Die Normalen

by David Gilbert

"With the millennium fast approaching, twenty-eight-year-old Harvard-educated Billy Schine finds himself without prospects, a balled-up bit of litter riding the boom of New York in the nineties. His classmates make millions on Wall Street and the Internet while Billy makes do with a series of temp jobs. He has a girlfriend, Sally Hu, but they're more of a couple by romantic default, sex the only commodity they're willing to trade in." "Time flows by without consequence until one day Billy receives a letter from Ragnar & Sons, a collection agency seeking some satisfaction on three years of unpaid student loans. Death is mentioned as an alternative to payment. Now every passerby is a potential hit man, and Billy has to flee. But where? Not home to his unwell parents. Providence delivers Hargrove Anderson Medical, a pharmaceutical company looking for perfectly healthy "normals" to participate in Phase I studies of their latest experimental drugs. Billy signs up for a fourteen-day trial of Allevatrox, a new atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia." "The boredom of the research center is punctuated by twice-daily appointments with pills and needles. The normals trade battle stories from the healing fields of guinea pig, and Billy is pleased. He's rested and well fed and possibly in love with the lone female in the study. Then the messy side effects hit, and everything changes. The normal world is turned upside down, the real and unreal merging until spilled blood becomes the only proof of a beating heart." Through the sharp-eyed, self-doubting Billy Schine, David Gilbert exposes the crisis of the contemporary human how to connect?

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Contemporary

Pocket Book

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

David Gilbert is the author of the story collection Remote Feed and the novel The Normals. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, GQ, and Bomb. He lives in New York with his wife and three children.

Reviews

[Maya Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is what I've determined about David Gilbert: if you get him writing about any subject at all, within 5 sentences you will have a gem. Brilliant, precise observations and gorgeous language seem to come to him so readily that it's a little frightening. This novel is funny (as many have commented), but it's also a sharp, bleak, DeLillo-esque snapshot of postmodern America, a Holden Caulfield gone pharamcaological in 1999. The listless protagonist can't seem to take the reins of his own life, and his self-loathing is put to the test in the phase 1 drug testing for which he volunteers. How much of life are we willing to throw away? This is the real question that pervades The Normals, and its trenchant ruminations stayed with me long after I had finished reading.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of the criticism about this book is the main character isn't engaged or active enough in the story and is more of sounding board for the author's and other characters ideas, but I think that is the whole point. The main character is noncommittal, unattached, and hopelessly isolated from the rest of the world, and despite his desires to interact and engage with those around him finds himself unwilling and/or unable to because of his pathological inability to really care. I think Gilbert's ability to portray that kind of desperate loneliness without the reader feeling disdain for the character is amazing. However, the best parts of the book are when Gilbert allows his other minor characters to speak and share their stories. These short narratives are the strongest chapters in the novel and really showcase Gilbert's ability to create emotion in a very limited space.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man-boy (Billy Schine) a little like Holden Caulfield "grows" up to be a temp worker in New York struggling to find out what normal is. So he enrolls in a drug study in upstate New York that pays him a two-week stipend to be a control subject as a "normal". Not only is this an excuse to leave New York and his banal existence, but also to cowardly skip out on his roommate plus benefits before she does. And to boot, to give the skip on his delinquent student loans and their loan collector/bounty hunter.

As one would expect, his fellow "normals" are anything but. The books is a little "Magic Mountain" and a little "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" but with hipster irony and satire. Schine does have the expected character growth, but with a lot of humorous escapades along the way. Not sure if I got what the author intended, but I did enjoy reading it.

[Chuck Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading & sons for the second time, I wanted more of David Gilbert. &sons is one of my all time favorites. I read his book of short stories, remote feed, and enjoyed it. I didn’t even realize he had another novel till I finished &sons and checked him on google; so I ordered it sight unseen. It was his first novel and was good but no &sons. I recommend it but not on my all time list. I’m just anxious for his next; must be about due.

[Alessandra Piscitelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best trovata al mercatino di Talenti (babbè me lo descriveva come il figlio di Sedaris e Wallace, come non comprarlo ) ((anche se piu figlio legittimo nella prima parte rispetto alla seconda))

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

billy schine is such a jerk

that's what kept me reading this book when i wasn't quite sure if i liked the first fifty pages: the protagonist is such a giant ass you have to see what he's going to do next

schine, who went to harvard and is kind of pissed about it, lives with his successful girlfriend sally in new york city, where he moves from temp job to temp job because nothing is good enough for him

when he stops paying his student loans just because it's too boring to correct a banking error, he encounters some scary debt collectors

this prompts him to join a pharmaceutical study as a "normal", a healthy patient testing the side effects of a drug for a condition he doesn't have

in the study center, billy is kept to a strict schedule and away from the world, but he still struggles to make a real connection with anyone or even a true statement about himself

he's constantly a forearm's distance from real people and situations, stuck behind a layer of irony and self-effacement that prevents him from ever making true connection

(this is where i started to feel sorry for billy because i too sometimes suffer from that protective mechanism)

at the end, he reunites with his father and makes a decision (i think) that makes him an actual person with an actual opinion for the first time in the whole book

[Steve Schrader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a story about people in a drug trial seems like an unlikely pleasing page turner but I was impressed. I enjoyed the wit and the characters. Keeping a mix of oddballs (including his parents) around Billy gave the author ample opportunity to use his talent for story telling and character development.

[K. Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Gilbert's protagonists often have similar characteristics. One, they'resleazy characters, likeable, but hardly heros. They slide through life creating upset to others while exhibiting selfishness and sometimes sexism. Two, they have problems with their fathers. Three, they prevail but they don't thrive. They're lucky to just get by. Billy starts off by ditching his girlfriend, leaving her with an apartment full of junk to clear up. He wants to skip town to avoid a debt collector, so goes to an institute to make some money as a guinea pig for a drug trial. The characters and the institute provide the theater of absurd setting on which Gilbert's writing blossoms. He is a consummate description writer, particularly of people, but also settings. That's about the plot. Billy goes to drug trial, meets and interacts with weird people, drug trial ends with one more trial for Billy afterwards. He interacts and remembers his father during his time taking the experimental pharmaceutical.
I would have given this five stars, but frankly the descriptions were so long and so detailed, that I skip read them.
Takeaway: Great absurdist fiction with fabulous descriptions that sometimes go on too long.

[Sophie Glazer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man approaching his 10th-year Harvard reunion has nothing to show for the last decade, but an unpaid college loan, a series of temping jobs and an ex-girlfriend on her way to a brilliant career. He enrolls in a 2-week drug study at an isolated Hudson Valley testing facility, simply to get away from a rabid collection agent, and to find a place to stay, but finds a strange contentment at returning to the simple verities of institutional living: assigned roommates, dietician-designed meals, popularity hierarchies, and competition for scarce female company. As the study unfolds, and the "side effects" of the drug become more bizarre, the question arises: "How much of this is psychosomatic? How much of this is real?" Here, as so often, Professor Dumbledore has already provided us with the answer: "Just because it's all happening in your head, Harry, doesn't mean it's not real."

[Karen Gioconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"How do you recover from who you really are? Billy wonders. How do you come to grips with the facts of yourself? How do you ever accept the diagnosis?"

Beginning with avoiding awkwardness, then responsibility, and then the reality that everyone dies, Billy escapes by volunteering his body for medical testing. Drugs, drama, faith, sex, media, and a "cause" can help numb the pain of living, but acceptance is the cure.

Take comfort in the present. Acknowledge that we are all normals - we are all grappling with this journey called life - and that a greater understanding of the self and others provides a little peace and comfort.

[Marilo Rojas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of the book is a bit of a drag-on. Like its not very catchy but you do wanna see what happens next. It takes a turn towards the middle which made me want to go on. Its also a very interesting and raw point of view on society and human relations of different sorts. Witty but also boring at some point. Three stars to this book mean: I would recommend it but its definitely not the best book I read this year.

[Tolkien InMySleep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stylish and funny, brimming with intelligence

[Sarah Dykes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this story and the plot was intriguing but the graphic sexual content was a put off. Also found it to be a bit wordy with the metaphors that went on and on.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, original story set in a medical testing facility. Part college dorm life, part "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the cast of characters forge an intricate web of group dynamics, tinged with sex, violence, machismo and paranoia.
The protagonist, Billy, is a lovable, unloved twenty-something, who is drowning in his drifting, disappointing lifestyle. Not living up to his potential, he's on the verge of completely giving up because no one really cares he's not doing anything with his Ivy League education except himself.
Throughout the book, Billy remarks on the sympatico he has with dogs, which is a pretty apt description of the character...a lost Lab in the woods trying to find anyone who would take pity on him and bring him home. You wouldn't have to do a lot to make this guy happy - at first - maybe a tennis ball, some kibble and fresh water...but eventually he'll be guilt-tripping you for not taking him on two walks a day and demanding that you give up at least half your bed at night in order for him to completely stretch out.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed review on this one - the premise is quite humorous (washed up Gen-Xer, grad of Harvard with no prospects who agrees to be a subject for a drug company assessing a new psychotrophic medication) and the details in the beginning demonstrate the author is quite comfortable with the place/psychological makeup of the main character. The middle portion does drag a bit but has its moments, particularly detailing the effects of the various meds are having on the participants themselves. The medical lingo has a lot of variability, from right on the money to absurd. The final third takes a drastic turn and the ending was a bit unexpected. Despite all this, I haven't read a novel before with this particular plot coupled with the familiarity with the different facets of the protagonist so I would recommend it based on that. Its not for everyone.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There was so much to think about...drug testing in general, dysfunctional family issues, personality conflicts, self-esteem issues. If not read closely, you could miss some of the connections. I laughed out loud when Billy checked off "mental illness" for both of his parents when completing the family history part of his medical evaluation. Gilbert did an excellent job in building Billy's character...I would get frustrated with his behavior but then find out in a later chapter why he had become the person that he was and would then feel empathy for him. Definitely a good read.

[Emily Henley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billy Schine is a man on the run. Having graduated from Harvard, his life has amounted to no more than temp jobs, and he is being hounded for unpaid loan repayments by a nasty-sounding debt collection agency.

When the opportunity comes up to take part in a paid trial of a new drug, it's an easy decision for Billy to make. "The Normals" follows his time at the medical centre: his interactions with others, his journey of self-reflection.

Although much of the subject matter may not be the most cheery (medical side effects, low self-esteem, threatened suicide and more), Gilbert has produced a humorous and thought provoking read with plenty of twists and turns.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Gilbert has a subtle, wry, delicious sense of humor that powers this novel. The main character is Billy Schine who is running out on his roommate girlfriend because he is being pursued by a man named Ragnar who is trying to collect 0n a student loan. Billie attended Harvard on a partial scholarship supplemented with a student loan. Billie receives a letter from Ragnar threatening to kill him unless he pays.

Billie sees a notice from Hargrove Anderson Medical, a Pharmaceutical company looking for perfectly healthy "normals" to participate in Phase One studies on their latest experimental drugs. He signs up for a fourteen-day trial of a new atypical antipsychotic for schizophrina.

[bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author writes with a very catchy perspective on society...occasionally laugh out loud funny, however, those moments are rare and become even less frequent as you near the disappointing end to this novel.

This book seemed to have so much potential during the first half of perspective that turned into more of a spectacle by the end.

read the first half...i dare you.

[Emily Reagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the stream of consciousness writing and the "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" craziness. But it was very random and not so gripping. The main character is aloof and extremely dissociated, which makes him very unrelatable. I wanted to shake him but couldn't wait to see what he was going to do, or for lack of his action, let happen to him.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I will forget this book, about voluntary subjects in a drug testing study. The protagonist, Billy, is like a Margaret Mead: one of the subjects, but with insightful (and humorous) musings about human nature. Billy is a sad character, for the most part. See - finished it a week ago and I cannot really think of much to say about it.

[Sonia Reppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure, the plot is not Gilbert's strong point, but the writing from this Harvard guy is very intelligent, witty and almost brilliant.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

laugh-out-loud and sometimes makes you sad even though you're already laughing-has a lot of references to plays etc which gives you more insight into something you have read--very interesting

[Laura Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, funny, funny, funny, funny. Funny.

[bibliogrrl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly don't even remember this one.

[Meadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd premise. Pretty good, however, and had some great twists.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

was a bit wierd in the beginning, in fact, it's sort of an odd story, but made me laugh out loud a bunch of times. I would recommend it.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for book group. I am not sure why I wasted my time.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very "Catcher in the Rye" character. Liked it

[Alycia Cassens · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ive read this year, but i havent read very many, so i dont know what that means...great book either way!