Unlubricated

by Arthur Nersesian

A Fierce and Hysterical Tale
Of Self-Destruction On
The Road to Being Discovered

Hannah is a struggling actress living in New York's Tribeca, and like any young thesp she is bent on success: finding paying jobs that offer good material, not just mindless roles for eager and nubile bodies. When she comes across a lost play by a dead 1980s icon -- brilliantly written, with the perfect role that will display her acting chops -- she thinks she's hit the jackpot.

But when she becomes the play's de facto producer and lands a gig on an indie film, she's forced to deal with the nonstop whirlwind of backstage maneuverings and outrageous personalities ... and with the fact that she witnessed the falling of the Twin Towers from blocks away. When Hannah loses her coveted role to an old rival, she learns a shocking truth that could bring her whole world tumbling down.

Dynamic and moving, with trademark Nersesian moments of cutting humor and truth, Unlubricated is a tale of down-and-dirty off-Broadway New York theatre, sex, love, and life in the wake of September 11.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Arthur Nersesian is the author of eight novels, including The Fuck-Up (Akashic, 1997 & MTV Books/Simon & Schuster, 1999), Chinese Takeout (HarperCollins), Manhattan Loverboy (Akashic), Suicide Casanova (Akashic), dogrun (MTV Books/Simon & Schuster), and Unlubricated (HarperCollins). He is also the author of East Village Tetralogy, a collection of four plays. He lives in New York City.

From arthurnersesian.com:
www.arthurnersesian.com/

"Arthur Nersesian is a real New York writer. His novels are a celebration
of marginal characters living in the East Village and trying to survive.

Nersesian's books include The Fuck-Up, The East Village Tetralogy, and now just published by a small press based in New York, Manhattan Loverboy. Nersesian has been a fixture in the writing scene for many years. He was an editor for The Portable Lower East Side, which was an important magazine during the 1980s and early 90s.

When The Fuck-Up came out in 1997, MTV Books picked it up and reprinted it in a new edition for hipsters everywhere. Soon Nersesian was no longer known only to a cabal of young bohemians on Avenue A. His work has been championed by The Village Voice and Time Out."

Reviews

[christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 2001 and Hannah is a paycheck-to-paycheck actress, disrobing and gyrating, pressing the flesh at parties, in a relationship with her college theater professor Christy, and looking for a break. She's at a party she shouldn't be at when she overhears a former classmate, Bree, talking on his cell phone: He has unearthed a copy of a lost play written by the infamous and recently deceased Lilly Bull, a woman who's life included a prostitution phase and that time she killed a downtown street musician. Her play "Lubricated," is mentioned briefly in her memoir, which is all the rage after she dies.

Hannah propositions her old friend: She'd like to produce this play, and besides, Bree, an out-of-control addict owes her a favor.

There is a lot going in Arthur Nersesian's novel "Lubricated." Bringing the play to fruition is painstaking: Getting the rights to it, finding a director, filling the roles, finding a cheap theater ... Not to mention that Hannah has more sex scenes to shoot for the film she's in, a boring dentist boyfriendish sort, unresolved feelings for Christy, sleazy theater types trying to get some action from her, temp jobs, eviction, a soiled relationship with her parents. Oh. And Hannah was blocks away from the World Trade Center on 9/11 and part of the mass of people trying to evacuate the area, which is inducing panic attacks in the months following. And there is a weird lump on her wrist that her acupuncturist is trying to fix by feeding her tea made from bug bits.

There are funny lines, and Hannah is a strange sort of disattached female voice: rarely introspective and quick to jump on a bad idea. There are chapters where this story feels like a 9/11 therapy session for Nersesian. A place for him to work out his feelings, using Hannah as his vehicle.

This novel is pretty inside baseball, painstakingly detailed accounts of bringing a show to life. It is actually too much information and too much chaos and by the time Hannah finds herself homeless, sleepless and hopped up on an accidental No-Doz overdose, it felt like I'd run a marathon. I think I like Arthur Nersesian in theory more than in practice. His zingy one-liners get me every time. But his plots run me ragged. I'm giving him one more shot before I give up on him completely.

[Chelsea Kelleher · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far im really liking this book. for reasons i will give now, number one, its about an actress trying to make it in the only profession that makes her truly happy which i can fully and honestly relate to being an actual actress doing the exact same thing. number two, i absolutely adore how Nersesian writes his females. its astonishing how well he does it, this is a very rare feat in literature. and number three, the way he paints the east coast and all the struggles surrounding the city during the aftermath of september 11th. while reading the back synopsis i found myself groaning that the story involved this plot because frankly, and not insensitivly, im sick of hearing about it. but i actually cried. he weaves this into this story in a way i havent even thought of or encountered before. its beautiful and touching and i felt a little guilty! oh well, im having a blast reading it and for anyone who enjoys theatre or is a budding actor or starving thespian, i highly reccomend it.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great read by a great writer. I'm a huge fan of his work. I didn't care for the bizarro surrealism of Swing Voter trilogy partially because the author so excells at brutal dirty reality it seemed like a waste to abandon it, but no one quite captures the well intentioned but misguided, artistically inclined near failures and various f*ck ups struggling to make it in the city where dreams come to crash and burn like Arthur Nersesian. Nersesian's often well intentioned but deeply flawed characters frantically struggle to get by in alluring yet indifferent New York City in stories infused with just enough humanity and humor to make them so very engaging. With theatre being near, if not dear, to my heart, this was a fascinating, clever and funny look at just what it takes to put up a play against all odds. This book (particularly being longer than his other ones) showcases the author's talents perfectly, particularly his excellent comedic timing. Recommended.

[Deanna]

I had to give up on this book.

In this book Nersesian writes from a female point of view and I'm not sure he can pull it off. This book rambles on and on without any substance and it wasn't funny or brilliant.

I really liked The Fuck Up...and I tolerated Dog Run (also from a female p.o.v.), but this one is in a league all its own and the shear length of it made me feel like it would never end.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun read of things that just keep going wrong.

[yourfavoritetoeeater · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t like it DNF

[Alpha · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is a very beautiful and true-to-heart novel about theater in the wake of 9/11. I also found this novel to be really respectable towards the events by not overglamorizing or making it such a tragedy as it truly was but being understandable towards the event as if a person who was there. Nersesian himself is an author so he most likely had a personal experience when the towers fell himself.

The story talks about Hannah, a struggling actress living in New York's Tribeca, and she is doing her best to achieve success. It is when she stumbles upon a lost play of a dead 1980s icon which is brilliantly written, she thinks she hits the jackpot especially she believes the play would show off her acting chops. However, she is thrown into the whirlwind of stage manager and has to put acting aside despite losing the role to a rival. Not only that, she is in the midst of Ground Zero as the Towers fall thus there are many things happening in such a short amount of time.

This novel shows the personification of all the unexpected expectancies living in a fast-paced city like New York City. The average New Yorker has to learn to adapt and control themselves in the face of such major changes, including the negative ones in which the Towers haulted all forms of entertainment for a bit of time. The first show to actually go on believe it or not was at WWE show in the form of WWE Smackdown!. I found it something to learn that a wrestling show still recieved millions of viewers for terrorism did not stop the nation or put them in yearning. However, for the acting and theater industry, it haulted and thus Hannah - an actress - is now trying to survive.

I really love all of Nersisian's works for they are all excellent reads about life in New York City. I have never lived in New York City but I have lived in LA and San Diego and they are the biggest cities I lived in when it comes to the United States. A very good read and a lot lighter compared to his other nitty-gritty novels."

[Ann M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Final rating, two stars. I decided to skim to the end, realized the only reason I was reading at all was that it was set in NYC, some places I remembered from when I lived there, like the old Truck and Warehouse theater. Wasn't enough ultimately to keep my interest. Too much irrelevant detail, not particularly witty -- compare this to The Diviners, which is about indie film, rather than off-off theater.

Don't know about this book -- I'm halfway through and the voice of the main character is not convincing. I don't think, e.g., that any woman, lipstick lesbians included, thinks about sex in baseball metaphors. The author has not written a convincing female voice, imo. Also, having her be late for everything doesn't add suspense, although that seems to be the author's intent. The descriptions of the World Trade Center buildings coming down are cursory, way too detached and perfunctory to convince me the character was there at the time. Another failure of voice. This author might do better with out and out satire. I'd give him another try, but this book is so-so.

Also, the book needs a good proofreading. Annoying.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite thing about Nersesian's contemporary female protagonist? She thinks like a man. She talks like a man. And she acts like a man. She might make some extremely stupid moves (like all of us) in her early 20s, but she accepts them fully and works through the consequences. I can't say how much I can appreciate a female protagonist who truly stands alone in a novel, written without a focus on romantic entanglements, without a search for acceptance from her peers, and with a sheer will and determination to do exactly what she wants. That's not to say Hannah has no emotions, as she is very impacted by her surroundings, her past lovers and events (911 especially), but they are not the drivers of her own plot. In that way, she reminds me of Roark. (Sorry Rand haters.)

5 stars for writing, 4 stars for characters, and 3 stars for the actual plot, since 3/4ths of the book was buildup and the other 1/4th set fire to that buildup and burned a bit too quickly, in my opinion.

[Peter Castillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok - this book recieved mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it. It's another tale of a young struggling writer/actress living in New York City. Her life isn't moving as quickly as she had hoped, and then it all changed when she witnesses 9/11. One of the hardest things a writer can do is make the lead character believable - if that person's gender is not that of the writer. And, I feel that Nersesian did an excellent job in doing so. I think it's an endearing, sexy, and witty portrayal of the lives of those on stage.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nersesian did a great job conveying a woman's struggle to regain normalcy while adjusting to the tradegy of her own experience of the collapse of the World Trade Centers. What I liked most about this book was that even though there were a lot of royal screw-ups, the protagonist doesn't evade the responsibility of her own actions and does her best to correct her mistakes and correct her wrongs that she did to her friends. Overrall I thought the book was very engaging due to the ability that I felt like I was reading an autobiography instead of a fictious book.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone I know. The setting was interesting, but the writing was so-so. Also, the version I read had so missing mistakes (missing words, additional words) that it was distracting. Writing this now, one might wonder why I finished this book. It was quick to read, and I did want to see what finally happened. Thus, two stars instead of one.

[Andrea Janov · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was set during the 9/11 panic and uncertainty but it seems to have no impact at all on the story or characters, it was merely incidental. While I usually love Nersesian’s flawed characters, these seemed like clichés to me. They are one dimensional each acting as FOILS for the other. While he did keep me turn from page to page and chapter to chapter, this one is not one of my favorites.

[Alexandre Bessy · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy to read book. You finish it because you started it but trough its events it more "ah ok..." reaction than any excitement on what could be coming next. For me it was missing a Big something to catch me as a reader. Having read it know I would not have read it if I had known before...

[Nidya · Rating 2 out of 5]

bought it because there was sale on the bookstore near my uni.
they said its a dark comedy novel.
hope it will be good.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I was pulling for the lesbians.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't even remember I'd read this book if that tells you anything... remember it being fine but only a year later I didn't even recognize the name.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

super entertaining. some parts reminded me of a durang play because what was happening was so absurd. great quick read.

[Jillian]

I don't even remember reading this, but it was in my book journal. Weird.

[Christopher Rex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for those in the world of theater. Good for the rest of us. Ever come across a bunch of wanna-be actors and wonder what their deal is? Randall Connoly loved it...'nuff said.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Never really felt for the main character. Better than dogrun.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read at all for someone who isn't that into plays and broadway. I didn't find myself getting bored as I was reading this. A great eye opener for someone who wants to be an actress.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

To borrow from a friend, I'd only recommend reading this in shark infested waters (in hopes of a quick death).

[Danthony74 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fine read.

[Henry Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book, umm, but I don't remember it.

[Meet Jayne Jetson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky characters, faced paced lifestyles. Fun read.

[Kimberly Ihle]

just started it...

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read only one book this week, read this one. Nersesian is highly underrated!