--
BOOKS I READ: A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley (1968). This “fictional memoir’ is the confessions of a good-for-nothing slacker, cycling in and out of mental institutions, mumbling about the pain of following in the footsteps of his father, a revered local athlete, while desiring even greater adulation. He decides that becoming a famous writer is the only way to satisfy the need for fame, yet he rarely has the discipline to do much but drink and watch his beloved New York Giants, specifically Frank Gifford, their star running back and former college mate, whom he knew only because of Gifford’s BMOC status at USC.
A Fan’s Notes, based in Watertown, completes my Western New York trilogy after a reader of this log, noticing entries for books based in Syracuse and Rochester, recommended Exley’s book. Of the three books, this is by far the most accomplished, although it is likely to offend anyone sensitive to Cro-Magnon (read, 1960s) views on race and, particularly, women. The chapter with Mr. Blue, at times, can be cringe-worthy for its sophomoric scrutiny of a specific sex act.
Exley, a sometimes English teacher, sprinkles literary references with abandon. At one point, I counted half-dozen references in a span of two pages, although no literary characters is called in more often than Humbert Humbert, mostly because he feigns taking a long time to read Lolita sprawled on the davenport—this oft used term stands in for his throne.
When the fame he seeks becomes unattainable, Exley concludes that his lot in life is to be a fan, a spectator of an increasingly distant and appalling American culture, represented by college boys in a convertible that he takes on near the end of the book.
After I finished the book, feeling satisfied and impressed with what I had just consumed, I turned back to the front to re-read a quote I had remembered dismissing off-handedly when I first got the book, thinking it hyperbole. Now, I’m not so sure. The quote is by the journalist Mike McGrady: “… there are times when I am of the opinion that A Fan’s Notes is the best novel written in the English language since The Great Gatsby.”
Previous book from the reading log (or check out a list of all my recent reads):
