Resentment: A Comedy (Semiotext

by Gary Indiana, Patrick McGrath (Introduction)

Since the mid-1970s, Gary Indiana has been making a name for himself as a renegade thinker and writer. In the Village Voice and Rolling Stone he created a new brand of highly personal, overtly political cultural commentary that has reshaped journalism. His novels and short stories are equally controversial. Resentment, his new novel, is a true hybrid of his art. Based on Indiana's coverage of the Menendez brothers' trial, the novel is an all-out, savagely funny attack on the media, the U.S. justice system, television, family, and Los Angeles. Indiana is relentless in his desire to expose the insanity that rages beneath the surface of U.S. life and determined to make us laugh out loud even as we shake our heads in sorry recognition.

Genres: Fiction, LGBT, Novels, Literature, Queer, Contemporary, Mystery

392 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 1997

About the author

Gary Hoisington, known as Gary Indiana, was an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the Village Voice weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best known for his classic American true-crime trilogy, Resentment, Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan Story, and Depraved Indifference, chronicling the less permanent state of "depraved indifference" that characterized American life at the millennium's end. In the introduction to the recently re-published edition of Three Month Fever, critic Christopher Glazek has coined the phrase 'deflationary realism' to describe Indiana's writing, in contrast to the magical realism or hysterical realism of other contemporary writing.

Reviews

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Indiana's tight early short stories and novels, less so his later fiction, starting with this relatively hefty volume. I frankly don't remember much of this from my first reading. I couldn't have been sympathetic to the huge cast of characters, mired in contemporary tabloid-headline events. But there are some terrific set pieces (Felix the younger "Martinez" son visited by his parents reincarnated as mice, complete with shotgun injuries!), and of course Indiana's venom and rhapsodic flourishes.

While I enjoyed much of this, despite the multi-page paragraphs and relentless tabloid milking, the apocalyptic ending almost cost this a star. But I suppose we should be used to absurd random shit every day by now; just check the news.

[Neil Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminded me of when I started reading earlier in my life when it seemed like every book I read would bring me an author who was doing totally new things that I didn't know could be done in lit. Back in the days of Barth, DFW, Flannery O'Connor, Marias, DeLillo, etc, where I was like a sponge in reading all all, to me, new and brilliant stuff. After reading quite a bit over many years, those experiences don't happen nearly as much as they did back when. That's why when I actually read a book that makes me want to check out the rest of the author's oeuvre, it strikes me as a big deal. It also makes me ask myself why the hell I haven't read Gary Indiana before and why I've barely heard of him. Somebody who writes this good and entertainingly should be read much more than he is--which is my assumption since some of his books are out of print.

He happened to have an interview in Bookforum's summer issue that caught my eye, so I grabbed this book on a lark and really couldn't put it down. It's a hilarious, sad, disturbing, and eminently readable story with characters that, although often making terrible decisions, are wholly relatable to most of me, and I assume most of us who have spend a good part of our 20s and 30s doing questionable things in the strange city of Los Angeles. Speaking of, this is now my favorite LA novel by a mile. You can tell an author who writes about LA without actually living in the city. And Indiana nails all aspects, especially the slightly lurid underground of the city that is nowhere near the beach.

I'm definitely checking out rest of his books.

[Heronimo Gieronymus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kind of brawny, sprawling satirical screed encapsulating the 1990s gestalt in all its miserable fallen ignominy. We have a not-even-remotely veiled engagement w/ the famous trial of the Menendez brothers, a kind of insane griping at Indiana's contemporaries (the evisceration of Kathy Acker being particularly callow and delicious), and all kinds of bile heaped on a world that was heading ... well, here, where we now find ourselves. You would be hard-pressed to argue the thing wasn't prescient. There are a lot of different forms of nastiness at play here that I am confident will stand up to the nastiness of anyone else.

[Tim Hilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan Murphy thinks he is going to do this with his Menendez crime Story show isn’t he.

[EJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing is for sure: Gary Indiana can write his fucking ass off. Mean, funny, sharp— all of the things I admire most in prose, amounting to a scathing satire of 90s LA, with the Menendez trial at its center. I will say I didn’t like this as much as a Horse Crazy, which is so far my favorite Indiana I’ve read. Some of this was too vile for me, though, blessedly, those sections are short. Some really excellent things being done stylistically here, especially in the court room scenes, where the effect is exactly what you imagine it would feel like being interrogated for murder: brutal, relentless, airless, overbearing, exhausting.

This will not be a book for a lot of people. It is not a traditional novel, and if you’re starting out on Indiana, I wouldn’t start here. But I really enjoyed the reading experience and I get the feeling I’ll reflect on it quite a bit in the coming weeks. As Simon Pegg recently said in his criterion closet interview “Sometimes, entertainment is an overrated function of art. Sometimes, being made uncomfortable is the point.” That’s exactly it with this book.

[Christian Campos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about the beautiful zenith of American freedom that was slowly being compromised by new media. You can see the desperation in all the characters as they try and cling to any meaning in their lives. Great satire that is almost too dark and too little comedy lol. RIP Indiana

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book—can this guy write. It’s also a kind of jump-scare—you don’t know what awful thing could be described on the next page. The background, obvs, is the Menendez trial, but it’s also about desperation and climbing and envy.

[mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary... glad you're not going to suffer what's coming, but it sure is a lot less bearable without you

[Thomas Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a fucking book. A deeply cynical social satire of high-profile crime and the cultural sinkholes of mid-90s Los Angeles. Heavily inspired by real-life figures, many of whom are portrayed with particular cruelty, Indiana's sweeping narrative is a cacophony of mediatised noise that permeates every scene. Themes of inauthenticity, queer identity, abuse and trauma are all over this book, but also it is often surprisingly funny...or unfunny, depending on how cringe-inducingly 90s-edgy it gets from time to time). Some scenes are heartbreakingly sad, and the finale left me with a powerful catharsis. I'm already set on reading the follow-up novels; this really sold me on Gary Indiana as a writer.

[Anna Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible! Poisonous and thrillingly sharp. I’ve found Indiana’s fiction hard to bear in his other novels, but the satirical element to Resentment grounds all the malice and horror to stunning, humane effect. Beautifully written and really important gay writing. If Andrew Holleran and the other Violet Quill writers were important to chronicle the sadness and ridiculousness of being a doomed queen in the 70s, Indiana expresses the disturbed, tense role of the fag in the latter end of the century, particularly the fag who is past it, beyond the point of no return.

[Maxine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.

I think the thing that holds Gary Indiana's work back (aside from the genre, of course) are the obviously racist/offensive little details that are impossible to overlook. Why does one of the only black characters have to be described as a "brown sea cow." Seriously?! Take that backwards crap out (which also makes an ugly appearance in Three Month Fever) and there would be potential for his work to stand amongst those of the great transgressive fiction writers.

[Michael Dube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regrettably prescient about American culture, replete with chunks of prose that make you pause and appreciate, and a difficult story to look away from. If you think there can’t be a great piece of art built from the trash that was the Menendez brothers trial and surrounded by subplots suggesting none of us are too far from our own catastrophes, this will prove you wrong.

[Jeff Hackney · Rating 3 out of 5]

IDK, some enjoyable use of language, some cool atmospherics, but ultimately just didn’t know what he was trying to say with all these disparate threads and characters and wound up not caring. A bunch of sometimes entertaining tawdry vignettes but what was the point? What made Gary Indiana want to write this book? No idea.

[David Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written, as JD says to Seth who says to Seth's friend, "like a story someone would tell someone who understood him"

Inspirational, eye opening, head scratching, scintillating, piping hot stuff. Continuing my Indiana deep dive with Depraved Indifference next

[Josh Pendergrass]

Resentment is sprawling and a little unwieldy with all of it's characters, yet very insightful in showing how our fascination with high profile true crime, such as the Menendez murders, is connected to our own individual and collective traumas.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best and funniest book about anxiety, depravity and regret that I have ever read and may ever read.

[Danny Epstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was one of the best novels I’ve ever read. Funny, depraved, smart, creative, tragic, and absolutely entertaining throughout. Gary Indiana is my new favorite.

[cruis'n esoterica · Rating 2 out of 5]

literary bratpack hangeron messing around with something bizarre & academic

[Naomi Tiscione · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read. I'm about to reread it again.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Staggering in many ways, and even more so in retrospect.

[Nick Melloan-ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning

[Giib Glib · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasant surprise. A great writer, tragically underrated.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Gary Indiana...one of our greatest writers. Period.

[Kim]

“resentment” is an incredibly apt title…i never decided if i enjoyed reading this, but it’s certainly doing something. it’s a nasty book! he’s a hater!! but what a portrait of LA

[Jim Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to write a comedic novel about the Menandez brother and keep the humor going at such a high pitch. While some of the writing is brilliant, it got a bit exhausting for me.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I have been living in Los Angeles for 2 months and things haven't really been like this, so far. I have been to that Winchell's on _____ and _______ though.

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

gets a little lost in the sauce at times, another thing this book has in common with your household pizza cutter. would be 3* except, like denis cooper, indiana's writing fits all of my literary interests (unwell homosexual comedy), funny & fun writing if nothing else. i blew through it in a couple afternoons

[shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imma write a book called Gary Indiana and Dominic Dunn bitch slap in heaven.

Also who is unguentina carribou supposed to be??

[Dj Armacost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultra-dark and excellent. Despite the style being somewhat unconventional (pages upon pages without paragraph breaks, run-on sentences etc.), I found the novel very readable and engrossing. The prose is scathing and often profound and insightful- almost beautiful even though themes deal heavily with trauma, abuse and self-hatred. The book is not for everyone.

[Gareth Schweitzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great book! A lovely bunch of gay characters mixed up with an OJ style murder trial...and a few genuinely unexpected and shocking moments! Highly recommended... especially in advance of Oscar Pistorius's trial!