Goldsmith's Return

by Terry Richard Bazes

Demons . . .a murderous peeping Tom . . . a three hundred-pound psychic beautician . . . a two-headed baby . . . and a visionary painter haunted by a strange beauty and a family curse dating back to Napoleonic France.

"A novel of unusual ability and imagination" -- Joseph Heller

287 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a fan of Terry Richard Bazes and an admirer of his work. A couple of years ago, I read the wonderfully bizarre LIZARD WORLD. If you’ve read it yourself, you’ll understand why I raved about in my review at the time. (If you haven’t read it, you really should.) GOLDSMITH’S RETURN predates LIZARD WORLD by about a decade and a half. In author years, that’s pretty much a whole other era, a different lifetime, a previous incarnation—you get the idea. GOLDSMITH’s RETURN has the same exquisitely rendered sentences and the same Helleresque satiric tone, yet it seems the author’s over-the-top creativity may not have yet been fully engaged. That is not to say that there is anything stock about GOLDSMITH’S RETURN—there isn’t. Well not really. Let me amend that by saying anything that might seem stock or “typical” (the overbearing aunt, the loveless marriage) is turned on its head by Bazes’ clear bent toward the offbeat, the eccentric and—dare I say it—the quirky. Nor is there anything wooden about Max Goldsmith. On the contrary, he is a refreshingly complex and painstakingly drawn character. Time is not linear in the novel and there is something nebulous about Goldsmith’s life story that has the effect of a literary tonic. In some ways, Max Goldsmith reminds me of Bellow’s Moses E. Herzog and Canadian Mordecai Richler’s Barney Panofsky (BARNEY’S VERSION). All three of them share some things in common. But more importantly, they are all bigger-than-life. They are memorable characters that stick in the psyche.
Although it’s fair to say that GOLDSMITH’S RETURNS is an understated work when compared to LIZARD WORLD, it is still a very, very funny novel. Needless to say, Bazes’ wry sense of humor is on display throughout, from beginning to end. Like this masterful tongue-in-cheek thumbnail description of Polly O’Malley, Goldsmith’s neighbor and aesthetic nemesis: “Polly—a small, drab battleship of a woman—was a published poetess. ‘Afterbirth,’ her obscure symbolist poem about pregnancy, had been serialized in Dermatology Today, a pretentious quarterly which was attempting to expand its readership by making a pitch to the mommy market. Like Polly herself, the poem made little sense. Nonetheless, it was the center of a small cult who sat in a circle, speaking in hushed tones while Polly sat at their center, dropping pearls of poetic wisdom.” Or how about this one: “Coach Polachek had a herniated soul and a metaphysical jock-itch which could only be scratched by sending fatties to run laps until they dropped.” The novel is not without its moments of introspection, like the brilliant final scene of the novel, which I won’t quote here. It suffice to say that you’ll never look at a cigarette being sucked down a toilet the same way ever again after reading it.
GOLDSMITH’S RETURN is one of those rare-and- getting-rarer literary gems that is routinely passed over by the mainstream. For any number of reasons, which is a discussion for another place and time. Terry Richard Bazes is an author worth getting to know. His books are not easy reads, not page-turners, but they pay big dividends. For my mental money, reading GOLDSMITH’S RETURN is more than a worthwhile investment of anyone’s time. (4.5 stars)

[David Lentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Goldsmith's Return" is crazy good and by that I mean that the writing sings with off-the-charts invention, highly nuanced characters and a story line, which held me enthralled through the last word. Indeed, every word in this novel is chosen intelligently, thoughtfully and creatively to lend an aspect of vivid clarity with a 3D quality. The language is so beautifully constructed that I wish I had written this novel. Like his "Lizard World" there exists a surreal aspect to every character which reads at times like a farce, a black comedy and the source of a script for a film noir. The characters possess an uncanny surrealism so much so that they inhabit the novel like living, breathing, wildly authentic figures from a painting by Dali. The surreal becomes vividly realistic in the novels of Bazes. His figures speak with a natural expressiveness resonating in its authenticity about subjects, places and incidents which are so extraordinary and yet possess a verisimilitude only a brilliant novelist could render so vibrantly and with such a convincing aura. It is a mark of a mature novelist that the characters of a book have their own unique aspects and also that they behave with a personality which is distinct to separate as foils each one from another. The protagonist as a proxy for the author in great novels does not overshadow the bit players who lend their own lesser contributions with cumulative distinction. So it is in this great novel by Bazes. I admire the way that Bazes in this brilliant first novel shows such uncommon maturity in the character development and dialogue of this book. He leads his readers on a wild carnival ride to unexpected heights and deep troughs by virtue of his sheer genius as a story teller. In "Lizard World" he reaffirms his gifts in one of the most original and surprising plot resolutions ever to grace a published page. His work is memorable by virtue of its vibrancy, innovation and quality of creative craftsmanship. I can't recommend more highly the novels of Terry Richard Bazes as their creative quality is one of a kind and will lead you on a journey so unexpected that you will have no idea where he intends to take you until the final page. I can't wait to read his next masterpiece.

[Karen Roman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and imaginative book, I wanted to like it more than I did. I would give it a 3.5 if we could do half-stars, but I can't give it a four.

I picked this up because I wanted something I had to work for a little. I was tired of being spoon-fed books that held few--if any--surprises. Sadly I wasn't really up to working this hard, so instead of coming away with a clear understanding of the book, I'm left with a series of dreamlike impressions that float through my brain with very little structure holding them together. Now, I can't say whether that was the author's intention, or whether I was simply not giving the book enough of my attention, but I CAN say that I still enjoyed it very much.

This one deserves a second reading during a stretch of time when I can be a more energetic and active participant.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Won the book from First Reads. It was a very different book to what I normally read, however I did enjoy it even though it was hard to get into at the start.