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Scoring Bertram Wiggly
“Man Martin is one of my gods. Right up there with Hermes and Poseidon,” James Iredell, Prose Poems a Novel
“Man Martin is no longer just a talent to watch. He’s an author to celebrate. Loudly and now,” Michael Griffith, Bibliophilia
“On the whole, very neat work, with hardly any misspellings,” Eugenia Terwilliger, Medville Librarian and Organist at First Presbyterian
When Bertram Wiggly leaves his job as an appliance actuary – calculating the life expectancy of major appliances so their warranties expire precisely one day before they implode – he thinks he’s found the perfect place to retire in Medville, with its town square, circled by brick-cobbled streets and quaint shops with bright red and white awnings.
But then… the town rezones itself for musicals.
At any moment an invisible orchestra is apt to strike up a melody and the otherwise sane townsfolk of Medville burst into song. And not just song, either. Dance.
Against his will, Bertram finds himself in the midst of a musical comedy in which he has been cast as the comic curmudgeon.
Can Bertram defy Sam, the mysterious orchestra leader, and thwart the destiny laid out for him?
“Man Martin is no longer just a talent to watch. He’s an author to celebrate. Loudly and now,” Michael Griffith, Bibliophilia
“On the whole, very neat work, with hardly any misspellings,” Eugenia Terwilliger, Medville Librarian and Organist at First Presbyterian
When Bertram Wiggly leaves his job as an appliance actuary – calculating the life expectancy of major appliances so their warranties expire precisely one day before they implode – he thinks he’s found the perfect place to retire in Medville, with its town square, circled by brick-cobbled streets and quaint shops with bright red and white awnings.
But then… the town rezones itself for musicals.
At any moment an invisible orchestra is apt to strike up a melody and the otherwise sane townsfolk of Medville burst into song. And not just song, either. Dance.
Against his will, Bertram finds himself in the midst of a musical comedy in which he has been cast as the comic curmudgeon.
Can Bertram defy Sam, the mysterious orchestra leader, and thwart the destiny laid out for him?
125 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 2, 2015
Things start going downhill for curmudgeony Bertram Wiggly when his small town votes to rezone itself for musicals. Now, he can’t escape the influence and constant presence of an invisible orchestra, can’t win his ward’s hand in marriage, can’t close a business deal that will make him billions.
This was a strange book for me in many ways. As someone who loves watching and performing in musicals and is quite familiar with all the tropes of the genre, this should be a perfect read for me. But really, Man Martin doesn’t strike me as someone who knows much about classic musicals at all. Oh, he has the surface stuff down – the ridiculousness of a group of people spontaneously breaking into song and dance, the cutsey gimmicks and the “everything works out perfectly” denouement – but as a true parody or pastiche, this is pretty weak.
The characters and plot are fun enough and tight enough that the musical element could almost be left out entirely. The book could work just as easily as straight story.
There are several racist portrayals of characters in this book that made me very uncomfortable. One might say that Martin was sending up all the stereotyped characters that also appeared in classic musicals but if so, he does a poor job of it. Martin spends a lot of time making fun of the typical male romantic leads that fill musicals; Joe Handsome is, well, handsome, earnest, righteous, homespun and often shirtless. And there are a lot of on-point jokes referencing the fact, skewering the ridiculousness of the character. Martin spends time showing the readers how ridiculous and unrealistic these types of characters were. But laundry owner Sing Lo is presented using the most outdated and offensive Asian stereotypes without any additional commentary. Without careful and thoughtful consideration, parody of racism can often look exactly like racism.
This was a strange book for me in many ways. As someone who loves watching and performing in musicals and is quite familiar with all the tropes of the genre, this should be a perfect read for me. But really, Man Martin doesn’t strike me as someone who knows much about classic musicals at all. Oh, he has the surface stuff down – the ridiculousness of a group of people spontaneously breaking into song and dance, the cutsey gimmicks and the “everything works out perfectly” denouement – but as a true parody or pastiche, this is pretty weak.
The characters and plot are fun enough and tight enough that the musical element could almost be left out entirely. The book could work just as easily as straight story.
There are several racist portrayals of characters in this book that made me very uncomfortable. One might say that Martin was sending up all the stereotyped characters that also appeared in classic musicals but if so, he does a poor job of it. Martin spends a lot of time making fun of the typical male romantic leads that fill musicals; Joe Handsome is, well, handsome, earnest, righteous, homespun and often shirtless. And there are a lot of on-point jokes referencing the fact, skewering the ridiculousness of the character. Martin spends time showing the readers how ridiculous and unrealistic these types of characters were. But laundry owner Sing Lo is presented using the most outdated and offensive Asian stereotypes without any additional commentary. Without careful and thoughtful consideration, parody of racism can often look exactly like racism.
January 18, 2016
This was a wonderful read!I was awed by Michael Bilboes narration and that he could keep up with the story! Bertram Wiggley is a sweet man,keeps to himself most of the time.He is informed that he has an 'inheritance' which turns out to be a 'Niece' who moves in with him.He LOVES her,then he decides to marry her,without her consent he develops this plan all along our story.Mr Wiggley is appalled one day that the local school hires a band,to play out every whim of the town and everyone is to sing.The intrigue,confusion,etc caused by this is hilarious! Mr Wiggleys luck is not good,give it a go to see what happens!
While I liked this book,I thought there were gaps that would have fleshed out the story.Mike Venditti did a great job narrating this story.
This audiobook was provided to me at no cost for a fair and honest review
While I liked this book,I thought there were gaps that would have fleshed out the story.Mike Venditti did a great job narrating this story.
This audiobook was provided to me at no cost for a fair and honest review
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews