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The Made-Up Man
"Scapellato's blend of existential noir, absurdist humor, literary fiction, and surreal exploration of performance art merges into something special. . . . The Made-Up Man is a rare novel that is simultaneously smart and entertaining." —Gabino Iglesias, NPRStanley had known it was a mistake to accept his uncle Lech’s offer to apartment-sit in Prague—he’d known it was one of Lech’s proposals, a thinly veiled setup for some invasive, potentially dangerous performance art project. But whatever Lech had planned for Stanley, it would get him to Prague and maybe offer a chance to make things right with T after his failed attempt to propose. Stanley can take it. He can ignore their hijinks, resist being drafted into their evolving, darkening script. As the operation unfolds it becomes clear there’s more to this performance than he expected; they know more about Stanley’s state of mind than he knows himself. He may be able to step over chalk outlines in the hallway, may be able to turn away from the women acting as his mother or the men performing as his father, but when a man made up to look like Stanley begins to play out his most devastating memory, he won’t be able to stand outside this imitation of his life any longer.Immediately and wholly immersive, Joseph Scapellato’s debut novel, The Made-Up Man, is a hilarious examination of art’s role in self-knowledge, a sinister send-up of self-deception, and a big-hearted investigation into the cast of characters necessary to help us finally meet ourselves.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 5, 2019
12 people are currently reading
1250 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Scapellato
7 books31 followersJoseph Scapellato is the author of the story collection BIG LONESOME (2017) and the novel THE MADE-UP MAN (2019).
His work appears in North American Review, Kenyon Review Online, Post Road, Unsaid, and other magazines, and has been anthologized in Gigantic Books' Gigantic Worlds and &NOW's Best Innovative Writing.
Joseph teaches as an assistant professor in the Creative Writing program at Bucknell University and lives in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife, daughter, and dog.
His work appears in North American Review, Kenyon Review Online, Post Road, Unsaid, and other magazines, and has been anthologized in Gigantic Books' Gigantic Worlds and &NOW's Best Innovative Writing.
Joseph teaches as an assistant professor in the Creative Writing program at Bucknell University and lives in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife, daughter, and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 25, 2019
My full review is now up at Fiction Writers Review:
https://fictionwritersreview.com/revi...
This is a very thought-provoking and interesting novel!
https://fictionwritersreview.com/revi...
This is a very thought-provoking and interesting novel!
November 23, 2018
In many ways, Scapellato's debut novel isn't unlike "The Third Hotel", but while Van den Berg meditates about impulse, intuition and the subconscious, this author walks the line between art and the artifical. Our narrator is a 29-year-old Polish-American named Stanley who just dropped out of grad school for archaeology and is "on a break" with his mysteriously named girlfriend T after he proposed to her and she said no. While he has obviously never been the most determined human being there is, Stanley now feels completely lost, so he accepts an offer from his uncle to travel to Prague and take part in one of his performace art projects.
So just like in "The Third Hotel", loss, disorientation, alienation and travel feature heavily, but while Van den Berg finds the biggest mysteries inside the gloomy abyss that his her main character's subconsciousness, Scapellato sets out to investigate whether there is anything at all at the core of Stanley, and he does so by mirroring him in his story. He is a failed archaeologist who tried to literally dig up history: "...you discovered a little at a time, you worked to figure out how it fit, you stepped back to study the big picture." The connection to himself though is not the insight he gained, but that he knew he would never be able to fully comprehend the artefacts, as T, an actress, points out, explaining: "...that's what you love about anthropology....The same thing I love about acting: guessing at how to be good at being somebody else."
The rather pretentious performance art Stanley's eccentric uncle comes up with and in which our protagonist seems to be the artistic equivalent of a lab rat accordingly features all kinds of drawings, riddles, theater-like installations, messages etc. in which Stanley's life is mirrored. Not only is there a connection between art and artefact, but even the contemporary art does not give any conclusive evidence regarding who Stanley is, because of, as Stanley puts it, "a space at the center of myself that wasn't me." Stanley does not fully know and understand himself, but frankly, in how far is knowing oneself even possible? This raises the question "if archaeologists were secret artists or if artists were secret archaelogists."
And what's the role of the writer as a particular kind of artist in all this? This book doesn't have a table of contents, but a "List of Scenes". The descriptions of "noir" and "absurd" in the blurb are certainly apt, but the novel is less gritty than it is highly constructed and artificial, which of course makes sense if you look at the topic of the story. Still, I have to admit that the charme of the distinct voice lessened in the second half of the book, because by then I had heard all the rhetoric shticks. Due to the concept, I felt like the book was lacking urgency and power.
Still, this debut novelist had lots of clever ideas and the whole story is certainly way out there, which I appreciate.
So just like in "The Third Hotel", loss, disorientation, alienation and travel feature heavily, but while Van den Berg finds the biggest mysteries inside the gloomy abyss that his her main character's subconsciousness, Scapellato sets out to investigate whether there is anything at all at the core of Stanley, and he does so by mirroring him in his story. He is a failed archaeologist who tried to literally dig up history: "...you discovered a little at a time, you worked to figure out how it fit, you stepped back to study the big picture." The connection to himself though is not the insight he gained, but that he knew he would never be able to fully comprehend the artefacts, as T, an actress, points out, explaining: "...that's what you love about anthropology....The same thing I love about acting: guessing at how to be good at being somebody else."
The rather pretentious performance art Stanley's eccentric uncle comes up with and in which our protagonist seems to be the artistic equivalent of a lab rat accordingly features all kinds of drawings, riddles, theater-like installations, messages etc. in which Stanley's life is mirrored. Not only is there a connection between art and artefact, but even the contemporary art does not give any conclusive evidence regarding who Stanley is, because of, as Stanley puts it, "a space at the center of myself that wasn't me." Stanley does not fully know and understand himself, but frankly, in how far is knowing oneself even possible? This raises the question "if archaeologists were secret artists or if artists were secret archaelogists."
And what's the role of the writer as a particular kind of artist in all this? This book doesn't have a table of contents, but a "List of Scenes". The descriptions of "noir" and "absurd" in the blurb are certainly apt, but the novel is less gritty than it is highly constructed and artificial, which of course makes sense if you look at the topic of the story. Still, I have to admit that the charme of the distinct voice lessened in the second half of the book, because by then I had heard all the rhetoric shticks. Due to the concept, I felt like the book was lacking urgency and power.
Still, this debut novelist had lots of clever ideas and the whole story is certainly way out there, which I appreciate.
June 3, 2020
This book was of particular niche interest to me since my PhD studies focused on aesthetic theory and the blurring of art media and life media enacted by such groups as the Fluxus artists, the happenings artists, and the Vienna Actionists. As somebody very interested in how disrupting traditional taxonomic impulses can help us re-see both artistic genres and our ways of moving through the world, but who is also very cautious about examining the ethical implications of merging life/art, I liked how the novel's ambivalent stance toward Stanley's aunt and uncle gave me space to play. I'm kind of glad that it didn't just caricature them as buffoonish performance artists but that it also allowed for critique of their practices.
I loved Manny. Maybe I wasn't supposed to, but I did. I also find it really charming that there's this other character traipsing through the book, Stanley's brother, who it seems would have been the more proper focus of a novel, in that he's good and interesting and funny. This novel takes a calculated risk toward the middle, having its protagonist realize that he's boring; I think it was because the situations surrounding Stanley were so zany that this worked (I also didn't find Stanley boring).
I also liked the ending-that-wasn't-an-ending, and the fact that I grew up near Chicago and knew many of the landmarks was fun. I did think that the reason for leaving the dig ended up being a bit anticlimactic. It was also really trippy in a cool way how the 3rd-person p.o.v. of the chapter headings combined with the flashback nature of many of the chapters to jar me each time the first-person in-scene sections entered. I really recommend this one!
I loved Manny. Maybe I wasn't supposed to, but I did. I also find it really charming that there's this other character traipsing through the book, Stanley's brother, who it seems would have been the more proper focus of a novel, in that he's good and interesting and funny. This novel takes a calculated risk toward the middle, having its protagonist realize that he's boring; I think it was because the situations surrounding Stanley were so zany that this worked (I also didn't find Stanley boring).
I also liked the ending-that-wasn't-an-ending, and the fact that I grew up near Chicago and knew many of the landmarks was fun. I did think that the reason for leaving the dig ended up being a bit anticlimactic. It was also really trippy in a cool way how the 3rd-person p.o.v. of the chapter headings combined with the flashback nature of many of the chapters to jar me each time the first-person in-scene sections entered. I really recommend this one!
June 4, 2022
Such an amazing and surprising thought experiment. I love the author’s use of stream of consciousness and chaotic writing style to demonstrate the actual chaos Stanley experiences. At its core this is a novel about what happens when the line between art and life becomes blurred. Both creepy and philosophical, this was a captivating read at every turn
February 9, 2019
My review for the Chicago Tribune:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...
In “The Simple Art of Murder,” his 1950 essay on the genre of hard-boiled detective fiction, Raymond Chandler writes that the figure of the detective “must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor.”
In his debut novel, an experimental and existential noir called “The Made-Up Man,” Joseph Scapellato offers readers a detective who is a confused man and a sincere man and yet a pretty archetypally sad and rootless late-20-something man, whose biggest mystery to solve seems to be what to do with, and where to locate meaning in, his life.
Stanley, Scapellato’s bearded, Chicago-living, Polish-American protagonist, is quite deliberately incomplete and alien to himself, troubled by “a very bad feeling” comprised of “a space at the center of myself that wasn’t me.”
His purposefully solipsistic international and philosophical quest commences when, against his better judgment, Stanley accepts his untrustworthy and possibly malevolent Uncle Lech’s invitation to apartment-sit in Prague, which Stanley knows is just another one of the older man’s prying and manipulative performance art projects. Stanley’s father, who despises the creations of Lech and his fellow artists, believes that “their art wasn’t art (…) it wasn’t even jokes, it was tricks,” whereas his Aunt Abbey, Lech’s wife, explains, “There is art that engages, and art that estranges. And there is art that engages-estranges, in equal measure, from beginning to end,” while Stanley himself remains “undecided.”
A dropout from his graduate program in anthropology with a concentration in archaeology, Stanley is struggling with having been rejected by his beautiful actor girlfriend, “T”; she stunned him by saying no when he proposed marriage. Irritated and self-deceiving, Stanley meanders through the pages, a directionless drifter with little to lose. T’s high school best friend, Manny, serves as his slippery, unwelcome sidekick, accompanying him around the city, offering disquisitions pertaining both to Uncle Lech’s project and Stanley’s search for his true self, arguing “that authenticity was representation” and that “Actors made strangers more real than real strangers.”
Raised in Western Springs, Scapalleto graduated from Lyons Township High School and earned his Master of Fine Arts in fiction at New Mexico State University. His debut short story collection, “Big Lonesome,” was published in 2017 and its 25 stories explored the myths of place and masculinity that make up the American West. Here, he turns his attention to investigating — as the title suggests — the delusions and realities that make up a certain type of uncommitted, unsatisfied contemporary man.
In an interview with this newspaper about his previous book, Scapellato said of this novel that he was trying to turn the genres of film noir and detective stories “inside out in some ways.” The most prominent of these ways are his extremely mannered stylistic choices. He makes most chapters relatively short — in many cases, no more than a line or a single paragraph on a page — and the text itself floats adrift in a sea of white space, perhaps to indicate the depth of Stanley’s perplexity and isolation. Moreover, as opposed to a table of contents, Scapellato gives the reader only a “List of Scenes,” emphasizing the choppy nature of the storytelling.
In a move that creates an appealing tension between what Stanley might not know — or want to accept — and what he lets himself be aware of, Scapellato puts the scene titles in third person — as in “Stanley Remembers an Uncomfortable but Accurate Assessment of His Character” — and the scenes themselves in the traditional first-person of the detective story dramatic monologue. Notably, one scene has a title that consists of over 350 words for a section that itself is comprised of just over 60.
These decisions might come across as quirky if one is feeling generous, pretentious if one is not, and overall, the book’s appeal will be determined by how a reader regards techniques that can feel like stunts.
Luckily for any reader, the book keeps its pages turning with absurdist comedy, committed throughout to the idea espoused by Stanley’s late grandmother that whatever else he may be, “Man is a beast that laughs.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifest...
In “The Simple Art of Murder,” his 1950 essay on the genre of hard-boiled detective fiction, Raymond Chandler writes that the figure of the detective “must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor.”
In his debut novel, an experimental and existential noir called “The Made-Up Man,” Joseph Scapellato offers readers a detective who is a confused man and a sincere man and yet a pretty archetypally sad and rootless late-20-something man, whose biggest mystery to solve seems to be what to do with, and where to locate meaning in, his life.
Stanley, Scapellato’s bearded, Chicago-living, Polish-American protagonist, is quite deliberately incomplete and alien to himself, troubled by “a very bad feeling” comprised of “a space at the center of myself that wasn’t me.”
His purposefully solipsistic international and philosophical quest commences when, against his better judgment, Stanley accepts his untrustworthy and possibly malevolent Uncle Lech’s invitation to apartment-sit in Prague, which Stanley knows is just another one of the older man’s prying and manipulative performance art projects. Stanley’s father, who despises the creations of Lech and his fellow artists, believes that “their art wasn’t art (…) it wasn’t even jokes, it was tricks,” whereas his Aunt Abbey, Lech’s wife, explains, “There is art that engages, and art that estranges. And there is art that engages-estranges, in equal measure, from beginning to end,” while Stanley himself remains “undecided.”
A dropout from his graduate program in anthropology with a concentration in archaeology, Stanley is struggling with having been rejected by his beautiful actor girlfriend, “T”; she stunned him by saying no when he proposed marriage. Irritated and self-deceiving, Stanley meanders through the pages, a directionless drifter with little to lose. T’s high school best friend, Manny, serves as his slippery, unwelcome sidekick, accompanying him around the city, offering disquisitions pertaining both to Uncle Lech’s project and Stanley’s search for his true self, arguing “that authenticity was representation” and that “Actors made strangers more real than real strangers.”
Raised in Western Springs, Scapalleto graduated from Lyons Township High School and earned his Master of Fine Arts in fiction at New Mexico State University. His debut short story collection, “Big Lonesome,” was published in 2017 and its 25 stories explored the myths of place and masculinity that make up the American West. Here, he turns his attention to investigating — as the title suggests — the delusions and realities that make up a certain type of uncommitted, unsatisfied contemporary man.
In an interview with this newspaper about his previous book, Scapellato said of this novel that he was trying to turn the genres of film noir and detective stories “inside out in some ways.” The most prominent of these ways are his extremely mannered stylistic choices. He makes most chapters relatively short — in many cases, no more than a line or a single paragraph on a page — and the text itself floats adrift in a sea of white space, perhaps to indicate the depth of Stanley’s perplexity and isolation. Moreover, as opposed to a table of contents, Scapellato gives the reader only a “List of Scenes,” emphasizing the choppy nature of the storytelling.
In a move that creates an appealing tension between what Stanley might not know — or want to accept — and what he lets himself be aware of, Scapellato puts the scene titles in third person — as in “Stanley Remembers an Uncomfortable but Accurate Assessment of His Character” — and the scenes themselves in the traditional first-person of the detective story dramatic monologue. Notably, one scene has a title that consists of over 350 words for a section that itself is comprised of just over 60.
These decisions might come across as quirky if one is feeling generous, pretentious if one is not, and overall, the book’s appeal will be determined by how a reader regards techniques that can feel like stunts.
Luckily for any reader, the book keeps its pages turning with absurdist comedy, committed throughout to the idea espoused by Stanley’s late grandmother that whatever else he may be, “Man is a beast that laughs.”
March 6, 2019
I'm typically hard to win over when it comes to more experimental styles, but I really thought the book balanced the off-kilter, absurd aspects with a very resonant, engaging narrative. I dug the existentialism, the surrealism of the performance art troupe and the cognitive disassociation with Stanley's sense of self, but more than that, the interpersonal relationships (his friends and family, his dig cohorts, and especially his ex-girlfriend, T) were built with an incredible amount of depth and nuance in a very economical way. There is plenty of narrative momentum to keep things moving, even amidst the occasional metaphysical musings that beg for closer scrutiny. It's the kind of book you don't come across often.
April 7, 2019
Cori reflects at almost every chapter how she might sum up the confusing experience it is reading this book and how she could possibly convey her thoughts into a few pithy sentences in goodreads while also thinking about how much her library fines are gathering while “The Made-up Man” sits on her nightstand and coffee table gathering dust.
I finished this book.
I finished this book.
December 29, 2018
The Made-up Man is a disjointed work of fiction in the genre existential noir. The protagonist Stanley is a confused and depressed individual who decides to take a break from his current meaningless life. The Made-up Man is Joseph Scapellato’s debut novel.
Stanley is a 29-year-old Polish-American who drops out of grad school in archaeology. He is having difficulty with his girlfriend T to whom he proposes and she says no. Stanley now feels lost, so he accepts an offer from his uncle Lech to travel to Prague, to apartment sit for him, and to unknowingly take part in one of his uncle’s performance art projects. What follows is a strange self-discovery exercise organized through a series of actors performing in a bizarre noir-like art project that is too close to Stanley's reality.
I do not like this book. The storyline makes no sense initially and as it starts to approach clarity it becomes mundane. I admit I rarely read books or watch films in this genre so I am probably missing the essence of what the author is trying to say.
I find this book novel and humorous in parts, but confusing. Structurally the book is unique, but the lengthy titles and short chapters result in a lot of white space. Non-acting characters are well developed for the most part, but I am confused by the progression of the art project. It is disjointed and non-ending.
I cannot recommend the book because I now realise that this genre is of no interest to me. I rate it as a 2 on 5. However, those that go into this work with an open mind for this genre may find it enjoyable. I want to thank NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a pre-published digital version of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
Stanley is a 29-year-old Polish-American who drops out of grad school in archaeology. He is having difficulty with his girlfriend T to whom he proposes and she says no. Stanley now feels lost, so he accepts an offer from his uncle Lech to travel to Prague, to apartment sit for him, and to unknowingly take part in one of his uncle’s performance art projects. What follows is a strange self-discovery exercise organized through a series of actors performing in a bizarre noir-like art project that is too close to Stanley's reality.
I do not like this book. The storyline makes no sense initially and as it starts to approach clarity it becomes mundane. I admit I rarely read books or watch films in this genre so I am probably missing the essence of what the author is trying to say.
I find this book novel and humorous in parts, but confusing. Structurally the book is unique, but the lengthy titles and short chapters result in a lot of white space. Non-acting characters are well developed for the most part, but I am confused by the progression of the art project. It is disjointed and non-ending.
I cannot recommend the book because I now realise that this genre is of no interest to me. I rate it as a 2 on 5. However, those that go into this work with an open mind for this genre may find it enjoyable. I want to thank NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a pre-published digital version of this novel in exchange for a fair review.
March 30, 2021
This book fucking slaps
December 3, 2020
Existential Angst Meets Performance Art
Our narrator allows his "...uncle to manipulate [him] into traveling to a foreign country to supply material for a performance art project that would almost certainly produce nothing but a complicated spectacle of confusion, humiliation, and rage". This book is the tale of that complicated spectacle, (with all of its attendant confusion, humiliation, and rage), and much more.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. I'm not an underliner, but if I were I would have had highlights on every page. Much of the writing here is smart and insightful and sharp and edgy. There are books that grab you at the right time and the right age and make an impression on you, (consider being twenty and reading Borges or Vonnegut or even Donleavy), but as you get older that right time/right age grab becomes rarer. Then, after you're sixty or so, when you don't really need authors to tell you how to think or live, (and you've found most of your "self", or at least the more interesting parts), it's all about style and skill and the perfect phrase or arresting moment, and that's where this author got me.
Lots of times, at least with regard to current fiction, the heroes of existential angst walkabout novels tend to be the sort of characters you just want to shake or slap upside the head. Well written or not, the books are hard to read mainly because the main characters just become too tiresome to abide. The great appeal of this book is that we have an angsty hero, Stanley, who is angsty in an interesting and substantial fashion that actually gets you invested in his situation. Even better, he is surrounded by compelling and surreal characters who hold your attention even when your interest in the main character begins to wane.
Here, our hero is caught in a web of unreality fashioned by his artist uncle. As a slightly befuddled, but also thoughtful and observant, everyman, our hero has to consider and react to the absurdity that is playing itself out around him. We are his companions as we read along, and live the story both by sharing his often hilarious and/or touching flashback memories, and following the real time events that assail him as his uncle's mark. The result is both rollicking and thoughtful, which is never a bad combination. How often do you get writing that is shrewd and tender in equal measure?
That said, while Stanley is an interesting enough protagonist, it seems fair to observe that he begins to wear out the reader after a while. (Indeed, toward the end of the book the character actors have to start explaining Stanley to Stanley in order to keep Stanley moving toward a new, self-aware Stanley. How many of us get such nice crib notes?) Luckily, as I say, new interesting characters keep piling out of the clown car, so we stay tuned right up to the abrupt end. It helps that the narrative is often laugh out loud funny. The author has a way with banter, the bemused aside, and the edgy deadpan throwaway line that keeps the tale moving and offers surprising treats along the way. Thinking about it now, I suspect most of my highlighting would have come in the first half of the book. But that was quite enough.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Our narrator allows his "...uncle to manipulate [him] into traveling to a foreign country to supply material for a performance art project that would almost certainly produce nothing but a complicated spectacle of confusion, humiliation, and rage". This book is the tale of that complicated spectacle, (with all of its attendant confusion, humiliation, and rage), and much more.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. I'm not an underliner, but if I were I would have had highlights on every page. Much of the writing here is smart and insightful and sharp and edgy. There are books that grab you at the right time and the right age and make an impression on you, (consider being twenty and reading Borges or Vonnegut or even Donleavy), but as you get older that right time/right age grab becomes rarer. Then, after you're sixty or so, when you don't really need authors to tell you how to think or live, (and you've found most of your "self", or at least the more interesting parts), it's all about style and skill and the perfect phrase or arresting moment, and that's where this author got me.
Lots of times, at least with regard to current fiction, the heroes of existential angst walkabout novels tend to be the sort of characters you just want to shake or slap upside the head. Well written or not, the books are hard to read mainly because the main characters just become too tiresome to abide. The great appeal of this book is that we have an angsty hero, Stanley, who is angsty in an interesting and substantial fashion that actually gets you invested in his situation. Even better, he is surrounded by compelling and surreal characters who hold your attention even when your interest in the main character begins to wane.
Here, our hero is caught in a web of unreality fashioned by his artist uncle. As a slightly befuddled, but also thoughtful and observant, everyman, our hero has to consider and react to the absurdity that is playing itself out around him. We are his companions as we read along, and live the story both by sharing his often hilarious and/or touching flashback memories, and following the real time events that assail him as his uncle's mark. The result is both rollicking and thoughtful, which is never a bad combination. How often do you get writing that is shrewd and tender in equal measure?
That said, while Stanley is an interesting enough protagonist, it seems fair to observe that he begins to wear out the reader after a while. (Indeed, toward the end of the book the character actors have to start explaining Stanley to Stanley in order to keep Stanley moving toward a new, self-aware Stanley. How many of us get such nice crib notes?) Luckily, as I say, new interesting characters keep piling out of the clown car, so we stay tuned right up to the abrupt end. It helps that the narrative is often laugh out loud funny. The author has a way with banter, the bemused aside, and the edgy deadpan throwaway line that keeps the tale moving and offers surprising treats along the way. Thinking about it now, I suspect most of my highlighting would have come in the first half of the book. But that was quite enough.
(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Read
January 10, 2019I am not the target audience. Navel-gazing at it's most affected. Received this book in a GoodReads giveaway. Did not know what an existential noir is even without the inclusion of absurdist comedy. Don't know what that is either. This book and it's characters, storyline, etc. come across as elitist. I don't like anyone here, they all seem awful in their own individual ways - who knew there were so many ways to be unlikable. Rather than seeming to be a man with a foot in both worlds, Stanley is just as self-absorbed and pretentious as all of the other pseudo-Intellectuals populating this world. It is all performance art and I've never been a fan. There is the standard diversity among the characters per requisite agenda. This is written for those who look down on the "fly-over" states. Stanley's whole whiny "I don't know who I am, what to do, I will play at manual labor, but I'm really better than this " - he's a dilettante - you know "I'm not better than this/you ... But I am." Attempts to appear deep about a man seemingly unaware of self. Stanley/reader go down a rabbit hole "do I know what I know", etc. Evidently he believes he can read people's intentions, etc. in their faces while everyone else believe he can't. There is a plot twist at the end, isn't there always but by then who didn't know and who cares? Perhaps we are supposed to be seeing someone losing their mind? I don't know, it is a wacky jumble. There are chapter titles longer than actual chapters!
October 25, 2020
Stanley has come to Prague at the invitation of his uncle, to flat-sit for a few days. He’s fleeing his life in Chicago, hoping that a new place, a new context, might give him a valuable new perspective on his troubles. And yet this isn’t exactly a holiday. From the moment he arrives, Stanley is defensive and on-edge, because his uncle’s invitation isn’t as benign as it appears. His uncle Lech is an artist, the guiding light of a group of eccentric performance artists, and the mastermind of a series of immersive works that frequently slip across the ethical borderline into exploitation and humiliation. In coming to Prague, Stanley has agreed to act as the lynchpin for a new, daring work that will push his uncle’s work ever further into the grey area between art and life. For the next three days, Stanley knows that Lech’s troupe of misfits will be targeting him: seeking ways to draw him into their story; trying to shape his experience and force his actions into the line of their plot. Needless to say, Stanley has other intentions. From the moment he meets the first of his uncle’s ‘representatives’ at the airport, he does all he can to ignore the whole wretched circus. But are we really capable of choosing to be non-participants in a plot which revolves around us?
For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/10/25/t...
For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/10/25/t...
May 1, 2019
The made-up man becomes actual.
I picked up this book based on a recommendation from a stranger, with little more than the blurbs on the back-cover to hint at it's content. Those hints promised hilarity, dread and originality. While I can't say that the book delivers on all fronts, I also can't say it fails to deliver.
The Made-Up Man is a modern take on absurdist fiction with it's dark humor, unconventional plot structure and surreal circumstances. Stanley is the quintessential conflicted youth telling himself his actions have purpose while his reality is directionless. He agrees to apartment sit in Prague for his unscrupulous uncle, knowing that he will be subjected to psychological abuse in the name of "art". Stanley plans to outmaneuver his Machiavellian uncle but ends up facing an existential crisis of self.
Scapellato's prose is clever without being overindulgent. While I did not find any of the characters to be especially sympathetic, they have well-developed depth and personality. Scapellato's use of film noir tropes provides solid anchors for the disjointed plot structure, and uncle Lech and his troop of performance artists provide a good counter-balance to Stanley's moody internal narrative.
I picked up this book based on a recommendation from a stranger, with little more than the blurbs on the back-cover to hint at it's content. Those hints promised hilarity, dread and originality. While I can't say that the book delivers on all fronts, I also can't say it fails to deliver.
The Made-Up Man is a modern take on absurdist fiction with it's dark humor, unconventional plot structure and surreal circumstances. Stanley is the quintessential conflicted youth telling himself his actions have purpose while his reality is directionless. He agrees to apartment sit in Prague for his unscrupulous uncle, knowing that he will be subjected to psychological abuse in the name of "art". Stanley plans to outmaneuver his Machiavellian uncle but ends up facing an existential crisis of self.
Scapellato's prose is clever without being overindulgent. While I did not find any of the characters to be especially sympathetic, they have well-developed depth and personality. Scapellato's use of film noir tropes provides solid anchors for the disjointed plot structure, and uncle Lech and his troop of performance artists provide a good counter-balance to Stanley's moody internal narrative.
January 7, 2025
First I loooveee that the main character was named Stanley (like my orange tabby) and his girlfriend was called T (like me). The names really resonated with me!! I also enjoyed the rest of the cast of characters! Even the unlikeable ones.
This book had such a unique writing style. I appreciate books that stand out and are eccentric in that way. Between the chapters titles and the stream of consciousness, it conveyed a message not only in the words but in the time and style and placement on the page.
I say you can learn a lot from fiction novels just like you can from non fiction and this book is giving very philosophical. I found the concept of how we see ourselves or "make ourselves up" so intriguing - how we make ourselves up with our own and others' perceptions and how perceptions can be wrong.
I liked the artsy experimental approach.
I appreciated the ending that was not quite happy but felt like he had learned something and was coming out the other side. A true coming of self moment.
This book had such a unique writing style. I appreciate books that stand out and are eccentric in that way. Between the chapters titles and the stream of consciousness, it conveyed a message not only in the words but in the time and style and placement on the page.
I say you can learn a lot from fiction novels just like you can from non fiction and this book is giving very philosophical. I found the concept of how we see ourselves or "make ourselves up" so intriguing - how we make ourselves up with our own and others' perceptions and how perceptions can be wrong.
I liked the artsy experimental approach.
I appreciated the ending that was not quite happy but felt like he had learned something and was coming out the other side. A true coming of self moment.
May 14, 2020
Stanley is the consummate nebbish, newly dropped out of graduate school and estranged from his vivacious girlfriend who everyone declares way out of his class. At a definite low, he takes up the offer to temporarily live at his uncle’s apartment in Prague. This would be an ideal situation, as his ex-girlfriend will also be in Prague and might be susceptible to a reconciliation, except that his uncle is a performance artist banned from his home country of Poland for his “pieces” that involve unwilling, or at the least unprepared, contributors who most often suffer breakdowns after their participation. When Stanley lands in Prague he is met by a series of characters representing himself, his uncle, and even his former girlfriend. Scapellato gives the reader an absurdist take on life, individuality, and finding one’s own reality, with humor and a noir sensibility.
February 17, 2019
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review.
The premise of this book was very intriguing.
Stanley, an archaeology graduate dropout, decided to take his uncle Lech's offer to apartment-sit for him at Prague knowing that he will be the main star of his uncle's next performance art project.
I can't bring myself to like this book or any of the characters. The decisions and actions Stanley made throughout the book were very confusing and baseless. He just seems depressed and angry all the time. The structure of the book with the titles is different, but it didn't really add anything for me. The art project itself was also very aimless and its purpose was not very clear.
Maybe this genre is not for me.
The premise of this book was very intriguing.
Stanley, an archaeology graduate dropout, decided to take his uncle Lech's offer to apartment-sit for him at Prague knowing that he will be the main star of his uncle's next performance art project.
I can't bring myself to like this book or any of the characters. The decisions and actions Stanley made throughout the book were very confusing and baseless. He just seems depressed and angry all the time. The structure of the book with the titles is different, but it didn't really add anything for me. The art project itself was also very aimless and its purpose was not very clear.
Maybe this genre is not for me.
February 5, 2019
First thanks to fsgbooks for getting myself and the @drunkbookpod set up with this book! Now for my #endtablebookreview !!
What an wild ride. Joseph had me at his first book #biglonesome and this new novel does not disappoint! Stanley thinks he is just house sitting in Prague but he is really a part of a terrifying art installation of his uncles creation. He keeps running into made up men and some made up women made up to be men made up to be women.(prett good example of the book in that sentence.)This visit to Prague will strain Stanley's hold on reality and leave him not knowing who or what is real. The Made-Up Man is awesome and fun to read. Go get this book today!
5 out of 5 beers 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
What an wild ride. Joseph had me at his first book #biglonesome and this new novel does not disappoint! Stanley thinks he is just house sitting in Prague but he is really a part of a terrifying art installation of his uncles creation. He keeps running into made up men and some made up women made up to be men made up to be women.(prett good example of the book in that sentence.)This visit to Prague will strain Stanley's hold on reality and leave him not knowing who or what is real. The Made-Up Man is awesome and fun to read. Go get this book today!
5 out of 5 beers 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
October 2, 2025
3.5 - Art can be there to comfort, but it can also be there to make one uncomfortable and push their line of thinking. I think this book is the kind of art that makes one think. I am still mulling over what the main idea is here, but one thing is for certain, I feel like I have made a journey inside someone's brain who is not quite stable. This is quite a feat. I enjoyed learning bit by bit to not trust Stanley's point of view and to question everything. I think the Uncle is a mad man, but whose to say anyone else is sane. I think I will think about this book every so often and reflect how it truly made me feel a little crazy and isn't that the point of some of the best art there is ?!
November 19, 2018
Note: I received an ARC of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.
This book follows Stanley, a onetime archaeology student, as he apartment sits for his Uncle Lech in Prague. Uncle Lech happens to be an unethical performance artist; hijinks ensue. When I started reading, I was sure I wasn't going to be able to make it all the way through. Scapellato, the author, has an MFA, and his writing is a bit... let's say "intellectual." However, as I continued reading, I found myself warming up to his style, and I was totally hooked by the time I was about a third of the way through. Uncle Lech's absurd stunts ("art") and friends ("artists") were what first caught my interest, and from there, I was better able to get into Stanley's (and Scapellato's) head. It's also worth noting that this book is a pretty quick read for the page count; chapters are short (often a single page), and there's a good deal of white space. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in noir who's looking for a quick, quirky read.
This book follows Stanley, a onetime archaeology student, as he apartment sits for his Uncle Lech in Prague. Uncle Lech happens to be an unethical performance artist; hijinks ensue. When I started reading, I was sure I wasn't going to be able to make it all the way through. Scapellato, the author, has an MFA, and his writing is a bit... let's say "intellectual." However, as I continued reading, I found myself warming up to his style, and I was totally hooked by the time I was about a third of the way through. Uncle Lech's absurd stunts ("art") and friends ("artists") were what first caught my interest, and from there, I was better able to get into Stanley's (and Scapellato's) head. It's also worth noting that this book is a pretty quick read for the page count; chapters are short (often a single page), and there's a good deal of white space. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in noir who's looking for a quick, quirky read.
April 10, 2019
I hate giving this book two stars but I just didn't care about any of the characters enough to get into the book. I admire the unique and original style of writing that Scapellato has used in this book and would definitely read subsequent books. Overall, I feel like this is one of those books that you will either love or strongly dislike, however strongly dislike is a bit too harsh for my rating. Give it 40 pages to see if you are grabbed by the characters. If so, you'll love it. If not....well, you can infer my advice.
July 18, 2022
Being a Chicagoan male around the same age of the main character I relate a lot to this novel. Probably due to that I never found Stanley all that boring, mean, rude or insensitive. There is nothing boring about a guy that boxes as a hobby, rolls his own cigarettes, studied archeology, and who has a best friend that is trans gender. Outside of Stanley’s uncle’s artistic stunts, Stanley’s internal/external problems are common and anticlimactic. Heavy on interpretations of art and less of a novel because of it.
November 24, 2018
I enjoyed the different writing style, and overall think the characters are well written, but this book didn't really do it for me. I had no idea what existential noir is, but thought the synopsis sounded good. I guess I was expecting a little more to happen with the main character and I just don't really "get" all the performance art or what the point of it was, Lech just seems like a weirdo to me. It's definitely a creative story and I think will appeal to others that like stories in this genre, just not my cup of tea.
March 29, 2022
I have been picking winners lately that have changed the way I read books (that’s saying a lot) and this novel fits right in with the bunch. I don’t even want to make the effort to explain what it’s about, nor do I want to talk about why it was so intriguing and encompassing. I don’t even want to talk about how you should be reading this book too, because if you’re not, you soon will be. I just don’t want to talk about it until you do.
abandonné
July 7, 2025I tried, I really did. It's fine. The book is fine. I hated all the characters but I am not sure they were supposed to be loved anyway. But it's way too conceptual for me. I still don't get what it is about the made-up man that made him special in any way. I am definitely not the right audience for this.
Moving on.
Moving on.
April 23, 2019
A writer to read as a reader. A writer to read as a writer.
Looking for a novel which you wish continued so that it took up a month rather than a week? For me, this is one. Curve balls, art, artists, relationships, a central mystery which isn't a detective one.
Looking for a novel which you wish continued so that it took up a month rather than a week? For me, this is one. Curve balls, art, artists, relationships, a central mystery which isn't a detective one.
January 9, 2019
Review coming to the Drunken Book Review Podcast.
April 17, 2019
This book was too avante garde for me, but I finished it. None of the characters in this book are particularly likable, which made it even harder to be enthused by the fragmented story.
May 10, 2019
Dark and relentless. A note taking style. Neet and a little grotty at the same time. Makes me want to see performing art projects.
May 18, 2019
A unique writing style and an enigmatic story - an entertaining read.
January 1, 2022
Existential noir is not usually in the lineup of my to-read books, but I this book was playful and deep at the same time. Though-provoking, inventive, funny, and layered.
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