Marly

by Peter Gould

So, this dude comes up from the city to take an eco-writing workshop at a little college in way-northern Vermont, where I happen to teach watershed analysis, wildlife habitat, advanced chain saw, and self-defense for women. He's not my type--actually, no  man  has been my type for a while now, but I bumped into him on campus, and he turned out to be teachable, and kind of attractive in a noir, 1950's American clueless hetero male jackass John Wayne kind of way. Had creases on his pants I really wanted to mess up. Drove a Buick! Also, he made me laugh--a lot--and that can go a long way to breaking down barriers. We spent the night we went dancing; I showed him my favorite swimming hole--I played a bit with his fear of being alone up here in the forest in the middle of the night. I thought, put him through some paces; maybe he won't mind joining the fight against wind turbines on our ridgelines. We're already an eclectic me with my tattoos and dreadlocks, a few of my lumbersexual students, some of the old farm wives still sportin' granny dress couture, skinny science guys with pocket protectors, fighting monster turbines…  So, it was an interesting night, to hear him tell about it . . .

102 pages, Paperback

Published November 16, 2015

About the author

PETER GOULD is a youth theater director, a physical comedy performer, and a playwright whose works have been performed all over the world. He lives in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Reviews

[Kent Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When meeting someone for the first time or trying to get to know someone better that I sorta kinda know, I have some go-to questions that are pretty much guaranteed to give me a more interesting response than the standard dull "what do you do?" line of questioning. One of my favorite questions to ask is "What's the weirdest book that you've read that you really enjoyed?" I find this to be a good conversational gambit, it's not too personal, I'm not even asking for their favorite book, the "weird" gives the other person a way out that lets them put as little or as much emotional distance between themselves and the book as they want. And if they say somethin like "Gee, I'd have to think about that. they usually follow up with "What's your favorite weird book?" And while it is hard for me to pick favorites, books on my own "weird & liked" list include Burnt Toast by Peter Gould, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, or Borgel by Daniel Pinkwater.

I now have another one to add to the list and it's another weird one by Peter Gould. The book is a novella called Marly and it is a uniquely compelling read. The book is told in one voice and the voice isn't Marly's, it's some unnamed guy. We, the reader, only hear the guy's side of the conversation, our brains have to fill in whatever Marly is saying. And the only descriptions we get are contained in the words the guy says. It's confusing, but it drew me in. The one-sided dialog is funny and the subject matter, saving the earth and the various ways may agree or disagree about methods and tactics, are near to my heart.

I think I like Marly for the reasons I like books. Books and words engage my brain in a way that video images don't. My imagination has to fill in important details. I think that might also be why I find live theater more engaging than a big-budget special effects movie. A minimalist presentation makes the audience or the reader a more active particpant in the tale.

Marly is an odd tale, oddly told. It's not my favorite book, but I know it will stick in my head for a long, long time. I'm weird that way.

Kent Peterson, Superior WI USA

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read a book written this way. It was written as a dialogue without the second person's contribution. The only descriptions of scenes were from the speaker in conversation. It took me a few pages to adjust. At first I thought the speaker was a bit annoying but he grew on me. I found it very interesting and overall enjoyable. A short read but packs a lot of thought-provoking/discussion-worthy material in those few pages.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up to meet my book goal for 2021. Didn’t even read the back. What a treat. The one sided conversation challenged my brain and forced me to work from assumptions while still trying to make sense of the plot. A fun “last of the year” read!