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All About Lulu: a novel of American angst
Topics: Jonathan Evison, ALl About Lulu, Soft Skull Press, Coming Of Age, Up and Coming Writers, The Nervous Breakdown, N.L. Belardes, Brad Listi, creative writing, Hollywood Screenplay, Bakotopia, Bakersfield, Russo's Books, Bakotopia.com
Posted by thenovelist Thu Jul 31, 2008 17:21:53 PDT
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All About Lulu:
a novel of American Angst
NL reviews and interviews author Jonathan Evison - MEET THE AUTHOR ON 8/9 AT RUSSO'S!

By NL Belardes, Bakotopia.com contributor

Novels about broken American families are commonplace.

Mothers leave fathers, fathers leave mothers, and kids grow up with addictions as they come of age. Most people live through such stormy upbringings. Jonathan Evison’s inaugural novel “All About Lulu” is a little different from the common tale. His comedic story about a friendless geek surviving the 1970s in a bodybuilder family of failed dreams offers a refreshing glimpse of urban-American angst.

After all, it’s not everyday a boy falls in love with his stepsister. Or is it?

Evison’s story is spun around a central character, a pencil of a kid whose father aims at body-building stardom. Instead of the character worshiping his Schwarzenegger-like old man, the narrator is hooked on the idea of his stepsister—a girl he never accepts as part of his family.

If readers think they’ll be left feeling uncomfortable at such a scenario, they’ll rather feel the opposite as not only is Evison a masterful storyteller of teen angst and growing up in the 1970s, he’s a magician at making readers feel sympathy for a kid struggling with feelings in a family of misfits.

“I’m not even sure I see the Miller’s as all that messed up,” Evison said in a recent interview with N.L. Belardes. “Seems to me, deep down, they’ve all got their hearts in the right place. I think a lot of Americans are likely to recognize themselves in the Miller family."

Of course there’s comedy in the idea of a weakling not loving his bodybuilder father and in all the antics such a tale can provide. From the dinner table to bodybuilding competitions, and to angst-filled road trips, “All About Lulu” is a story of endless American ideals that is, well, sort of mindlessly American and comedic.

When asked about writing the novel, Evison said outlining was an effective way to achieve his goal, “As for writing Lulu, I pretty much knew what I was trying to achieve as far as a story. It was just a matter of finding the voice. I did a lot of outlining, but found a more effective way to achieve what I was trying to accomplish with the outline, so the outline itself was always sort of a work in progress.”

Book lovers can pick up a copy and meet Jonathan Evison at Russos Books at the Marketplace on Aug. 9, 2008 at 1 p.m.

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N.L. BELARDES is a journalist, blogger and videographer. He writes several media blogs, including Noveltown's Paperback Writer and ABC23's Nick 2.0. His work has appeared on the homepage of CNN.com and other news sites all over America. You can purchase Lords: Part One, which describes the infamous Lords of Bakersfield. They still creep the city long after they and a 1977 Central California dust storm ravaged the area. N.L. welcomes humorous notes and news tips to his MySpace.

Article also printed in Bakotopia magazine, issue 8/7/08

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