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What Ever: A Living Novel
"May be the nearest thing to an American Ulysses . . . wildly funny and infinitely sad."
―Fintan O'Toole, The Irish times Focusing on the lives of more than a dozen characters―among them the Oregon rave boy Skeeter; the progressive-thinking octogenarian Violet, remembering her life from her bohemian youth in prewar Paris to her jazz-clubbing in postwar Greenwich Village; and the street-smart prostitute Bushie, holding forth on the profanity of the world―Heather Woodbury has forged a unique kind of fiction that combines the immediacy of performance art with the narrative structure and subtle characterization of a traditional novel. Taking off from her acclaimed one-woman show of the same title, Woodbury continually surprises in this novel with her ability to create new forms while always locating the unique, resonant humanity that links all the characters to one another―and to the reader.
―Fintan O'Toole, The Irish times Focusing on the lives of more than a dozen characters―among them the Oregon rave boy Skeeter; the progressive-thinking octogenarian Violet, remembering her life from her bohemian youth in prewar Paris to her jazz-clubbing in postwar Greenwich Village; and the street-smart prostitute Bushie, holding forth on the profanity of the world―Heather Woodbury has forged a unique kind of fiction that combines the immediacy of performance art with the narrative structure and subtle characterization of a traditional novel. Taking off from her acclaimed one-woman show of the same title, Woodbury continually surprises in this novel with her ability to create new forms while always locating the unique, resonant humanity that links all the characters to one another―and to the reader.
- GenresFiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 5, 2024
This couldn't possibly measure up to Woodbury's performance of the same material, but it is still a wonderful thing to be able to hold this entire text in your hand, and it makes for a great read on its own.
March 2, 2008
I used to see Ms. Woodbury perform on Sunday afternoons at the Cafe Bustelo on Houston (The Knitting Factory's weekend program run by some seriously crazy neighbors) along with many of my talentless friends who never had a clue what they were doing on the stage. Painful. These were the 80s. Anyhow, I was delighted to see that an already stupendously talented performance artist just got better and better and this "book" of an extended piece was a delight. I think she performed it on public radio in small vignettes and maybe "rewrote" it again.
December 16, 2013
Can't really pigeon hole this book. A play, some sonnets, art...you name it. Hated the first 50+ pages and then got attached to the characters. Very odd, quirky book, interesting style... Just ok.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews