Very funny book. Like his father, his protagonists are flawed. ( )

Very funny book. Like his father, his protagonists are flawed. ( )

Very funny book. Like his father, his protagonists are flawed. ( )

Very funny book. Like his father, his protagonists are flawed. ( )

Slab Rat started out as a laugh out loud farce of life in the “magazine world”. I’ve read reviews that dub this a satire, but I found it a little too superficial to provide any of the real meat required of a satire….then the author’s editor woke up and realized the book wasn’t really going anywhere, and an absolutely ludicrous subplot kicks in, and the characters you once found humorous and a bit empathetic evidently stopped taking their meds and plow through the second half of the novel in a series of forced plot points, incredulous activities and dysfunctional morals.

Although I will admit, while enjoying the first part of the book, it really wasn’t going anywhere. A typical “day in the life” of a low level magazine editor in a middling rag. He invents a fictional history to stand toe-to-toe with his colleagues and spends the bulk of his career not specifically content, but accepting of his position and lack of path. Then, the Teddy Roosevelt clone joins the staff, and competition brings out the best/worst of all parties. Without providing any spoilers, it’s the means and the spirit of the staff’s attempts to deal with this challenge where the book goes off path. Too much of the book was spent portraying the bumbling good ol’ boy and his quirky traits to rewrite his belief system, code of ethics and moral aptitude in only 100 pages.

In hindsight, I feel the author (who happens to be the son of “Catch-22”’s Heller) could have reached the same conclusion without veering down this harrying and frenetic path. I felt this action resulted in a middle of the road novel falling below the bar. ( )