Blind Speed

by Josh Barkan

Finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize 2009Not since Don DeLillo and George Saunders has a writer caught the humor and irreverent seriousness of our time like Barkan has through his protagonist Paul Berger, a flawed hero whose so-called fate drives him toward enlightenment just as surely as it propels him to destruction. Berger is stunned when he receives an ominous palm reading from a savvy guru at a health retreat in Iowa, of all places. And now it seems the prophecy is coming true. His fiancée, who is about to leave him, is shot at a historic reenactment of the Revolutionary War in Concord. One of his brothers, an astronaut, dies on 9/11 in the Pentagon. And his more famous brother, a lawyer and politician, kidnaps him in a media campaign to win an election. But is Paul’s life really controlled by fate? Or is the prophecy a lie he has latched onto ever since his band went under, leaving him almost famous yet unknown—a teacher at a community college, struggling to keep his job?

Blind Speed is a wildly entertaining exploration of intersecting lives in which what happens is never solely by chance or choice. Barkan has built a uniquely American satirical novel, a thoroughly twisted journey of discovery that pops and fires from its first shot in Concord to its last rifle blast, which echoes across the heartland. With global warming, 9/11, government and corporate deceit, and ecoterrorism, the novel dives into epic ideas, capturing America in all its dangerous myths.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 8, 2008

About the author

JOSH BARKAN won the Lightship International Short Story Prize and was runner-up for the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, the Paterson Fiction Prize, the Juniper Prize for Fiction, and the Eric Hoffer Award for memoir. He is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and his writing has appeared in Esquire. He has taught creative writing at Harvard, NYU, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Hollins University and MIT. His books include the novel Blind Speed and short story collections Before Hiroshima and Mexico (Hogarth/Penguin Random House)—named one of the five best story collections of 2017 by Library Journal. His latest book is the memoir Wonder Travels. He lives in Boston.

Reviews

[Sandie · Rating 2 out of 5]

If, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Blind Speed by Josh Barkan is a testimonial to the works of Terry Southern/Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove), Kurt Vonnegutt (pick any work by him) and Milan Kundera (The Incredible Lightness of Being). Barkan tries for the tempo and flavor of the aforementioned gentlemen but his attempt at the sardonic wit,a philosophical outlook and black comedy that were the hallmarks of the works produced by these men seem somehow to have escaped him.

Blind Speed attempts a satirical and sometimes esoteric exploration of a variety of subjects from prophecy to global warming to sibling rivalry, but all it really manages to do is subject the reader to the prosaic prose and meandering musings of the author.

Perhaps I am not astute enough to plumb the inner depths of this story. All I saw while reading was not an attempt to entertain but rather the authors attempt to impress me with his erudition and to utilize the flashes of insight experienced by the books protagonist to "educate" me so that I will be worthy to receive the pearls of wisdom being bestowed.

By now I am sure you can tell......I didn't like this offering. It should have been sub-titled "The Incredible Blandness of Barkin. 1 1/2 stars

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because I loved the bizarre concepts behind the novel. A young college professor named Paul stumbles into a new age health spa where the resident yogi reads his palm and prophecies that he will soon meet and eventually lose the love of his life, that he will lose both his brothers, and that he will die before living out his 40s. After his fiance is shot during a revolutionary war reenactment in Concord and his astronaut brother dies during 9/11, Paul rushes blindly toward an impending destiny he doesn't feel in control of. In the process, he becomes a thief, pays the Modern Cyrano to write a scholarly article for him so that he doesn't lose his tenure,is kidnapped by ecoterrorists, and goes postal dressed like an Indian chief.

In addition to the bizarre backdrop of the novel, I was also quite enamored with the author's thought processes in the first few pages. I loved how he juxtaposed the setting of Concord as being the city where the revolutionary shot was heard around the world while also being the city famous for transcendentalists and pacifists like Emerson. I also thought it was amusing that he referred to Nixon as the "Vietnam war mortician".

I wanted to like this novel more than I actually did. It had great promise, but it didn't quite work. The bizarre didn't seem quite so bizarre because it was steeped too much in reality and didn't remain mysterious. Also, I'm not really sure why the author felt the need to insert occasional unrelated personal side notes about his own life alongside a third-person account of Paul's life. It's a concept that could work but just seemed to be an unnecessary distraction here. The author did mention that he'd tried writing novels before and had difficulty with setting up scenes. He did a good job of this in the first half of his novel. The first half of the novel would receive 4 stars from me. But the last half is a 2 starrer and falls flat on its face because he forgets to set up the scenes. The biggest problem with the second half of the novel is that the author spends more time rambling about things than telling the story. Exactly 3 things happen in the last half of the novel, but it takes 150 or so pages to tell it because the author keeps on going on mainly boring stream-of-consciousness tangents unrelated to the story itself.

The story ends with Paul having a moment of self-help, new age enlightenment. The rest of the book was so steeped in reality (albeit bizarre reality) that the ending didn't fit at all. I felt kind of cheated in that the first half of the book held such promise and the last half was such a loquacious letdown. However, I'd be willing to try reading a Josh Barkan book later when he's learned a bit from what I hope he finds to be constructive criticism in the reviews of his first novel.

Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.

[Mark Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the book cover summary, I was intrigued that the novel starts off with the protagonist's fiancee getting shot at a Revolutionary War reenactment. It's difficult to think of something more absurd and the novel repeatedly looks at simulations of real events, like ecoterrorism and tourist traps. Baudrillard would love this novel and someone could do a great essay of the simulacra in Blind Speed.

I was though at the same time initially put off by the comparison to Delilio and Saunders, since such comparisons are too often thrown out there to sell an author that bears little resemblance to either. However, Barkan does owe something to White Noise, Blind Speed makes several great reflections about modern life in the mall food court and elsewhere, much like Delilio. Also the protagonist Paul, reminds me a little of Jack in White Noise. Saunders is at work here as well. I thought of his Civilwarland in Bad Decline.

I was initially put off with the author or at least a narrator intruding into the store, ending chapters with random facts, but after awhile I enjoyed his crisis of a chapter not working out or giving two different speeches at Paul's would be astronaut brother's funeral. This is a postmodern novel, which may be a turn off for readers who want some kind of thriller. Paul is an anti-hero, his life repeatedly seems to hit a low point and still manages to get worse. Many things like his relationship with Zoe get some resolution by the end of the novel, though I thought the ending faded too easily.

This was one the better novels I've read in the last few months and I look forward to Barkan's future work.

[Joseph Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barkan's style is good, and the story felt like it might go somewhere interesting, but it took a little too long to get there for me, and I had to take it back to the library.