- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Independent Publishers Group (Aug 19 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1550229729
- ISBN-13: 978-1550229721
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.2 x 1.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #377,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Quill & Quire
While the label ChickLit may seem condescending to some, and the genre itself – which typically involves the adventures of emotionally immature shopaholic women – demeaning, things look even worse on the other side of the gender divide. This is the world of LoserLit, novels featuring underemployed and largely unmotivated slacker males leading lonely and meaningless lives on the edge of respectability.
Henrik Nordmark, the creation of Vancouver-based author Christopher Meades, is a classic LoserLit anti-hero: a 42-year-old, bald, pot-bellied career security guard. Henrik’s life is so empty and entirely unremarkable that, following a near-death experience, he makes it his mission to become, in some way, unique.
This vague and variant quest – he tries pot, speed-dating, and clipping his toenails in public – is linked with several other storylines in a complex bit of narrative macramé. Chasing a runaway plum down the street, Henrik accidentally and unknowingly becomes the target of a gang of three elderly assassins (one blind, one deaf, and one mute). Another Untermensch, this one a cubicle drone named Roland, mistakenly thinks he’s won the lottery, setting his life on a downward spiral. And a young couple named Bonnie and Clyde try to kill each other, with extraordinary lack of success.
The result is a slapstick comedy of errors that moves at a breakneck pace through a series of destructive and increasingly violent encounters. Not that we care about any of the bodies that pile up at the end, since the characters are all cartoons programmed to behave just idiotically enough to keep the jokes rolling. Even Henrik is inconsistently rendered – at times employing a strangely formal and articulate vocabulary, then not knowing the difference between an enigma and an enema.
Quick and light as air, sometimes even funny, the book makes for an entertaining and undemanding diversion. Given its origins as an entry in the 3-Day Novel Contest (Meades subsequently expanded the manuscript considerably), and its obvious adherence to the LoserLit template, it’s hard to expect a lot more.
Review
"Witty and entertaining . . . the book is full of laugh-out-loud moments. Henrik is ridiculous in his simplicity (suggesting that 'their two person department have a Secret Santa program') and his multiple phobias keep his adventure interesting." —Publishers Weekly
"Well-written, totally hilarious yet also poignant, and brilliantly planned." —Bella's Bookshelves
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Comedic Drama from Start to Finish,
This review is from: Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (Paperback)
This is a funny book packed with fresh and vivid prose. The author's imaginative storytelling keeps the reader amused right to the end. He weaves several storylines together while the main character, Henrik Nordmark, seeks to shed his ordinary skin. The novel's secondary characters with their questionable judgment and bumbling antics are quite entertaining, especially the three elderly assassins who, despite their murderous intentions, are surprisingly likeable. Meades offers clever descriptions and an energetic style, and rewards the reader with a wonderfully outlandish climax. This novel should be made into a movie.
5.0 out of 5 stars
When Madness meets Genius,
By Robin Spano (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (Paperback)
From start to finish, Three Fates kept a smile on my face and my mind wide awake. It's an absurd tale with a sad crew of characters, but the narration is genius and the plot felt tightly knit and logical.Hidden amongst the absurdity are some sharply true observations about the human condition. I particularly enjoyed Henrik - a pathetically clueless guy who couldn't interact like a normal person to save his life. I found the author's portrayal of his social outcast protagonist to be both hilariously compelling and deeply compassionate. I was less attached to the other characters, but that's the kind of book it was - over half of the main characters have murderous intent, so really how drawn to them do you want to be? I was blown away by Meades' use of language. He puts words together so perfectly it seems effortless. Each sentence is a tiny masterpiece. I enjoyed every single page, and I found the climax - bizarre as it was - hugely satisfying. I want more from Christopher Meades. A lot more.
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than a pretty cover,
This review is from: Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark (Paperback)
Chris Meades had me at the cover. Then at the first page. Then at the last. The Three Fates of Henrik Nordmark is a deliciously cunning account of one man's journey out of the ordinary. Or so he thinks. A perfect weekend read and a definite must-buy for the men on your Christmas (birthday, any day) list.
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