***Originally Posted at Collected Miscellany

Our Napoleon in Rags by Kirby Gann is an ambitious novel. It attempts to capture the anger, frustration, and despondency of those trapped in lower middle class urban life and yet at the same time describe the community and friendships they have built. The work seeks to get at these larger social issues through its character's lives. Our Napoleon in Rags is a dark tale about the search for meaning in modern life. While it doesn't always live up to its promise, it is an interesting exploration of character and setting.

The setting is an urban neighborhood called Old Towne; part of the city of Montreux. Reflecting the reality of many cities, Old Towne was once an upscale part of a thriving downtown but time has not been kind. Despite efforts to revitalize it, this part of the city has become a "broken-streetlight district" where "dark house-stoops offer no welcome."

The story centers around a motley group of characters whose only connection is the Don Quixote - the Old Towne bar they frequent. The central character is Haycraft Keebler. Haycraft - the Napoleon in Rags of the title - is bipolar and in his mind a budding civic revolutionary. Also involved are the bar owners Beau and Glenda Stiles; Romeo Diaz and his stripper/porn star girlfriend Anantha Bliss; Chesley Sutherland, the suspended cop that provides security for the bar; Mather Williams, "a gentle but damaged soul" whose paintings and verse are viewed as a type of folk art; and Lambert Dellinger a fifteen year-old male prostitute.

Each of these characters is trying to build some meaning into their life. Haycraft sees meaning in trying to resurrect the neighborhood; to revive the city and its downtrodden people. Chesley just wants to get back on the police force and bust bad guys. Each of them has a dream to cling to despite the fading hopes and each ends up at the bar looking for the solace and community the larger city no longer offers.

The plot takes off when Haycraft become infatuated with Lambert and brings him into the Don Quixote group. A secondary plot develops out of the brooding violence of Sutherland. There is not a great deal of plot involved, however, rather the chapters are closer to character sketches that bring each of the patrons at the bar into closer focus. The tension builds slowly as the character's lives are revealed.

What makes Napoleon in Rags difficult to judge is deciding what the author was trying to accomplish. Was Gann trying to create a "scathing commentary on contemporary America" as the book's back flap claims? What about the "hot button issues of mental illness, homosexuality, police violence, and racism?" To be honest, I don't think Gann has achieved a particularly strong social commentary or critique of contemporary America. There isn't a great deal of insight into the problems of urban blight or mental illness here.