is for the agent to find a publisher…harder in fact.”
“We’re not supposed to talk about the process…about him,” Kick whimpers.
“You mean the author? His name is Ara.”
I don’t think just by saying its metafiction and that it’s a great book will make you want to read it. So for that purpose alone I will have to introduce a spoiler here. But let me also specify that this spoiler in no way will hamper or lessen your reading experience.
“Please state your name for the record”
“God”
Yes, my dear friends, we have God on trial here. It’s not about whether God exists, it’s more about whether he is responsible for what happens in the world or not. Okay, enough, end of spoiler. Whether or not you agree with Ara’s point of view or the reasoning in the book, it definitely makes for an interesting read. The characters are constantly uprooted from one scene to another .It’s the kind of book that pushes the readers boundaries and forces the reader to think beyond the traditional notions of what a novel is. Ara’s sense of humor is situational, intelligent and the kind that makes you think, ‘How does he come up with all this stuff? ‘. Here’s the only example I found which is not a spoiler-
At this point, I would like to address you, the reader. I have provided some blank space so that you can jot down any concepts lingering in your head, such as: “Wow, that was the most insightful stuff I’ve ever read. Now, I understand everything about everything,” or “what a pedantic piece of junk. Thank God I am almost done with this book so I can move on to the upcoming bestseller…..
All said and done, let me also tell you that this book is not for everyone. Read it if you want to read something really unique and intelligent. If you do get your hands on this book, please be patient for the first 40-50 pages, the rest will be worth it.
Drawers & Booths won an IPPY—the world’s largest international book awards competition, independent or otherwise. Ara 13 competed against releases from production houses such as, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale, and other university presses, as well as Pulitzer finalist Dave Eggers’ production house, cSweeney’s, and Barnes & Nobles’ alliance press, iUniverse. Ara 13’s novel was selected from 3,175 entrants representing 16 countries: Trinidad to Thailand, Croatia to Czech Republic, and France to Finland. Drawers & Booths was one of 32 books to receive the moniker, “Outstanding Book of the Year,” and Ara won a Bronze Medal as “Storyteller of the Year.” According to 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Ara 13 exhibits “the courage and creativity to take chances, break new ground, and bring about change, not only to the world of publishing, but to our society.”
This review was originally posted at http://violetcrush.wordpress.com/2009...
February 12, 2019
Ara 13 is God.
No, I don't mean that as in "ARA IS AWESOME!!!" (Although I did enjoy this particular book.) I mean it as a sort of conceit. Drawers & Booths is not unlike an article I once read in The Onion called "Video-Game Character Wondering Why Heartless God Always Chooses 'Continue'." Or, look at it this way: in his 1923 poem "Anecdote of the Jar," Wallace Stevens attempts to tackle the highly abstract issue of constructing reality, or what may be perceived as reality. Was the poem's landscape even there before the jar, an artificial object of human creation, was placed on the hillside and the "wilderness rose up to it, / And sprawled around it; no longer wild"? Is it possible for anything – setting, object, event – to simply be without some sort of human input? Are you confused yet? Good!
Drawers & Booths (the title is pure nonsense, BTW) is the one of the most mind-bending books I have ever read. I'm going to borrow from an Amazon review and describe it as one of those unpredictable funhouses full of weird mirrors and surprises around every corner. Case in point: it actually starts out as a (very boring) military novel about a group of American soldiers stationed on an island nation. But then the narrator (whose name is actually Hattie Shore) detaches himself from his omniscient storyteller role and things fall apart (kind of like at the end of Mario Vargas Llosa's Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter when ). An unexpected sojourn to Auschwitz reveals that Hattie Shore is also a police detective on the trail of a hard-to-grasp extra-dimensional criminal who has been carelessly wreaking havoc on the cosmos ever since . . . He created the cosmos.
Basically, humans invented divinity and then fell victim to their own creation as religion began to shape how they perceived the world. In other words, human behavior and beliefs generate reality, and it is this Matrix-like worldview that fits so beautifully with Ara 13's use of a metafictional framework that makes the artificiality of his art glaringly obvious. It is Ara's world, and Shore, Kick, Franklin, Marcus, Laughton, the Corporal, and God just "live" in it.
In short, God is essentially human. He only exists as the result of the collective human mind.
My only criticism would be the number of typos I found, although that is probably not entirely Ara's fault. Overall, Drawers & Booths is not only a roundabout exercise of the intellect, but a humorous and wholly unpredictable story that continuously builds upon itself. At only 215 pages, it is also very short. At the same time, however, it is definitely not for the casual reader seeking a conventional story with a linear flow and identifiable plot. Not surprisingly, Ara 13 himself is a highly unique character, despite his background in the conformist milieu that is the US Marine Corps, where he first honed his writing skills while serving as a military correspondent. 13 is his actual last name – he had it legally changed.
Review Copy
Original Review
No, I don't mean that as in "ARA IS AWESOME!!!" (Although I did enjoy this particular book.) I mean it as a sort of conceit. Drawers & Booths is not unlike an article I once read in The Onion called "Video-Game Character Wondering Why Heartless God Always Chooses 'Continue'." Or, look at it this way: in his 1923 poem "Anecdote of the Jar," Wallace Stevens attempts to tackle the highly abstract issue of constructing reality, or what may be perceived as reality. Was the poem's landscape even there before the jar, an artificial object of human creation, was placed on the hillside and the "wilderness rose up to it, / And sprawled around it; no longer wild"? Is it possible for anything – setting, object, event – to simply be without some sort of human input? Are you confused yet? Good!
Drawers & Booths (the title is pure nonsense, BTW) is the one of the most mind-bending books I have ever read. I'm going to borrow from an Amazon review and describe it as one of those unpredictable funhouses full of weird mirrors and surprises around every corner. Case in point: it actually starts out as a (very boring) military novel about a group of American soldiers stationed on an island nation. But then the narrator (whose name is actually Hattie Shore) detaches himself from his omniscient storyteller role and things fall apart (kind of like at the end of Mario Vargas Llosa's Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter when ). An unexpected sojourn to Auschwitz reveals that Hattie Shore is also a police detective on the trail of a hard-to-grasp extra-dimensional criminal who has been carelessly wreaking havoc on the cosmos ever since . . . He created the cosmos.
Basically, humans invented divinity and then fell victim to their own creation as religion began to shape how they perceived the world. In other words, human behavior and beliefs generate reality, and it is this Matrix-like worldview that fits so beautifully with Ara 13's use of a metafictional framework that makes the artificiality of his art glaringly obvious. It is Ara's world, and Shore, Kick, Franklin, Marcus, Laughton, the Corporal, and God just "live" in it.
In short, God is essentially human. He only exists as the result of the collective human mind.
My only criticism would be the number of typos I found, although that is probably not entirely Ara's fault. Overall, Drawers & Booths is not only a roundabout exercise of the intellect, but a humorous and wholly unpredictable story that continuously builds upon itself. At only 215 pages, it is also very short. At the same time, however, it is definitely not for the casual reader seeking a conventional story with a linear flow and identifiable plot. Not surprisingly, Ara 13 himself is a highly unique character, despite his background in the conformist milieu that is the US Marine Corps, where he first honed his writing skills while serving as a military correspondent. 13 is his actual last name – he had it legally changed.
Review Copy
Original Review
April 19, 2009
I was a little hesitant about this book when I agreed to review it. I wasn't sure if it was going to be a book I would like. It is very different from what I usually read but the concept sounded very interesting. I am so glad I agreed to review it because it is truly the most creatively written book I have read in awhile.
The book begins on an island following a Marine combat journalist around a military base. You start getting very comfortable in this setting and start getting interested in the characters when the narrator jumps in and takes over the story. Yes, the narrator. He takes the reader with on his search for the person behind all the horrors that happen... child molestation, genocide, war. It begins to read like a mystery novel. When the person is caught the book becomes a court room drama, ala Law & Order and you will never believe who is on trial.
Such an interesting way of discussing and analyzing the horrors we see and who is responsible for what man does. This was my first truly metafictional book and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more books by Ara. Thanks for sending it my way.
The book begins on an island following a Marine combat journalist around a military base. You start getting very comfortable in this setting and start getting interested in the characters when the narrator jumps in and takes over the story. Yes, the narrator. He takes the reader with on his search for the person behind all the horrors that happen... child molestation, genocide, war. It begins to read like a mystery novel. When the person is caught the book becomes a court room drama, ala Law & Order and you will never believe who is on trial.
Such an interesting way of discussing and analyzing the horrors we see and who is responsible for what man does. This was my first truly metafictional book and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more books by Ara. Thanks for sending it my way.
March 28, 2009
I was in love with this book throughout its first half due to the unique refreshing writing style (interaction between characters inside the book and outside the book creating awkward awareness of their limitations). The second half of the book turned into a treatise on atheism. As someone who has thought much about arguments for atheism, I was somewhat bored by this. Interesting points were brought up and it was presented in an entertaining way, but I did miss the original pace of the novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2010
This is crazy funny book. I think i read it so fast and i kept chuckling throught! a great caper of writing and it pulls you in and pokes fun all at the same time.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews