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We're Getting On
At a bar in Sacramento, a group of disaffected kids watch Saddam Hussein's trial on T.V. every night and compete with each other over who loves the tyrannical Middle East strongman most. So when Dan, the charismatic-and-perhaps-despotic frontman of a popular local band compels four acolytes to follow him into the desert "to get to the bottom of this whole human condition," they're powerless to resist.
Originally published in 2010, WE'RE GETTING ON reads now like a harbinger of America's accelerating economic stratification, political extremism, and environmental degradation.
Originally published in 2010, WE'RE GETTING ON reads now like a harbinger of America's accelerating economic stratification, political extremism, and environmental degradation.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
101 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 25, 2010
I read the edition of We're Getting On with a seed paper cover, but also with only a single novella in it rather than a few other related stories included in the longer edition (I think). Rather than dismiss that "gimmick," though, I think it matters to the text -- it's a story about a narrator determined to undo not only his life, but the history of human progress and civilization as he understands them, including human language. So the book being designed for destruction matters beyond mere gimmickry. In fact, while I suspect I will eventually read the longer edition, I'm hesitant because this one is so conceptually coherent and self-contained, text and context aligned, and I wonder how the story will be altered in that other package.
I'm also hesitant to say too much about the story directly. It's powerful, largely because the narrator is so absorbed in his own vision, and his own arrogant assumptions about what it means to be "wild" or "human," and the hypocrisies of his approach. He's methodical, rigid, and demanding, and yet startlingly self-unaware (or should that be "un-self-aware"? Whichever.) Though he's roped others into his project, largely through fear, it's apparent that his real reasons are personal and traumatic rather than philosophical, which may be the case with all would-be cult leaders. So for a story and narrator all about becoming LESS human, and less fragile and frail, in the end it's an inescapably human story about an inescapably fragile man.
I'm also hesitant to say too much about the story directly. It's powerful, largely because the narrator is so absorbed in his own vision, and his own arrogant assumptions about what it means to be "wild" or "human," and the hypocrisies of his approach. He's methodical, rigid, and demanding, and yet startlingly self-unaware (or should that be "un-self-aware"? Whichever.) Though he's roped others into his project, largely through fear, it's apparent that his real reasons are personal and traumatic rather than philosophical, which may be the case with all would-be cult leaders. So for a story and narrator all about becoming LESS human, and less fragile and frail, in the end it's an inescapably human story about an inescapably fragile man.
February 24, 2018
Ambitious, but missed the mark for me. Still, it was worth reading to see how Kaelan handled the interlocking stories.
June 26, 2010
from http://bigother.com/2010/06/26/james-...
I received Jame Kaelan’s signed, first (seeded cover) edition of WE’RE GETTING ON, & was blown away. I had read some excerpts of this book early on & was worried, just in part, that perhaps the Zero Emission Tour & seeded-cover (while genius & wonderful) would overshadow the book or make more of the story than it actually was. Not the case, not at all.
Holding the seeded cover is a tremendous feeling, the art & titling are letterpress quality & beautiful, & being a part of something new & big & different is a bad-ass moment for sure. & then I read the story, this narrative of a man who wants to break down the world, or at least himself, & I was enthralled. The language is just concrete enough to make for a quick & smooth read while also remaining poetic enough to avoid any genre labels.The narrative is gritty & unexpected, the characters not inundated with expositional elements but rather cast in quick, shadowed light, the way characters should be written. A dance of words on a page that turns into a spruce tree.
This is good good writing, stellar design, & a book that is haunting me still, two days later. I want this to haunt you. I want you to be haunted. Pick up a copy Pick up a copy Pick up a copy.
I received Jame Kaelan’s signed, first (seeded cover) edition of WE’RE GETTING ON, & was blown away. I had read some excerpts of this book early on & was worried, just in part, that perhaps the Zero Emission Tour & seeded-cover (while genius & wonderful) would overshadow the book or make more of the story than it actually was. Not the case, not at all.
Holding the seeded cover is a tremendous feeling, the art & titling are letterpress quality & beautiful, & being a part of something new & big & different is a bad-ass moment for sure. & then I read the story, this narrative of a man who wants to break down the world, or at least himself, & I was enthralled. The language is just concrete enough to make for a quick & smooth read while also remaining poetic enough to avoid any genre labels.The narrative is gritty & unexpected, the characters not inundated with expositional elements but rather cast in quick, shadowed light, the way characters should be written. A dance of words on a page that turns into a spruce tree.
This is good good writing, stellar design, & a book that is haunting me still, two days later. I want this to haunt you. I want you to be haunted. Pick up a copy Pick up a copy Pick up a copy.
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June 13, 2014http://www.full-stop.net/2011/01/27/r...
Review by David Backer
(1) Personal Situation of Author Re: Novel-Under-Review
I’m writing this review on a computer in New York City, 9 January 2011. I’m wearing one sweatshirt, one button-down shirt, one t-shirt, two socks, one pair of gray pants, one pair of underwear, one pair of glasses (transition lenses). I’m sitting in a heated apartment. I ate chinese food for dinner (takeout). Four lamps are on. The computer is a MacBook. It’s connected to the Internet via a wireless router. I’m writing this review using American English and a complex of Judeo-Christian-Humanist ideologies.
Each of these necessitates a technology: computer, router, apartment, lamp, language, abstract construct, etc. These technologies are the result of human “progress”: linguistic, conceptual, industrial, etc. I assume James Kaelen used a similar number and kind of them to write We’re Getting On, a novella that presents the nauseating question: Do any of these technologies really constitute progress?
(2) Connection to Western Philosophy
Continue reading here: http://www.full-stop.net/2011/01/27/r...
Review by David Backer
(1) Personal Situation of Author Re: Novel-Under-Review
I’m writing this review on a computer in New York City, 9 January 2011. I’m wearing one sweatshirt, one button-down shirt, one t-shirt, two socks, one pair of gray pants, one pair of underwear, one pair of glasses (transition lenses). I’m sitting in a heated apartment. I ate chinese food for dinner (takeout). Four lamps are on. The computer is a MacBook. It’s connected to the Internet via a wireless router. I’m writing this review using American English and a complex of Judeo-Christian-Humanist ideologies.
Each of these necessitates a technology: computer, router, apartment, lamp, language, abstract construct, etc. These technologies are the result of human “progress”: linguistic, conceptual, industrial, etc. I assume James Kaelen used a similar number and kind of them to write We’re Getting On, a novella that presents the nauseating question: Do any of these technologies really constitute progress?
(2) Connection to Western Philosophy
Continue reading here: http://www.full-stop.net/2011/01/27/r...
September 27, 2010
James Kaelan's We're Getting On is a very absorbing novella which is quite clearly intended to pay tribute to the work of Samuel Beckett. Readers familiar with Beckett's fiction and theater pieces will recognize multitudes of allusions, themes, images and uses of language directly referencing the older writer's oeuvre. The title itself refers to the famous final line from The Unnamable: "I can't go on, I'll go on." and the book begins with an epigraph from the same work.
Aside from its obvious function as homage, Kaelan's book is also a gripping and thought provoking story on its own. The writing is highly effective in conveying the coolly crumbling obsessions of the central character and the increasingly desperate circumstances faced by his band of followers as he proceeds to strip every last vestige of civilization from their lives in the remote, inhospitable, wilderness to which he has led them. If it doesn't completely rise above being a pastiche of its models, it nevertheless is a very satisfying two hour read.
Aside from its obvious function as homage, Kaelan's book is also a gripping and thought provoking story on its own. The writing is highly effective in conveying the coolly crumbling obsessions of the central character and the increasingly desperate circumstances faced by his band of followers as he proceeds to strip every last vestige of civilization from their lives in the remote, inhospitable, wilderness to which he has led them. If it doesn't completely rise above being a pastiche of its models, it nevertheless is a very satisfying two hour read.
September 6, 2014
I don't really know what to say as I don't really know what I just read. I got this book (signed with the seeded cover) from Powells in the unknown/self published section. It doesn't have a description on it so I had no idea what I was getting into, but I read the first page and decided to buy it. It's very short, as other reviewers have mentioned. I think that it has a lot of potential to be profound and send a message, but there were too many passages where the narrator rambles about seemingly non-sensical things.
July 23, 2014
I found everything from the interactions between characters, to the methods of the protagonist to be utterly pointless. The author grasps at straws to make some sort of profound statement, but in the end it was a jumbled mess. At 94 pages it's worth spending an hour on, simply because Kaelan isn't a bad author. For most, however, "We're Getting On" will come across as a perverse and senseless short story.
January 18, 2013
I really enjoyed the middle story with the two people conversing across the alley way. That could have been a lovely novel in itself. On the whole it was very well written but I have to say I found it all a little too gross/disturbing for me. I get that that was kind of the point, but just not my thing.
August 23, 2010
Exactly what I needed. I tore through this novella in one sitting, completely engrossed. I have several people that I need to pass this book on to in order to get their thoughts. Fantastic.
August 20, 2013
Beautiful edition with lovely handmade paper cover.
January 3, 2011
I really disliked the protagonist, and unfortunately couldn't get past that.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews