There are some literary works of art that shock or disturb readers before revealing themselves to shine with brilliance. Such is the case with Beautiful Piece by Joseph Peterson, a novelist who chooses a chronologically head-spinning style, throwing the reader into an endless swirl of repeating scenes, each gathering force and arriving back to where the reader started. It's enough to make an impatient person throw up his or her hands and exclaim, "He can't write!"
Words repeat. Scenes are re-enacted seemingly forever. Phrases become stock slogans. Peterson breaks just about every rule ever taught a novelist. Yet, just as soon as you are ready to give up on this noir fantasy, the hypnotic beauty of the whole piece of work breaks through. The reader is on a wild ride, a dreamy, swirly, nightmarish slide in which a young man known only as Robert, an unemployed Chicagoan weathering one of the city's worst heat waves, follows an enigmatic young woman named Lucy into her apartment.
"Take me as I come," she says, and she strips off her clothing, using a a line that will haunt the entire novel. Robert does as asked and then is informed that Lucy has a boyfriend, Matthew Gliss, who will kill him if he ever catches him, so "run and don't walk."
The novel then works its way back to Robert's life in his one-bedroom apartment, which is upstairs from his friend and neighbor, the Vet. The Vet talks about two things only: the Vietnam War (hence his name) and opera, mostly Die Meistersinger by Richard Wagner and Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. Robert has no liking for opera at all, but he puts up with it, just so he can talk with the Vet, who is vaguely interesting until he gets so drunk he starts muttering about the "corpses" in Vietnam (another constantly recurring theme). Like Robert, the Vet has no apparent means of support. He worries about dying in his sleep and arranges an elaborate method of calling Robert or Robert calling him, so no one will be left dead in their apartment overnight.
Robert's only other friend is Epstein, a man with a normal life. He's married and has kids. He works for a living and seems well adjusted. What's unusual about Epstein is that he has the ability to completely be at peace in any surrounding he goes to. Robert calls this "being a rock." He envies Epstein's total calm and detachment and wishes he could develop it himself.
After interacting with his friends, suddenly he's back in Lucy's apartment, hearing her laugh and looking at her teeth, and hearing about Matthew Gliss again. You learn that each time you have left that scene, you have learn something new about what's really going on . You discover that Lucy has a series of tattoos on her back. They look like dwarves and represent all the men she has slept with in defiance of Gliss. It's only a matter of time before Robert becomes one of the tattoos. Later you discover that Robert knew Gliss somehow. It's up to you to puzzle why that would be.
Article comments
1 - the real bob
Wow! Talk about convoluted! Sounds intriguing, though. Your reading experience reminds me of the first time I saw "Memento."
2 - Lynn Voedisch
It draws you in, though, and doesn't seem so convoluted once you're clued in as to what's going on. It's only the beginning where the going is rough.
3 - Helen Smith
It sounds great. Thanks for the review. I'm going to pick up a copy of the book.
4 - Lynn Voedisch
For any local people reading this review, Peterson writes to tell me that he will be doing a reading 6 p.m., Sunday, July 18 at the Whistler, 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL.