The Big Jiggety: Or the Return of the Kind of American

by Michael Kent

For more of Michael Kent's works, please visit www.michaelkentwriterartist.com. THE BIG JIGGETY, a picaresque, romantic, humorous, philosophical, sociological, (mostly autobiographical) novel, relates the travels and travails of Albert Nostran. An 18-year old American born and raised in the country outside 25 miles east of Paris, his quest is to find America, a woman, and himself. Lugging his guitar, Don Pedro, fleeing his cantankerous father, well-meaning mother and a brother he wants to turn into a fellow musician, he braves disease, fatigue, cold and angst to land in Big Sky University in Missoula, Montana, to sink his teeth into the frozen American west.

Many aspects of US/Montana life intrigue the protagonist, yet Nostran retains a European sense of history and critical mind; arguably a Tocqueville of the late 1970s, he never misses an opportunity to comment on the local societal oddities and contradictions.

"Perhaps you were more French than you thought," Damian his childhood friend tells the homesick hero in chapter one. Before they launch off in an exploration of a bleak, wintery, nocturnal Paris, during which Nostran loses his innocence in the arms of a prostitute. After whom our hero believes he has contracted something nasty, yet another little inconvenience he must face when flying back to Chicago via London. And matters do not improve in the endless yet at times magical bus ride between Salt-Lake-City and Butte, and he comes close to freezing trying to hitch-hike along the wide open spaces between Butte and Missoula.

A few pills later, the sex quest resumes. Undaunted, Nostran in his diaspora flirts with one woman and then another with precious little of the supposed Gallic related savoir faire. Life at the university does harbor the excitement of weekends and dormitory life, with its freshman friendships and naïveté as well the tedium and occasional enlightenment of classes. And extra curricular activities, such as teaching dorm-mates how to strum a guitar. Against this background vivid characters are Threats, the homophobic narcissistic football player; Rotch, another jock, who after having learned guitar from Albert begins to ridicule his former mentor. Up in Polson, Mt., we encounter Montcarlson and his wife, the curious couple who originally recommended the university. In Dubois, Wyoming, we meet Lancelot Wolf, owner of the Salamander Ranch, and Jim, the bisexual bartender, who reveals unexpected secrets about women the eager Nostran very quickly applies to Tweets, the stocky femme fatale in the blue car he more than befriends on yet another glacial return to Missoula. Bags repacked, the last U.S. trek takes him and two others back east to Chicago and New York--one American city whose intensity captivates him.

If the USA experience at times mystified the adolescent, returning to France in the summer proves anticlimactic. At first. What the old country appears to lack in razzle-dazzle, it gradually makes up in terms of simplicity and deep-rooted friendships. Besides, after a stint with translations Nostran cannot sit still for long. Driving from his boyhood home in Seine-et-Marne (a little east of Paris), first up to Amsterdam with three rambunctious of old high school mates, then down to the Spanish border, via the Loire valley, with the equally lust-ridden Lecoq-Hasien, Nostran once again rediscovers the virtues of Europe and home. At the very last minute when all sexual hope has been abandoned, a young lady on the Saint-Jean-de-Luz boardwalk asks him for a light. She is not a prostitute and agrees to meet him the next day...

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Michael Kent was born in 1958, a little west of Paris, France. His father was an American journalist whose poetry received praise from Ezra Pound; and his mother, an Australian, was an accomplished chef who liked Beethoven.
A writer, artist, musician, Kent published Les Maléfices du fardeau d'Atlas, his first book of poetry in 1985. He has written five novels, including THE BIG JIGGETY (Xlibris, 2005), POP THE PLUG (Xlibris, 2012) and ALL OF THE NIGHT (Xlibris, 2015) Also, a number of short stories. He has published verse in English and in French. Other writings (and, on occasion, art work) have found a niche in Happy, Kinesis, The Quill, The Urban Age, Voie Express USA, The Threshold, The Writer's Round Table and Moscow's renowned Inostrania Literatura (next to T.C. Boyle).
His works have been translated into Spanish and Russian. A one-time journalist, he studied poetry at the University of Montana (under Richard Hugo) and edited a literary magazine in Brunswick, Maine (at Bowdoin College, alma mater to Hawthorne and Longfellow).
He currently earns a living in Washington, DC as a French-English interpreter/translator and receives royalties from the textbook Voie Express USA/Por la via rapida.
His art work and photography can be seen on Flickr.com. where he posts as The Big Jiggety. His music videos can be seen on You Tube, where he performs as Big Jiggety.

Reviews

[Mark S Miller]

Without titillating the reader with scenes of shocking violence or steamy sex, Michael Kent has produced an engaging tale of the day-to-day experiences of a young man who leaves home for the first time to live on a college campus and hitchhike across the U.S. Albert Nostran has grown up in the suburbs of Paris, the son of an American journalist stationed there. As such he possesses a certain sophistication, but is still an adolescent with a limited circle of acquaintance and experience. His parents want him to discover his American roots, and they choose a very American milieu to immerse him in – Big Sky University, in Missoula, Montana, a place as wide open and rural as Paris is cosmopolitan and urban.
For a year we follow Nostran as he experiences life on campus and then hitchhikes across the U.S., which is probably the best way to encounter people at the grass roots level (noting that it was not as dangerous to do this in the period in which the novel is set – the 1970s, as it is now). There is no escape into the world of car chases, shoot-outs, confrontations with sinister evil-doers, and sex with glamorous partners, randomly encountered, no fantasy life completely separated from mundane reality. The young man’s experiences are sometimes encouraging, sometimes enlightening, sometimes unsettling as he tries to understand the world and get an idea of the role he wants to play and can play in it. Michael Kent keeps his feet firmly on the ground as he takes us through the search for meaning that most of us go through as we emerge from adolescence, in this case enhanced by the added spice of an international perspective from a nation that has played a vital role in the development of our own.

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Big Jiggety is a well written memoir embracing the thoughts and feelings of a young American, raised in France, leaving home for a college education in Montana. It is a story of the journey taken by a confident yet lonely, hopeful but sometimes conflicted young man, Albert Nostran. Albert, was a determined young man whose journey begins in France where he insisted on ‘becoming a man’ before leaving for college in America. That decision left him infected with an annoying ‘bug’ that served as a push to endure a horrific trip in the freezing elements to find treatment at the university to which he was bound. The mere fact that a young man that had never been to Montana, wearing clothing that was not fit for the conditions at hand, hitchhiked across country in the freezing temperatures and made it to his destination alive and well impressed me beyond words. The people and events that he was faced with at Big Sky University in Missoula, Montana must have felt unlike anything or anyone he had been exposed to and yet he eagerly jumped right into each and every opportunity with gusto and after a very short time was just one of the boys. His descriptive scenarios, thought provoking points of view, sense of humor, and occasional sarcasm to the events at hand prompted me to recall my own college experiences and smile. I highly recommend The Big Jiggety and look forward to reading more Michael Kent books.The Big Jiggety

[Didier Devynck]

Very entertaining book. The main character is deliciously complex yet so relatable. The cross-cultural references really spoke to me since I, somewhat like the hero of the book, am a Frenchman living in the US. Michael Kent's style is very pleasant and makes for a comfortable read.

[ReaderRick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, plot and characters. Left me wanting to know what happens next. A real page turner.

[Ann Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann O'Neal Garcia
Yes, reading delights await. Intellectual but immensely accessible, funny as hell

[Mimi]

What a pleasant surprise The Big Jiggety turned out to be! I truly enjoyed the way Michael Kent used his words to describe his adventures first in Paris and then in the American West. He is a rare author who investigates and observes his environments thus enabling the reader to vividly and vicariously live through his magical words. His style of writing reminds me of Carlos Ruiz Safon's (The Shadow of the Wind); it is almost surrealistic which makes it a unique read! I highly recommend any of this Franco-American writer's novels, especially during this post-pandemic era when the world needs a little bit of an escape.

[Mer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading the book within few days. It takes you through suspension page by page. I highly recommend it!

[Robert Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of The Big Jiggety by Michael Kent: A Dazzling Debut

Michael Kent’s The Big Jiggety is an astonishing debut, brimming with intelligence, humor, and emotional depth. In creating Albert Nostran, Kent has gifted readers with a complex, vividly human protagonist who navigates life’s absurdities with a blend of wit, melancholy, and sharp insight. Nostran is the kind of character who lives on long after you’ve turned the last page, bringing to mind the richly drawn, introspective figures of Philip Roth and the deeply observed sensibilities of Peter Taylor.

Like Roth’s iconic protagonists, Albert Nostran is a man at odds with himself and the world around him, caught in the throes of personal identity crises, moral conflicts, and the relentless search for meaning. Yet, what makes Nostran stand out is Kent’s ability to imbue him with an everyman quality, a relatability that speaks to universal themes of regret, hope, and the passage of time. Much like Roth’s characters, who grapple with the weight of their choices, Nostran faces the realities of aging, estrangement, and the quest for significance in a world that feels perpetually out of reach.

Kent masterfully explores familial relationships and the subtleties of human interaction. His portrayal of Nostran’s relationships — with his past, his family, and himself — is layered with complexity and depth.

Kent’s prose is sharp and fluid, alternately reflective and brisk. The result is a narrative that feels simultaneously timeless and deeply contemporary. Kent excels at bringing humor to even the darkest moments of the story, echoing Roth’s penchant for blending existential contemplation with a biting, satirical edge.

Albert Nostran’s journey in The Big Jiggety is both deeply personal and universal, a testament to Kent’s remarkable skill as a storyteller. Nostran is the beating heart of the novel, and through his eyes, readers are drawn into a world that feels at once achingly familiar and poignantly unique. Kent explores the human condition with fearless introspection.

The Big Jiggety is remarkable - a novel not to be missed - a profound, moving, and often hilarious exploration of one man’s attempt to navigate the messy, beautiful complexities of life.

[Jane Monahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read and ultimately full of insight about ways to integrate experiences in 2 different countries, alongside the challenges of reaching maturity and the unpredictability of traveling.