Panama (ISBN 0140052747)

My favorite novel:
Not the best novel I've ever read, surely. Probably not even the best novel Thomas McGuane ever wrote. But it's definitely my favorite. It's hilarious and awful, with its elliptical, toothless, and wildly unreliable screaming-misfit narrator careening pitiably through what might be a midlife crisis if we had any confidence that he was going to make it to 50. (It's a major win for Chet Pomeroy when he finally remembers his dog's name.) The dialogue is so spare that in my first hurried read through the book I could hardly understand what the characters were saying to each other. Now huge hunks of it are in my memory. ("I have a friend who owes you a minimum of a lawsuit." "That's a very silky opening," says the agent, "but I'm always being sued.") This is a very, very funny book, even when it is also being poignant and awful. I just love it.

Delirious, funny, tragic romp:
One of my favorite books ever. Chester Pomeroy is a semi-retired glam-rock singer hanging out in Key West, FL. He may be penniless. He may be the descendant of a long line of shipwrights. He may be related to Jesse James. He may have married his estranged girlfriend in Panama a few years before. You don't know because he has short term memory loss. A classic McGuane character study about a would-be larger than life screwup, this book is a must-read. The McGuane prose and dialogue, fast, poetic, and memorable, are here in full force. The darkly funny details are what you remember: Chester builds his own wishing well to raise money. He nails himself to his girlfriend's door. She hires a private detective to find his memory. If you can find this book anywhere, don't hesitate. Buy two copies so you can loan one to your friends.

a treatise on memory and redemption:
I once saw Thomas McGuane at a booksigning and asked specifically about this book. He said it was semi-autobiographical, dealing with the enormous pitfalls of fame. Chester Pomeroy is a timeless character--funny, damaged, and mythic. An Everyman for our age. McGuane's prose resembles shards of glass on a downtown sidewalk in deepest summer: reflective, but insistent that we look at the depths between the spaces. Just the image of crawling out of an elephant's sphincter is worth the price of admission. Genius.

I got my Great Balls on fire with Panama (review in french).:
Chester Hunnicutt Pomeroy est un héros des temps modernes comme notre époque n'en produit plus. Il est cocaïnomane et enlève ses dents pour un rien, il se cloue à la porte de son ex avec un marteau en forme de "colt de Jesse James" et déblatère à tout va - Contrairement à la croyance populaire, la Grande Ourse n'est pas morte dans un accident d'avion avec Buddy Holly - Les papes Borgia avaient un téléphone dans chaque pièce. Les mots, Chet, surveille les mots - lui conseille Catherine, son ex-épouse. Les mots, c'est la force de Mc Guane - j'avais l'impression que la nuit avait rempli un chèque que le jour ne pourrait pas encaisser - une force qui balaie tout sur son passage. Et, de toute l'ouvre de Mc Guane, c'est Panama qui fait la part belle à la poésie. Quant à ce héros - élu plus "grand pervers dépravé d'Amérique" - il ressemble surtout à un quidam quelconque habité par une soif de burlesque et d'absurde. Et de poésie sauvage, échevelée. Ce gars-là a une espèce d'aura que ni son amnésie, ni son inclinaison au vice n'arrivent à entâcher, comme si une lessive surnaturelle lui lavait le coeur de sa propre boue. Il peut se rouler dans le ridicule, l'urine, Marceline et la contrition tour à tour, rien ne retranche à cette fascination qu'il exerce sur le lecteur.

Wonderfully wacky:
"The Dog ate the part we didn't like." Southern ghouls and burned out art-rockers collide with hilarious results. Not McGuane's best, but his most imaginative.