Mr. Dynamite

by Meredith Brosnan

Jarieth Prendergast is an ex-pat Irishman, an aging punk rocker, a film snob, a copy-shop employee, and a truly desperate man. His marriage is in tatters and his career as an avant-garde artist is a non-starter. As the book opens, Jarleth receives a letter from his lawyer about a possible inheritance from his Aunt, and promptly falls into fits of delusion as hilarious as they are utterly pathetic. An extraordinary first novel that melds an Irish writer's high style and penchant for belly laughs with the grotesque smash-and-grab energy of pre-9/11 New York.

Genres: Fiction, Womens, Novels

175 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what happens when you put an aging punk-rocker, indie-film auteur Irishman into the street-life of late 20th century Brooklyn, fueled by the promise of a sizable impending inheritance while living the outcome of a series of increasingly poor decisions. Brosnan’s story structure, his writing, the voice of his protagonist are all brilliant. Things fall apart, as they always must, but the frenetic and obsessed narration is balanced with large doses of comedy that lend another layer to the story as it cartwheels towards its apocalyptic end.

Jonathan Lethem fans (especially those that enjoyed Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude) would find much to love within this novel. Meredith Brosnan published this via Dalkey in 2004 with promise of more to come; sadly this is the only work of his that has been published. This novel clocks in at 175 pages – which is my only problem with this work. I wish it had continued for 500 more pages.

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comparisons with The Tunnel and Take Five are not too far off for this Guinness-fuelled, torpedo-strength virtuoso performance-rant par excellence. The former for its claustrophobic comedy, its unflinching devotion to a warped mind, the latter for its linguistic play and Falstaffian tomfoolery. Jarleth Prendergast is a frustrated multimedia artist whose dreams are not coming true, but a chance encounter with $33,000 bequeathed by an Irish aunt prompts a reversal of fortune. Narrated in short bursts of stream-of-consciousness (tamed s-o-c, broken up with en dashes) in thoughts addressed to a lawyer friend from Ireland (a voice in his head), the book abounds in hipster references, hilarious quips and original wordplay, held together by an erratic, improvisatory plot. Dalkey rarely publish first novels from contemporary writers, despite soliciting manuscripts, but when they do, they strike gold. (Sadly this man [for it is a man] hasn’t published anything since).

[Lynne King · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so disappointed about this book. After reading two excellent reviews by GR friends, I had assumed, wrongly so, that this would be written in a similar style to the "Ginger Man" by J. P. Donleavy. This did not prove to be the case. I chose badly here.

A quick skim through to see if I had missed anything vaguely interesting but no...

I'm sure that many people will love this book but it was not for me unfortunately.

[Zadignose]

The glorious escapades of a pathetic, delusional narcissist about whom the cold-hearted world cannot give a fuck.

Excellent in a variety of ways.

[Fawzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW..

This novel is a stream-of-consciousness rant-like slice of life about an Irish Expat living in NYC by the name of Jarleth Prendergast. I liked it but there were times when the book got started on some plot-like adventure and then he suddenly dropped it. SPOILERS: Like when he thinks he's going to get an inheritance and then he doesn't.

The book is very funny, but at times it reminded me too much of Taxi Driver for some reason. (maybe it was the assassination plot; trying to get revenge for his girlfriend)

As far as the ending, I was hoping it would be a more optimistic ending. I wanted him to change his life and do better. FYI...not all great books have to have a depressing ending in order to be considered great.

It felt like a kind of, "look at this loser novel - isn't he a fool." I didn't feel any empathy by the writer for the character.

And yes, the Jarleth reminded me a lot of Ignatius J. Reilly. They are almost on the same wavelength. Specially with Jarleth always addressing the dead lawyer Sean and Ignatius talking to Fortuna.

The prose is very manic, hilarious, and sometimes hard to follow with all the crazy references. Googling stuff will help you, and you will learn a lot.

But what makes Jarleth a complete loser? His marriage to Martha? His job at the Copy Shop? His delusional dreams of being a puppeteer or whatever?

And I think I needed more Amelia. There was not enough for me to believe that Jarleth would go and kill someone for her.

I'm gonna read it over again to see if I missed anything though.

I recommend it. It's a crazy, funny book about 1 of how many millions of immigrants in NYC??

[🐴 🍖]

it is a crime against comedy that meredith brosnan has only published this one novel

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

too rushed

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Dynamite is interestingly a sort of mix between Mark Leyner and Anthony Burgess. It's written in the modernist style: stream of consciousness w/ barely a nod to punctuation, nonlinear timelines, etc. Heavy on pop-culture (or at least references to punk, jazz, old movies, and Gumby), I sometimes felt as un-hip as tight-rolled jeans...and found myself furtively looking up references in Google. Great fun - tragic and comic, so who can resist?

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was funny, interesting and also sad look into the mind of a middle aged man who is losing everything. I got to work with the author on the design of the cover in addition to seeing the book take shape while in the editing process. It is one of my favorites that I worked on at Dalkey.

[Tuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

some very hilarious stuff here. brosnan is best is wildly overindulgent doses, that is, a 3rd bottle of beaujolais nouveau 2009 instead of the 2 you SAID you were gonna have. for a good laugh and try to make yourself feel better by observing some else's failures and fucked up life.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like a modern "Ginger Man". But this time he's an aging punk rocker in the East Village.

[Paul Secor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too manic for me.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just another funny alcoholic Irishman goes mad (this time in NYC) novel, but quite a good one if you aren't overdosed on the genre.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I swear there were zero commas in this book. Hard to watch this guy's life fall completely apart, but harder still to sympathize with him.