A Night in the Lonesome October

I promised, after Clifton and Paul's strong recommendations, that I would read Roger Zelazny's final novel, A Night in the Lonesome October (Morrow/AvnoNova, 1993), the minute it arrived.  It actually arrived last Wednesday, but I had a crush of work at the day job and then a completely insane weekend followed by several nights of coming home from the day job and simply passing out from exhaustion.  I kept trying to read it and falling asleep, including once, memorably, for about fifteen minutes over the check in a restaurant.  (I left a larger-than-usual tip.)  This makes it sound like it might be a dull book, but truly, it is not.  Once I finally caught up on my sleep I burned through it very quickly.

Illustrated with rather weird line drawings by Gahan Wilson, A Night in the Lonesome October consists of thirty-two brief chapters (a prologue plus one for each day of the month) covering a supernatural Game which takes place only when the moon is full on Halloween night.  The players and other characters are taken from or inspired by famous works of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature: the Count, the Good Doctor, the Great Detective, etc.  Fortunately, Zelazny did not make the mistake of trying to write in an overwrought nineteenth-century style.  And he was quite a good enough writer that even though I hadn't actually read all the works upon which he drew, it all worked perfectly for me.

Each of the players is accompanied by an animal familiar, and the novel is told from the point of view of one such: the dog Snuff, companion of the mysterious Jack (the Ripper, though it's never stated outright).  The two have a long history of playing the Game.  Snuff interacts primarily with the other animals, including the pack rat Bubo; the bat Needles; the squirrel Cheeter; and, most particularly, his opponent-and-friend, the cat Graymalk, as they attempt to gather the information their humans need to succeed in the final confrontation.

This all makes it sound terribly serious, but really, it's not.  From the complications of disposing of a corpse if you're a dog to the degree of cooperation between adversaries necessary to get all the body parts needed to actually play, it's a perfectly balanced mix of humor and horror:

"Damn, I need a left femur and this one ain't got one!"

"Left femur, you say?  I've one right here I ain't usin'.  Have you a liver though?  That's my need."

"Easily done!  Bide a moment.  There!  Trade?"

"You have it!  Catch!"

I didn't read the cover blurbs before starting the book, and I strongly recommend that approach.  I had no idea what the Game was, or why the players seemed to be divided into openers and closers, or what those labels actually meant.  The whole thing unfolded slowly, keeping me intensely engaged in figuring it all out, until it all became clear fairly late in the book.  I'm being deliberately vague about the details because I really liked reading it in this state of blissful ignorance and want to maintain that for others.

This isn't a young adult book, exactly, but it reminded me of nothing so much as Neil Gaiman's recent Graveyard Book in its completely matter-of-fact approach to the supernatural subject matter.  Kids probably wouldn't get all the literary references, but I'm not sure how much that actually matters for enjoying it.  And it's written at an accessible level.

I can't recommend A Night in the Lonesome October highly enough, and am very grateful to Paul and Clifton for bringing it to my attention.  If you'd like your own copy:

Comments

[Marilee J. Layman]

I really enjoyed that when I read it, and I liked the illos, too.

[Paul A.]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Susan.

(Other potential readers of the book: I can testify from personal experience that the book is still a whole lot of fun if the person who recommended it to you told you what the Game was, but I agree with Susan that starting in ignorance is the way to go if you can manage it.)

[Serge]

rather weird line drawings by Gahan Wilson

That's like like accusing me of uttering bad puns.

[Clifton]

Wooo! Glad you liked it so much!

(Thought I posted this yesterday but apparently it didn't take.)

[Susan de Guardiola]

Thanks again, Clifton and Paul, for bringing it to my attention!

Serge,
I'm not familiar with Wilson's work in general; what else has he done that I might recognize?

[Marilee J. Layman]

Andy Wheeler recommended Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons in his blog today.

[Susan de Guardiola]

*grin* Well, I probably wouldn't have run into his art there. Not quite my interest.

[John Anealio]

I loved a Night in the Lonesome October. Zelazny did a wonderful job of blending humor, mythology, and Victorian-era England. A great book and I really need to read more of Zelazny's work.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I'm taking this book to my local university's Storyreading tonight to see if I can get it selected as this semester's Long Reading. Cross your fingers!

[Serge]

On the subject of books... I now have all four "Women of Wonder" anthologies. Also the "Illuminatus" trilogy. Ah, those temptations so easily fulfilled by Alibris...

[Susan de Guardiola]

Alas, the book wasn't chosen for Storyreading. An adult Roald Dahl novel won.

[Serge]

I've never read anything by Dahl, but I did catch a British anthology show focused on his stories. Unusual, to say the least.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Serge,
You've never read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory??

You should remedy that.

[Serge]

Of course, right after I posted my earlier post, I remembered that book. Here too, I never read the original, but I had seen Willie Wonka. Out of curiosity, is that version more faithful to the book, or is Tim Burton's? I know some people who were quite mad at Burton because of it. (Me, I still have to forgive him for Planet of the Apes.)

So, I should take a look?

[Paul A.]

There are adult Roald Dahl novels? His short stories, I knew about, and the memoir; but I thought all his novels were for youngers.

[Neil W]

I've not seen the Tim Burton version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The earlier film was scripted by Dahl. From memory it was generally faithful, taking into account the fact it was adapted into a musical.

Wikipedia, everyone's favourite 100% accurate internet resource, lists two adult novels by Dahl.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Paul,
It was a surprise to me. The book that won was Switch Bitch, which from its description looks like an anthology rather than a novel.

The Burton version had one major addition to Wonka's background, which I felt was totally unnecessary, but overall I liked it a lot and felt it captured Wonka's character in a very interesting way. It was sort of like the RDJr. Sherlock Holmes.

[Serge]

Robert Downey Jr as Wonka...

[Marilee J. Layman]

I liked the Burton movie better, except for the same guy being all the Oompa Loompas.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Serge:
Robert Downey Jr as Wonka...

Um...no.

Marilee:
I thought that was hilarious.

[Serge]

Susan... :-)