Sunday, August 08, 2010

Books: With Garlic and Victory

WIth Garlic and VictoryWIth Garlic and Victory by J. M. I. Kagan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclosure: Author is a long-time friend of mine, and I am familiar with many of the real-life characters upon which his material is drawn.

With Garlic and Victory is (to my knowledge) Josh’s second book, and it’s work would appear to have been written/collected in the last 8-10 years. It is an enjoyable read, with a mixture of stories and blank verse poems which read like stories, reminiscent of the work of Charles Bukowski. Josh is painfully honest about himself in his writing, and his depictions of his life as a poor, beer-drinking, coffee-swilling artist who has made a career out of working in kitchens, are tremendously entertaining and truthful.

“So why do you want to work here?” he stretched out on the seat, arms folded, his face betrayed the countenance of a man suffering with hot grease on his balls and a spatula broken off in his ass…
“Well, I’m new in town and times are hard, so…”
“Well, as an employer, it’s hard to hear I was your last resort…listen, I can take one look at you and see you won’t fit in here…”
“THAT’S IT? You called me all the way out here for a two minute interview hoping I’d tell you my dream in life, my true aspiration was to flip burgers? What kind of asshole are you?”
I walked out.


In many ways I consider Josh’s work a throwback--his work would be perfectly at home in Depression era fiction: the story of a factotum just trying to survive. The opening story about trying to get a job in a restaurant in Portland, only to fail because the boss didn’t think he would be a proper ass-kisser, and the story about donating plasma for money are sad reminders of a rough time for the both of us (something we both did when we lived in Portland) but it is very in-line with the rest of the themes running through With Garlic and Victory: Everything is bullshit--and work is just a means to an end to put food on the table and beer in the fridge while keeping your soul intact. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is a goddamn liar.

At 85 pages, this book that breezes right along. I’d have read the whole thing in one sitting if I could have. Great job!

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