Plot
is overrated. That's one the many things I thought when finishing
Austin Nights by Herocious (AKA Michael Davidson). Why do we always
need drama? Why can't we just read a book about people's lives that's
not tragic or melodramatic or full of made up problems for the sake
of story.
The only plot to speak of
in Austin Nights is that of a young couple moving to Austin from
Miami Beach and everything that happens before, in the middle, and
after the trip. Yet even with that, I found myself captivated for the
prose was that good.
The best test of a good
writer is how much story can they pack in the most minimum of words.
Do we always need epic tomes when we could tell the same story with a
bigger punch in less words?
Camera by Jean Phillippe
Toussaint has an unnamed protagonist that takes driving lessons,
falls in love with a receptionist, takes a trip and nothing much else
happens. But if you read this slim novel closely a lot does.
Austin
Nights has the same intimacy on the pages. You recognize these
characters because at some point in time or perhaps as you're even
reading it, you were or are those characters. Michael and Bridget are
dealing with all the same problems of this generation like school
loans, unemployment, and an unknown future. There is an intimacy in
every section that endears the characters to the reader. You care
about them and want to be assured that things are going to be alright
for them. Michael Davidson skirts a fine line of anticipation in the
book that could have made it unreadable. He knew that there was only
one plot point of which the story would gravitate around and that was
the big move from Miami Beach to Austin. Mixing the chapters gives
the story the feeling of being in the cusp of a great
discovery. Imagine Carter and Herbert the moment before they open King Tut's tomb. Now freeze that feeling. That's the feeling that runs through the whole book. The prose gives you a happy feeling and you think or expect something really bad or good to happen and nothing does. And you read the next section and you're back to the same feeling again. This book emphasizes the journey and not the destination which is what's so wonderful about it. But you really have to listen to it and pay attention because the whole text is like a beautiful little folk song being sung by two people in love. Yep, kind of like a nice little 2 minute Bob Dylan ditty. And there are sections that are even as intimate and song-whispery as THIS.
But
real life in books is more interesting when you can
relate to it. Huge decisions like: what am I going to do for the
rest of my life? Who will I love for the rest of my life? Who will
choose to love me for the rest of my life? How big is a risk to move thousands of miles away to
Austin to be with the person I love while she follows her dreams?
What are my dreams? Am I writer? Am I bum
pretending to be a writer just to push off real life? And when will
this real life creep up on me?
Michael
walks around Austin happy go-lucky yet scared of this real life
sneaking up on him. He questions his choices. He eats. He goes to the
library with Bridgett. He mistreats Honeyed Cat. He explores his
new surroundings wanting to find this real life before it creeps up
on him. He's searching for the prize, lost in Austin bicycling,
avoiding drunk bums that end up dead later, his eyes opened wide-eyed
and curious for his future while appreciating the present.
In
a way, Austin Nights almost felt like a book written by a Buddhist.
The narrator despite worried for his own future, lives mainly in the
present like we all should. Michael and Bridget, though far from
perfect people seem to exist in a little bubble of love that most of
their neighbors can't penetrate. There's a juxtaposition between Michael and Bridget's own life together in Austin and the lives of the crazy neighbors,
hard partying college students, and weird leprechaun library dwellers
that turn out to be ambitious entrepreneurs. And there's even a Larry
McMurtry cameo which is hilarious.
Austin Nights also reminded
me of the best parts of the film Blue Valentine by Derek Cianfrance. The shifting back and forth in story is a great device but it works best when a clear theme is followed as in Austin Nights and Slaughter House Five. As a matter of fact, this book almost seemed like Bizarro Blue Valentine. Where in Blue Valentine
the drama almost seemed forced. And as viewers we were forgiving of that melodrama cause we were so satisfied with the brilliant happy scenes with Ryan Gosling courting Michelle Williams with a ukulele. But in Austin Nights there was no jarring moments between scenes like going from an extremely happy scene to a sad scene. So
almost imagine Blue Valentine if shit hadn't gone down the way it
had. Austin Nights is Blue Valentine without the forced drama. So if you loved Blue Valentine for its happy moments and hated the ending, you should run and buy Austin Nights. Who didn't want Ryan Gosling to man up, stop his drinking and
become a responsible husband and step father? And what would have
been so wrong with that being the ending of the movie? Picture Ryan
Gosling going to AA meetings and then taking an hour long drive for a
job interview that goes just okay and then on the way back to his
family he gets a flat and the closest establishment is a bar where he
has to go in to borrow a phone for a tow truck. So Ryan calls the tow
truck and he takes a seat cause it's gonna be a while and it's
raining outside. So the bartender naturally offers him a drink and
Ryan Gosling stops and smiles for a second, and without saying it,
we, as the viewers know what he's thinking about and he politely
declines the bartender and asks for a piece of apple pie. Pie says
the bartender? Yes, do you have apple pie? Or any kind of pie? As a
matter of fact we have Cherry Pie, will that do for you? Yes, let me
get some cherry pie. The End.
It also felt like Davidson wrote his own perfect version of On the Road for his narrator's sentimental look at the world and naivete reminded me a lot of Sal Paradise. Both On the Road and Austin Nights are full of sentimental love but the latter never gets too sentimental. Michael keeps it in check and that's a good thing. The same love of America can be found in Austin Nights. The same optimism for our one saving grace that is our multicultural society.
There were also many excerpts in Austin Nights that reach Jack Saunders greatness and can go toe to toe (no pun intended) with the great Florida writer. It's refreshing to read a love story where the main character is the love and not the problems surrounding it. Who knew there would be people like Michael Davidson to write books like these?
In closing, like Proust long before him, Michael Davidson is allowing intimacy to become an art form and that is a beautiful thing. Austin Nights is a book for the careful reader that hates noisy prose. It is a quiet book that makes a loud statements about the everyday moments we take for granted and the ones that matter most. There are no literary tricks or monsters or serial killers just a couple in love and a temperamental cat and the city of Austin, Texas. It's the equivalent of an angel whispering in your ears: it's the little things my friend, the little things.
Austin Nights is published by Tiny TOE Press and is available for purchase here in a hand-pressed with linocut cover version or for your Kindle:
http://theopenend.com/austinnightsbyherocious/
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