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Name
Described as Vampire Realism, NAME is the misadventures of a young vampire, Robert, his psychotic vampire nemesis, "the rabbit," and his great, unrequited love, Lena.
125 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 21, 2011
My review from Prick of the Spindle:
Last summer, Baltimore-based artist and wiffleball enthusiast Joseph Young dedicated a month to writing a vampire book for the frankly declared purpose of raising rent money. I don’t know if that effort succeeded, but those of us who follow Joe’s work closely were very excited to see what he would come up with. Young, whose magical collection Easter Rabbit was reprinted in 2010 by Publishing Genius, writes elegant microfictions that make sense in your heart if not always in your mind, so the idea of him tackling a longer, sustained project was intriguing. But more important is the fact that Young does not traffic in cheap irony; so what the heck did he think he was going to do with the vampire genre?
Now we know. As it turns out, Nameis a vampire book after all, full of sensation, mystery, hunger, and existential distress. The protagonist of Name is Robert, a dumpy, loveless teen who is made into a vampire by a 40-year-old schoolteacher before being released into the world of eternal night with little or no instruction. Three months into being undead, he makes desperate choice when he meets Lena, a young woman who will die as a result of being beaten by her boyfriend. But Robert soon learns that making friends is a complicated process, especially when vampire proliferation goes unchecked. The phrase “babies having babies” comes to mind. Robert’s relationship with Lena spins out of control, and given their condition of permanent adolescence, it is possible that their relationship will forever be in a state of turmoil.
He wanted a girlfriend who would like him, like him, so he could stop mooning around after girls who would put up with him but kept him always at arm’s length. Now though, he was a vampire. His loneliness was sealed into night forever. He was doomed never to hold another pretty girl’s hand, never to eat pizza with her, never, oh god, make love to her. It was terrible, awful. It sucked.
This is a fun book, very readable and touching; Young’s writing always seems achingly honest, but in Name he seems to be striving for open-eyed clarity as well, perhaps because the subject—lonely youth—deserves it.
That said, my knowledge of the vampire genre ends with 1970s Dracula comics. So I decided to ask an expert, a fourteen-year-old reader we’ll call “Maggie.” Maggie is a goth-girl-poet-artist-punk-rocker who has read all the Twilight books. The following conversation is a fabrication—bits and pieces of e-mails collected over several weeks. She has a lot of homework to do so she read the book in short bursts, which is why, at different points, she has described the book as pretty good, confusing, “a somewhat good time passer,” or too graphic. What’s clear is that she wasn’t over the moon about it.
Me: IsName anything like Twilight?
Maggie: Not at all Twilight-ish. Robert’s ugly and doesn't sparkle, and he's not in love with a mortal. Robert seems depressing, but he’s like a normal perverted teenage boy.
Me: I thought the book was PG-13, but you seemed to react pretty strongly to the opening pages—is Name harsher than the Stephanie Meyer books?
Maggie: It's PG-13. He longs a little too much. One part I did not really like was the descriptions of all the gore. Maybe I'm just squeamish but I don't really like to hear “blood gushing from his throat” and “their throats slashed” and so forth.
Me: You said the book was confusing. How so?
Maggie: It didn't really explain things like "the giant" and why he was calling him "friend." The part with killing/making Daniel (Rabbit) got pretty confusing. I caught up with it two pages later but where I left off with the schoolteacher and all, it doesn't explain his relationship with the school teacher. In the beginning it seemed like he really didn't care about her. He was curious about being a vampire and mad she left, but now as he confronts her it’s like they were dating or something. Also what's with this guy and boobs? I swear he mentions them like every five pages.
Me: What advice do you have for Joseph Young if he wanted to write another vampire book?
Maggie: The style of writing wasn't really "vampire thriller.” More added-on edginess would be a good way to make it better. The book was an average okay for me. If he’s targeting girls it should be a little more romantic. One male character should at least be good looking, and it should be a little bit lighter on the blood aspect.
Last summer, Baltimore-based artist and wiffleball enthusiast Joseph Young dedicated a month to writing a vampire book for the frankly declared purpose of raising rent money. I don’t know if that effort succeeded, but those of us who follow Joe’s work closely were very excited to see what he would come up with. Young, whose magical collection Easter Rabbit was reprinted in 2010 by Publishing Genius, writes elegant microfictions that make sense in your heart if not always in your mind, so the idea of him tackling a longer, sustained project was intriguing. But more important is the fact that Young does not traffic in cheap irony; so what the heck did he think he was going to do with the vampire genre?
Now we know. As it turns out, Nameis a vampire book after all, full of sensation, mystery, hunger, and existential distress. The protagonist of Name is Robert, a dumpy, loveless teen who is made into a vampire by a 40-year-old schoolteacher before being released into the world of eternal night with little or no instruction. Three months into being undead, he makes desperate choice when he meets Lena, a young woman who will die as a result of being beaten by her boyfriend. But Robert soon learns that making friends is a complicated process, especially when vampire proliferation goes unchecked. The phrase “babies having babies” comes to mind. Robert’s relationship with Lena spins out of control, and given their condition of permanent adolescence, it is possible that their relationship will forever be in a state of turmoil.
He wanted a girlfriend who would like him, like him, so he could stop mooning around after girls who would put up with him but kept him always at arm’s length. Now though, he was a vampire. His loneliness was sealed into night forever. He was doomed never to hold another pretty girl’s hand, never to eat pizza with her, never, oh god, make love to her. It was terrible, awful. It sucked.
This is a fun book, very readable and touching; Young’s writing always seems achingly honest, but in Name he seems to be striving for open-eyed clarity as well, perhaps because the subject—lonely youth—deserves it.
That said, my knowledge of the vampire genre ends with 1970s Dracula comics. So I decided to ask an expert, a fourteen-year-old reader we’ll call “Maggie.” Maggie is a goth-girl-poet-artist-punk-rocker who has read all the Twilight books. The following conversation is a fabrication—bits and pieces of e-mails collected over several weeks. She has a lot of homework to do so she read the book in short bursts, which is why, at different points, she has described the book as pretty good, confusing, “a somewhat good time passer,” or too graphic. What’s clear is that she wasn’t over the moon about it.
Me: IsName anything like Twilight?
Maggie: Not at all Twilight-ish. Robert’s ugly and doesn't sparkle, and he's not in love with a mortal. Robert seems depressing, but he’s like a normal perverted teenage boy.
Me: I thought the book was PG-13, but you seemed to react pretty strongly to the opening pages—is Name harsher than the Stephanie Meyer books?
Maggie: It's PG-13. He longs a little too much. One part I did not really like was the descriptions of all the gore. Maybe I'm just squeamish but I don't really like to hear “blood gushing from his throat” and “their throats slashed” and so forth.
Me: You said the book was confusing. How so?
Maggie: It didn't really explain things like "the giant" and why he was calling him "friend." The part with killing/making Daniel (Rabbit) got pretty confusing. I caught up with it two pages later but where I left off with the schoolteacher and all, it doesn't explain his relationship with the school teacher. In the beginning it seemed like he really didn't care about her. He was curious about being a vampire and mad she left, but now as he confronts her it’s like they were dating or something. Also what's with this guy and boobs? I swear he mentions them like every five pages.
Me: What advice do you have for Joseph Young if he wanted to write another vampire book?
Maggie: The style of writing wasn't really "vampire thriller.” More added-on edginess would be a good way to make it better. The book was an average okay for me. If he’s targeting girls it should be a little more romantic. One male character should at least be good looking, and it should be a little bit lighter on the blood aspect.
November 8, 2010
I did a blurb for the book that said I don't know much about vampires but I know a lot about fiction and I like this book. That was cool, pithy, good job me. Now that I have seen the actual thing I will review it again:
John Dermot Woods's cover art is somehow fitting, even though there aren't actually any bats in the story. The lone figure on the cover looks down with both an angry look and a sad look. One thing about Robert, the "hero," is that he is very clearly lonely. Another thing about him is that he seethes with that inept sort of anger that comes from feeling alienated. Both of these things are captured in his downward gaze, so good job John.
Robert is a difficult character to like. I don't think I like him. I was frustrated by him--and I think one success of the story is that it provokes a visceral response. I kept wanting to tell him to look up, get on with it. The last time I responded like that was watching Fargo for this first time. Robert is the William H Macy of vampires.
The book is an awesome size, about the same as one of those Short Flight/Long Drive books from the Hobart people. The paper is bright white, which works better in these smaller dimensions, and the margins are adequate. Justin Sirois did a great job of taking John's cover art and making it wrap all the way around. The back jacket copy is a microfiction that does a lot not just to encapsulate the book, but in that encapsulation it suggests something about how Joe writes those little gems; it's not reduction or distillation, more like a hearkening.
Also the book is probably more of a love story than a vampire novel.
John Dermot Woods's cover art is somehow fitting, even though there aren't actually any bats in the story. The lone figure on the cover looks down with both an angry look and a sad look. One thing about Robert, the "hero," is that he is very clearly lonely. Another thing about him is that he seethes with that inept sort of anger that comes from feeling alienated. Both of these things are captured in his downward gaze, so good job John.
Robert is a difficult character to like. I don't think I like him. I was frustrated by him--and I think one success of the story is that it provokes a visceral response. I kept wanting to tell him to look up, get on with it. The last time I responded like that was watching Fargo for this first time. Robert is the William H Macy of vampires.
The book is an awesome size, about the same as one of those Short Flight/Long Drive books from the Hobart people. The paper is bright white, which works better in these smaller dimensions, and the margins are adequate. Justin Sirois did a great job of taking John's cover art and making it wrap all the way around. The back jacket copy is a microfiction that does a lot not just to encapsulate the book, but in that encapsulation it suggests something about how Joe writes those little gems; it's not reduction or distillation, more like a hearkening.
Also the book is probably more of a love story than a vampire novel.
December 4, 2010
Pour through this in one or two sittings and have a good time with it. I wished it had lingered on some of the more introspective moments a little more -- but maybe contemporary vampire fiction has just conditioned me to wanting a heaping of emo mopeyness with my bloodsuckers that Joe just didn't want to indulge in.
I want to avoid spoilers... but the gently unexpected moments were my favorites.
I want to avoid spoilers... but the gently unexpected moments were my favorites.
August 12, 2010
I don't have NAME, by Joseph Young yet, but i'm fully expecting (and will get) a really really rich good read that will be worth having Joe sign, and then worth leaving out in the living room to show off, and then reading again!
and wait for the movie!
and wait for the movie!
March 13, 2016
I'm waiting to find a genre that Joseph Young can't write.
November 25, 2010
This book is totally like what would happen if Joe Young wrote a vampire novel.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews