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Lionel Lancet and The Right Vibe
"Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe by Daniel Backer is written with an intelligence and kaleidoscopic literary gusto in which we, the readers, are afforded the luxury of sitting back blissfully in the hands of an author who is exquisitely in control of his craft."
-Phillip Freedenberg, author of America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic
Order from LuLu.com instead of Amazon.
When Art Lancet dies, his lazy grandson Lionel is named the heir to his estate. Lionel, who spends his days smoking weed and watching atheists on YouTube, expects wealth from his inheritance and a guarantee that his life will be work-free.
Instead, he inherits a foundation mired in legal trouble and a job at the Hotel Bellehaven, a seaside resort managed by a failed film producer who verbally abuses him in front of guests.
With lawsuits looming, Lionel reluctantly faces the almost insurmountable obstacle of working for a living. To make matters worse, a famous actress takes an interest in him and tests his atheism with her spiritual bent.
Lionel worries that he'll be stuck with a beautiful celebrity at a luxurious hotel forever until he begins to suspect that there might be a conspiracy to kill him in a ritual sacrifice.
Blending noir and post-60s psychedelia, Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a satire of self-aggrandizing spirituality, cultural appropriation, and dark money in right-wing politics.
-Phillip Freedenberg, author of America and the Cult of the Cactus Boots: A Diagnostic
Order from LuLu.com instead of Amazon.
When Art Lancet dies, his lazy grandson Lionel is named the heir to his estate. Lionel, who spends his days smoking weed and watching atheists on YouTube, expects wealth from his inheritance and a guarantee that his life will be work-free.
Instead, he inherits a foundation mired in legal trouble and a job at the Hotel Bellehaven, a seaside resort managed by a failed film producer who verbally abuses him in front of guests.
With lawsuits looming, Lionel reluctantly faces the almost insurmountable obstacle of working for a living. To make matters worse, a famous actress takes an interest in him and tests his atheism with her spiritual bent.
Lionel worries that he'll be stuck with a beautiful celebrity at a luxurious hotel forever until he begins to suspect that there might be a conspiracy to kill him in a ritual sacrifice.
Blending noir and post-60s psychedelia, Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a satire of self-aggrandizing spirituality, cultural appropriation, and dark money in right-wing politics.
216 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2021
2 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Backer
3 books41 followersDaniel Backer is the author of Lionel Lancet and The Right Vibe, a slacker noir that satirizes spiritual materialism, psychedelic indulgence, and dark money in right-wing politics.
His first book Abraham is a novella that explores spirituality and philosophy.
His first book Abraham is a novella that explores spirituality and philosophy.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 29, 2021
“In order for it to show what holds the ultimate power in your life, it breaks everything down. Your sense of self, the thoughts in your head, your entire ability to construct meaning.”
Prepare the mind, sip the brew, the story begins…
The dizzying lucidity of our imagination drifts somewhere below the blazing golden California skies as we temporarily make-believe that the psychotropic mechanics of the Hollywood dream machine will sell us something we may call an escape from the true ontological entropy of our nature, yet as we quixotically plunge into the satirically dark, masterfully imagined—at times as hilarious as it is philosophically minded—Californian underworld of Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe, we discover that the promise of the City of Angels may be darker as well as more profound than we could have ever imagined.
“Synchronicity Number One”
“Synchronicity Number Two”
“Synchronicity Number Three”
Let the rituals begin. The metaphysical panopticon of the Hotel Bellehaven opened in us a luminescence of our newly emergent pure form.
The book opens with a sublime, existentially comic deluge that immediately pulls readers into a world they will want to spend endless hours getting lost within that initially radiates with the atmospheric, psychedelic, noirish euphoria of Pynchon’s Inherent Vice, the intoxicating black humor of Vonnegut, brilliantly colored with a cast of absurdist characters who could be pulled out of a B-Roll of The Coen Brother’s “The Big Lebowski.”
We ascend again into pure vibration as “Carriers of the Cosmos 2: Beneath the Surface” appears on the screen and the fixed traditional material boundaries of the world washed away around us .
The book begins with the sudden death of Art Lancet, (1937-2016) head of Fiduciary Royalties Association for United Donors 501(c)(3) tax exempt, a potentially nefarious organization creating tax shelters and funding the manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs, all the while funneling money to conservative think tanks with the help of a film mogul named Eli Deatherage, all of which is passed on to Art’s grandson Lionel, the protagonist of the book, who comes to the attention of Melanie Bobbers, an “internet famous lawyer” and former feminist surfer gang member of the Surf Skanks, who serves him with a subpoena to be sued while beginning to unravel the real, deeper meanings hidden within this phantasmagorical world of which Lionel inherits the burden after his father Francis abandons him and he becomes the inheritor of the hysteria and corruption which has trickled down through the loosely connected dark alleles of the troubled Lancet family tree.
Plato, Aristotle, and Tarkovsky all looked in at us through the immaterial fabric of what temporarily felt like the same dream that we all shared, as the geometric properties of our deconstructed selves spanned our entire collective history.
Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe by Daniel Backer is written with an intelligence and kaleidoscopic literary gusto in which we, the readers, are afforded the luxury of sitting back blissfully in the hands of an author who is exquisitely in control of his craft.
The book is exploring, among many things, the new, barren, emotional, intellectual landscape of a new media superstructure which is starving us of real connection and meaning as people fall further away from one another, looking for truth and meaning in the static self-referential echo chambers of a new dawn of prevailing YouTube ideologues where the likes of Sam Harris, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Christopher Hitchens offer some combination of a struggle between cognitive-dissonance or transcendence.
Lionel Lancet, like many of us, is searching for meaning in a world fractured by a myriad of powerful controlling interests which are all screaming for our attention in the delirium of the distorted cacophony of a world that is so quickly accelerating its development into a hyper-modern portrait of itself that we are no longer able to recognize the humanity of it all.
Over the course of Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe—a novel wrestling with a post-Nietzschean world in which the proclamation of “god is dead” has left us existentially responsible for the construction of a new world—as we, the readers, follow along with Lionel to not only explore the labyrinthian underworld of a hard-boiled, psychedelic detective thread, but also to learn of the ethereal potential of the effects of Adhikashara, in which we begin to discover just how we may manifest the “ultimate power” in our lives as we move through a brilliantly written novel that explores materialism, philosophy, transcendence, film, spirituality, subculture, the limits of modernity, technology, as well as the meaning and structures of language, as we all hope to one day evolve to exist potentially as pure vibration, where we, too, hope to attain the “right vibe.”
Tony’s Rolls Royce, full of boxes, pulled up to the curb, exercising a grand, deconstructed mythology; then we all got in—me, you, Lionel, and Tomiina—each looking back beyond the materialist world of both symbol and object, and we all hoped, maybe if even for just this one eternal present moment, that maybe, just maybe, the book would never end!
Highly recommended.
Prepare the mind, sip the brew, the story begins…
The dizzying lucidity of our imagination drifts somewhere below the blazing golden California skies as we temporarily make-believe that the psychotropic mechanics of the Hollywood dream machine will sell us something we may call an escape from the true ontological entropy of our nature, yet as we quixotically plunge into the satirically dark, masterfully imagined—at times as hilarious as it is philosophically minded—Californian underworld of Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe, we discover that the promise of the City of Angels may be darker as well as more profound than we could have ever imagined.
“Synchronicity Number One”
“Synchronicity Number Two”
“Synchronicity Number Three”
Let the rituals begin. The metaphysical panopticon of the Hotel Bellehaven opened in us a luminescence of our newly emergent pure form.
The book opens with a sublime, existentially comic deluge that immediately pulls readers into a world they will want to spend endless hours getting lost within that initially radiates with the atmospheric, psychedelic, noirish euphoria of Pynchon’s Inherent Vice, the intoxicating black humor of Vonnegut, brilliantly colored with a cast of absurdist characters who could be pulled out of a B-Roll of The Coen Brother’s “The Big Lebowski.”
We ascend again into pure vibration as “Carriers of the Cosmos 2: Beneath the Surface” appears on the screen and the fixed traditional material boundaries of the world washed away around us .
The book begins with the sudden death of Art Lancet, (1937-2016) head of Fiduciary Royalties Association for United Donors 501(c)(3) tax exempt, a potentially nefarious organization creating tax shelters and funding the manufacture of pharmaceutical drugs, all the while funneling money to conservative think tanks with the help of a film mogul named Eli Deatherage, all of which is passed on to Art’s grandson Lionel, the protagonist of the book, who comes to the attention of Melanie Bobbers, an “internet famous lawyer” and former feminist surfer gang member of the Surf Skanks, who serves him with a subpoena to be sued while beginning to unravel the real, deeper meanings hidden within this phantasmagorical world of which Lionel inherits the burden after his father Francis abandons him and he becomes the inheritor of the hysteria and corruption which has trickled down through the loosely connected dark alleles of the troubled Lancet family tree.
Plato, Aristotle, and Tarkovsky all looked in at us through the immaterial fabric of what temporarily felt like the same dream that we all shared, as the geometric properties of our deconstructed selves spanned our entire collective history.
Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe by Daniel Backer is written with an intelligence and kaleidoscopic literary gusto in which we, the readers, are afforded the luxury of sitting back blissfully in the hands of an author who is exquisitely in control of his craft.
The book is exploring, among many things, the new, barren, emotional, intellectual landscape of a new media superstructure which is starving us of real connection and meaning as people fall further away from one another, looking for truth and meaning in the static self-referential echo chambers of a new dawn of prevailing YouTube ideologues where the likes of Sam Harris, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Christopher Hitchens offer some combination of a struggle between cognitive-dissonance or transcendence.
Lionel Lancet, like many of us, is searching for meaning in a world fractured by a myriad of powerful controlling interests which are all screaming for our attention in the delirium of the distorted cacophony of a world that is so quickly accelerating its development into a hyper-modern portrait of itself that we are no longer able to recognize the humanity of it all.
Over the course of Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe—a novel wrestling with a post-Nietzschean world in which the proclamation of “god is dead” has left us existentially responsible for the construction of a new world—as we, the readers, follow along with Lionel to not only explore the labyrinthian underworld of a hard-boiled, psychedelic detective thread, but also to learn of the ethereal potential of the effects of Adhikashara, in which we begin to discover just how we may manifest the “ultimate power” in our lives as we move through a brilliantly written novel that explores materialism, philosophy, transcendence, film, spirituality, subculture, the limits of modernity, technology, as well as the meaning and structures of language, as we all hope to one day evolve to exist potentially as pure vibration, where we, too, hope to attain the “right vibe.”
Tony’s Rolls Royce, full of boxes, pulled up to the curb, exercising a grand, deconstructed mythology; then we all got in—me, you, Lionel, and Tomiina—each looking back beyond the materialist world of both symbol and object, and we all hoped, maybe if even for just this one eternal present moment, that maybe, just maybe, the book would never end!
Highly recommended.
May 6, 2022
Lionel Lancet might possibly be the funniest book I’ve ever read.
Lionel’s grandfather dies. Lionel’s father runs away. Lionel stays at a hotel and signs a bunch of papers he doesn’t read beforehand. Lionel, a pothead who loves watching atheist videos on YouTube, is forced to work at Hotel Belleheaven and has inherited his family’s legal troubles. While working at the hotel, he comes in contact with Tomiina- a beautiful and famous actress along with the Deatherage family. During all of this, Lionel is on a paranoid quest to figure out why all of this trouble is coming down on him while meeting other characters along the way.
The novel has a lot to offer (drugs/philosophy/religion/comedy/conspiracy) spanning just over 200 pages.
What I enjoyed about this novel is there definitely is not a happy ending and that, like real life, shit happens.
An insightful and hilarious read worth cracking open.
5 Milly Rocks out of 5.
Lionel’s grandfather dies. Lionel’s father runs away. Lionel stays at a hotel and signs a bunch of papers he doesn’t read beforehand. Lionel, a pothead who loves watching atheist videos on YouTube, is forced to work at Hotel Belleheaven and has inherited his family’s legal troubles. While working at the hotel, he comes in contact with Tomiina- a beautiful and famous actress along with the Deatherage family. During all of this, Lionel is on a paranoid quest to figure out why all of this trouble is coming down on him while meeting other characters along the way.
The novel has a lot to offer (drugs/philosophy/religion/comedy/conspiracy) spanning just over 200 pages.
What I enjoyed about this novel is there definitely is not a happy ending and that, like real life, shit happens.
An insightful and hilarious read worth cracking open.
5 Milly Rocks out of 5.
October 1, 2021
This book would make a great A24 summer hit. Cathartic, relatable reading for anyone, like me, who has made $10-an-hour plus overtime to stand on the stoop of Dean Norris’s trailer and explain why the fuck there’s salt on his eggs when he said no salt, or who has handed a director what one thought was a latte, only to have them grimace, hand it to the first AD, who took a sip and said, what the fuck is this, a cappuccino?
April 4, 2025
First and foremost, thank you to Daniel for allowing me to read his book for free. I rarely read books by people that I am mutuals with because I don’t enjoy that conflict of interests. However with Daniel I made an exception bc I truly appreciate his analysis on all topics and he has entertained and informed me for a couple of years now. Regardless I was skeptical due to past experiences with other authors.
With that out of the way…
This was a good book. I’d say even really good. Definitely not for everyone and I don’t think it is trying to be. For me it falls in to the vein of many of the stories that I’ve enjoyed hearing Daniel talk about on TikTok (Wallace, Pynchon, etc) although not nearly as difficult which was nice. It’s a fun satire and story that examines the social and political climate of the modern (2020ish) USofA. Daniel has a beautiful way of words and he applies them incredibly to the vast array of topics packed into this tiny book such as: politics, religion, drugs, LA culture, and many others that I won’t say for the sake of not spoiling anything.
Overall I would highly recommend if you enjoy fun books that are also thematically rich without taking themselves overly serious. Thank you again Daniel and I hope those seeing this check out this novel.
With that out of the way…
This was a good book. I’d say even really good. Definitely not for everyone and I don’t think it is trying to be. For me it falls in to the vein of many of the stories that I’ve enjoyed hearing Daniel talk about on TikTok (Wallace, Pynchon, etc) although not nearly as difficult which was nice. It’s a fun satire and story that examines the social and political climate of the modern (2020ish) USofA. Daniel has a beautiful way of words and he applies them incredibly to the vast array of topics packed into this tiny book such as: politics, religion, drugs, LA culture, and many others that I won’t say for the sake of not spoiling anything.
Overall I would highly recommend if you enjoy fun books that are also thematically rich without taking themselves overly serious. Thank you again Daniel and I hope those seeing this check out this novel.
October 28, 2021
There's a graffiti in my neighborhood that reads 'All lies were true'. Every time I see it I can't help but wonder if I'm being pwned as the colors fade and letters are collapsing on themselves with time. It's the same pointy absurd feeling I got when reading 'Lionel Lancet and The Right Vibe'. If the Big Lebowski and Pynchon's giant adenoid had to co-author a novel, this is what you'd get. Lionel has to clean up all surfaces as the employee at a hotel and in the process his atheism dissolves into a psychedelic experience through a mysterious drug, Adhikashara. He Progresses towards the Right through coincidence, conspiracy and negative inheritance and learns to transcend surfaces. 'God Bless This Mess' with its funny dialogue and cinematic feels.
October 23, 2021
Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a feverish, psychedelic romp about a disaffected stoner, man-child who has everyone else’s bad vibes and bad intentions projected onto him. Lionel, the man, is an anti-ubermensch: pathologically uncharismatic and made vacant by his twin vices -- weed dependency and internet atheism. Lionel's interest in ideas is as flimsy as his interest in leaving his couch until his grandfather's will stipulates he work a job at the Hotel Bellhaven, where for the first time he must battle malevolent forces and stand up for himself against his bullying, social climbing boss, and an impending lawsuit.
Lionel is gentle in its execution. He is a man-child enfeebled by being spoiled by his idle, negligent family, and by feelings of worthlessness brought about by a life spent in front of a screen, trading human connection and engagement for the egoist fantasy of being a great debater ala Hitchens. His impotence and helplessness engenders a reluctant pathos, even though in his quest to be a man of logic he falls down the online-right-wing rabbit hole circa 2016. Lionel spends the bulk of the novel too beaten-down and isolated to understand that he is missing love, and you cannot blame him given how he’s treated: like a liability, a pawn, or a symbol of the inequalities at the heart of society’s rot.
Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a droll satire that skewers the wealthy in the 21st century the way Fitzgerald and Wharton skewered their old aristocratic subjects. Unlike Gatsby, a cautionary tale of getting involved with the idle rich if there ever was one, where Tom and Daisy’s class position insulate them from consequences and they stomp on the nouveau riche for daring to claw their way into their world, in 2016 Lionel’s wealthy family has no such allegiance to one another. Lionel’s clan has no fondness or obligation to him. The ghoulish Lancet patriarch practices a cafeteria survey of eastern spirituality that asks little in the way of self reflection or sacrifice and is clearly an outlet for narcissism and skull and bones elitism.
At its core, Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a comedy of pathos as Lionel is dicked around by intractable forces, all he can do is ride the wave and search for some better vibes.
Lionel is gentle in its execution. He is a man-child enfeebled by being spoiled by his idle, negligent family, and by feelings of worthlessness brought about by a life spent in front of a screen, trading human connection and engagement for the egoist fantasy of being a great debater ala Hitchens. His impotence and helplessness engenders a reluctant pathos, even though in his quest to be a man of logic he falls down the online-right-wing rabbit hole circa 2016. Lionel spends the bulk of the novel too beaten-down and isolated to understand that he is missing love, and you cannot blame him given how he’s treated: like a liability, a pawn, or a symbol of the inequalities at the heart of society’s rot.
Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a droll satire that skewers the wealthy in the 21st century the way Fitzgerald and Wharton skewered their old aristocratic subjects. Unlike Gatsby, a cautionary tale of getting involved with the idle rich if there ever was one, where Tom and Daisy’s class position insulate them from consequences and they stomp on the nouveau riche for daring to claw their way into their world, in 2016 Lionel’s wealthy family has no such allegiance to one another. Lionel’s clan has no fondness or obligation to him. The ghoulish Lancet patriarch practices a cafeteria survey of eastern spirituality that asks little in the way of self reflection or sacrifice and is clearly an outlet for narcissism and skull and bones elitism.
At its core, Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe is a comedy of pathos as Lionel is dicked around by intractable forces, all he can do is ride the wave and search for some better vibes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2021
I haven't been this drawn in and captivated right off the bat by a book in a very long time and @danielbackerauthor maintains my captivation page after page. What a fantastic and one of the most fun reads ever. I had such a blast reading this gem. Author Daniel Backer has created an exciting and trippy story with real and enticing characters. The main character being Lionel Lancet who I immediately started rooting for and can relate to him in the sense of his Anxiety and Panic disorders ( I deal with both.) I do believe he is delivered of them in the end. Chapter 18 may very well be the best drug induced experience chapters I've ever read. Y'all should definitely pick up a copy and treat yourself to the mind of @danielbackerauthor. Thank you Daniel 🙏🤙 Can't wait for the next.
November 17, 2021
When we meet Lionel Lancet he is a sort of 21st century, YouTube addicted Ignatius J Reilly (from a Confederacy of Dunces) who is catapulted into a madcap Pynchonic world of strange characters and mysterious corporate entities by the death of his grandfather and disappearance of his father. In the course of his zany adventure he does his best to come to terms with science, religion, atheism, spirituality, and mysticism. Not that he makes much headway — whenever he starts to break a mental sweat he anesthetizes himself with a joint . But count it as a major victory that, even if Lionel doesn’t solve any of these deep mysteries, he discards his rigid view of the world developed in a YouTube echo chamber and gains a bit of self awareness.
Enjoyed the read!
Enjoyed the read!
September 29, 2021
Hilarious and Thought Provoking!!!
This book grabs you from the opening sentence. Hapless Lionel cannot seem to stay out of his own way. The characters in this book jump off the page and the story grabs you by the neck and does not let go! The deposition and courtroom scenes are "laugh out loud" funny. Once you pick it up, you won't put it down...Five stars and two thumbs way up for this tremendous author. I cannot wait to see what he has lined up for his next book...
This book grabs you from the opening sentence. Hapless Lionel cannot seem to stay out of his own way. The characters in this book jump off the page and the story grabs you by the neck and does not let go! The deposition and courtroom scenes are "laugh out loud" funny. Once you pick it up, you won't put it down...Five stars and two thumbs way up for this tremendous author. I cannot wait to see what he has lined up for his next book...
Read
April 4, 2023Ignatius Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces in modern, pseudo-spiritual California.
February 18, 2025
It was very funny and quite refreshing to see such contemporary topics talked about in some well structured literature, the story was fantastic. I found it to be highly relatable and Lionel to ultimately be a lovable character in the end. I think if there was anything I took away from the meaning is that we are constantly wrestling with structure and structured “anti-structure” as seen in a character like Tomina. It’s this great bout for authenticity as we drown in the flood of history and data, searching endlessly for a self we may or may not have among a land of meaning or no meaning. It was really great, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Good work!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2021
I guess the easiest way for me to describe why I like this book is to make a bullet list:
• The trippy narrative feels disjointed in the best possible way, throwing a curveball at you every chapter, while still being a thematically cohesive whole with a plot that's easy to follow.
• Lionel Lancet, despite his flaws, is a strong and likeable protagonist. I couldn't help but feel for him (even as I yelled at him in frustration). Relatable too, for a guy like me who watched a lot of atheist vs. Christian debates as a teenager and still struggles to break the grip of cold Western intellectualism that's undergirded how I process the universe for so long.
• The novel's knack for comic irony is *chef's kiss*. It has some pointed things to say about dark money and appropriative spirituality, all conveyed through a sizzling satire of affluent influencers, moguls, and brands.
• It's a real page-turner. I had to find out what happens next.
An impressive debut for Daniel Backer! Whatever he has planned next, I'm in.
• The trippy narrative feels disjointed in the best possible way, throwing a curveball at you every chapter, while still being a thematically cohesive whole with a plot that's easy to follow.
• Lionel Lancet, despite his flaws, is a strong and likeable protagonist. I couldn't help but feel for him (even as I yelled at him in frustration). Relatable too, for a guy like me who watched a lot of atheist vs. Christian debates as a teenager and still struggles to break the grip of cold Western intellectualism that's undergirded how I process the universe for so long.
• The novel's knack for comic irony is *chef's kiss*. It has some pointed things to say about dark money and appropriative spirituality, all conveyed through a sizzling satire of affluent influencers, moguls, and brands.
• It's a real page-turner. I had to find out what happens next.
An impressive debut for Daniel Backer! Whatever he has planned next, I'm in.
October 26, 2021
I met author Daniel Backer in the Thomas Pynchon subreddit, and he hooked me up with a review copy of his new book. From the very first chapter, I couldn't put it down.
It is a well-developed story written around quirky yet believable characters.
As the plot thickened, I was never quite sure where the story would take me, however the author seemed to be in complete control the entire time.
A few of the more heady passages deserve to be reread. And really my only critique of the book revolves around some of the political passages, which I found didn't really move the story forward and in my opinion unnecessarily dated the story.
However, I still give the title five stars because this is a story that left me wanting more, in a good way. I wanted to spend more time in this universe, with these characters or spin-off characters. Maybe a prequel?
If you love fun reads drenched in psychedelia and flawed characters, don't hesitate to give this one a shot!
It is a well-developed story written around quirky yet believable characters.
As the plot thickened, I was never quite sure where the story would take me, however the author seemed to be in complete control the entire time.
A few of the more heady passages deserve to be reread. And really my only critique of the book revolves around some of the political passages, which I found didn't really move the story forward and in my opinion unnecessarily dated the story.
However, I still give the title five stars because this is a story that left me wanting more, in a good way. I wanted to spend more time in this universe, with these characters or spin-off characters. Maybe a prequel?
If you love fun reads drenched in psychedelia and flawed characters, don't hesitate to give this one a shot!
December 10, 2024
Daniel Backer’s "Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe" is a penetrating exploration of generational trauma, cultural disillusionment, and the profound moral bankruptcy of contemporary American society.
Backer's novel is a masterful dissection of the societal fault lines between Baby Boomers and Millennials, masterfully weaving a narrative that is at once a scathing critique and a nuanced character study. Backer excavates the deep-seated consequences of unchecked materialism, rampant consumerism, and a toxic individualism that has corroded the American social fabric.
Drawing inspiration from mid-century American literary traditions, Backer writes with a straightforward yet deeply thoughtful prose style. His command of rhetorical techniques is evident in every carefully constructed sentence, creating a reading experience that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. The work teeters brilliantly on the edge of literary fiction and weird fiction, offering readers a unique and unsettling perspective on contemporary existential malaise.
"Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe" is more than just a novel; it's a cultural diagnosis. Backer courageously confronts the hollow promises of false religiosity and the spiritual bankruptcy that underlies American consumer culture. Through his protagonist, he articulates the profound sense of ennui that defines a generation caught between inherited systemic failures and the challenging task of reimagining social meaning.
Backer is a significant literary talent to watch. With his sharp analytical eye, empathetic storytelling, and fearless critique of societal norms, he demonstrates a maturity and depth that belies his status as a new author. "Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe" is not just a book—it's a statement, a generational reckoning that demands to be read, discussed, and remembered.
Highly recommended for readers who appreciate intellectually rigorous fiction that doesn't shy away from uncomfortable truths.
Backer's novel is a masterful dissection of the societal fault lines between Baby Boomers and Millennials, masterfully weaving a narrative that is at once a scathing critique and a nuanced character study. Backer excavates the deep-seated consequences of unchecked materialism, rampant consumerism, and a toxic individualism that has corroded the American social fabric.
Drawing inspiration from mid-century American literary traditions, Backer writes with a straightforward yet deeply thoughtful prose style. His command of rhetorical techniques is evident in every carefully constructed sentence, creating a reading experience that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. The work teeters brilliantly on the edge of literary fiction and weird fiction, offering readers a unique and unsettling perspective on contemporary existential malaise.
"Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe" is more than just a novel; it's a cultural diagnosis. Backer courageously confronts the hollow promises of false religiosity and the spiritual bankruptcy that underlies American consumer culture. Through his protagonist, he articulates the profound sense of ennui that defines a generation caught between inherited systemic failures and the challenging task of reimagining social meaning.
Backer is a significant literary talent to watch. With his sharp analytical eye, empathetic storytelling, and fearless critique of societal norms, he demonstrates a maturity and depth that belies his status as a new author. "Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe" is not just a book—it's a statement, a generational reckoning that demands to be read, discussed, and remembered.
Highly recommended for readers who appreciate intellectually rigorous fiction that doesn't shy away from uncomfortable truths.
January 22, 2022
This book was really fun to read. Reminded me of a lot of 1990s movies where characters have nonchalant conversations about really existential topics, meanwhile, absolutely insane stuff is happening all around them.
The protagonist, Lionel Lancet, is not even ambitious enough to be an antihero. The whole time, I'm yelling at him to get off the couch and do some push ups, or somehow fight for self-preservation, but it is just not in his nature to do such a thing.
Last thing I want to say... this book kind of reminds me of Greek myths, where the gods bicker and scheme, but they're all immortal, so nobody is actually in danger.
The protagonist, Lionel Lancet, is not even ambitious enough to be an antihero. The whole time, I'm yelling at him to get off the couch and do some push ups, or somehow fight for self-preservation, but it is just not in his nature to do such a thing.
Last thing I want to say... this book kind of reminds me of Greek myths, where the gods bicker and scheme, but they're all immortal, so nobody is actually in danger.
January 4, 2024
A Post-Modern Confederacy of Dunces set in modern-day Los Angeles. Lionel Lancet is an incel pseudo-intellectual nepo-baby that has come across the first conflict of his life, the death of his grandfather. Emotionally unaffected by the his death, the consequences follow him for the rest of the novel. Now the president of his grandfather’s organization (F.R.A.U.D) and served with a lawsuit, he tries his best to run away from unavoidable consequences. Stumbling at best.
This novel is hilarious as much as it is intellectually well-written. Lionel is a bowling ball going from one side of the bumpers to the other (he wouldn’t be able to play without them) until he crashes at the end. Somehow throwing a strike.
This novel is hilarious as much as it is intellectually well-written. Lionel is a bowling ball going from one side of the bumpers to the other (he wouldn’t be able to play without them) until he crashes at the end. Somehow throwing a strike.
January 13, 2022
Reading this book was a trip, seriously! I love how fleshed out the characters were and how fun it was to read. The inner dialogue he’d have about those around him and his journey through life after a family death just throws you in for a real loop! Amazing debut by Daniel Backer. Can’t wait to see what he has next!
April 7, 2022
It rakes Los Angeles to its core with all the hype and faux spiritualism. I think the most striking part of the writing is that it showed disassociation so accurately. They say a writer picks one sense to tell their story well, this one tells them all. Big props to the costars Melanie and Tony Motion. Wow. they will live on in my mind.
March 26, 2022
Fun, entertaining, and insightful. I can’t wait to see what Mr. Backer does next
August 7, 2024
What a trip!
February 14, 2025
Very funny Pynchon-inspired stoner noir. Occasionally drifts into essay-like passages, but very good writing overall.
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