YOU Comma Idiot [Hardcover]

Given that this good-natured debut by film producer Doug Harris takes the unconventional form of a second-person narrative, the reader should not assume that its title is directed at him. Instead, it likely refers to the book’s slacker hero, 28-year-old Montreal resident Lee Goodstone.  

Despite the quirky narrative voice, which is fluently handled and becomes scarcely noticeable after a few pages, Lee is a familiar character in what is sometimes called LoserLit. He is a scrawny, sensitive, self-deprecating, going-nowhere kind of guy, living in a spectacular loft apartment that he admits is a cliché while making a comfortable living selling (mostly soft) drugs. Other generic elements on offer here include the gang of friends who have hung together since childhood – cases of arrested development – and the unprepossessing hero’s baffling ability to get gorgeous, intelligent women to go to bed with him. 

Various unrelated things happen. One of Lee’s friends is accused of murder. The girlfriend of another takes up with Lee. His drug business, which he is apathetic about anyway, starts to go down the tube. All of these plot points are just pegs on which to hang a tapestry of observational humour as Lee casts his cold eye on the Montreal scene. 

Genuinely funny at times, and always easy to like, YOU comma Idiot nevertheless exhibits the limitations of its genre. The characters rarely rise above types, the one exception being Lee’s eccentric dealer, who is a wonderful comic creation. Some parts of the book, like the satire of the news media, don’t come off at all. The tone frequently becomes overly sentimental, and the subplots are resolved in perfunctory and uninteresting ways. But at his best, Harris gives plenty of evidence that he is a writer capable of doing more with less formulaic material.

“(A) hash-fuelled joyride about some less than beautiful losers . . . YOU comma Idiot is a black comedy with some neat twists. Throw in a fresh jacket design and endpaper illustrations by the author and you have a winner.” — Uptown

“(A) fun read with a serious dark side.” — Broken Pencil

“By the end of the novel, Lee felt like an old friend, someone that I had run into again after a long time and spent the day reminiscing with. . . . Harris’s book is a surprisingly meaningful work. . . . YOU comma Idiot is mostly a really fun and engaging read, and a welcome break from all the other “eccentric” or “quirky” novels out there, overbearing in their attempts at literary greatness through offbeat realism.” — The McGill Daily

“You’re the kind of guy who falls in love after one date.” Marginalized and alienated, perennial fuck-up Lee Goodstone is a resounding zero: a low-rent hash-dealer with delusions of inadequacy. He’s content to while away the hours of his life drinking, smoking, hanging out, playing the occasional game of hockey, and generally ignoring the world outside his tiny neighbourhood. But Lee’s near-idyllic existence is about to grind into second gear. His friend Henry has been accused of kidnapping and Lee’s been cornered by the local media. Another friend has decided to shoehorn his way into Lee’s drug business. And he’s just made it with his best friend’s girlfriend. Clearly, Lee needs a Plan B — not easy for a guy who long ago decided that the correct plan of action is to have no plan at all. A hip, comedic novel, Doug Harris’s YOU comma Idiot is a dark, demented, deeply delightful excursion into youthful alienation and ennui. (20120504)

You’re the kind of guy who falls in love after one date. Marginalized and alienated, perennial fuck-up Lee Goodstone is a resounding zero; a low-rent hash-dealer with delusions of inadequacy. He’s content to while away the hours of his life drinking, smoking, hanging out, playing the occasional game of hockey, and generally ignoring the world outside his tiny neighbourhood. But Lee’s near-idyllic existence is about to grind into second gear. His friend Henry has been accused of kidnapping and Lee’s been cornered by the local media. Another friend has decided to shoehorn his way into Lee’s drug business. And he’s just made it with his best friend’s girlfriend. Clearly, Lee needs a Plan B — not easy for a guy who long ago decided that the correct plan of action is to have no plan at all. A hip, comedic novel, Doug Harris’s YOU comma Idiot is a dark, demented, deeply delightful excursion into youthful alienation and ennui.

It’s time for Plan B. Sometimes, a man must spring into action. For Lee Goodstone, waking up in the arms of his best friend’s girl, that time is soon. At least, pretty soon. Maybe after a nap. Redefining “lethargic,” Lee joins the noble pantheon of blissed-out heroes with no redeeming qualities save a cool wit and primo weed. But apathy takes a man only so far. In short order, Lee’s drug trade is compromised, his friend is wanted for kidnapping, and his delaer boss is well-nigh displeased that Lee has plastered his mug all over the evening news. For a man with few responsibilities and even fewer goals, Lee is about to learn that it’s no longer about how the game is played; he needs to figure out what the game is and which team he’s playing for. YOU comma Idiot is a fearless, fierce, and funny trek that you won’t soon forget. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

In his teens, Doug Harris unloaded watermelon trucks from Florida and disposed of corpses at an animal hospital. Then, in his twenties, he got through film school by working night shifts as a hospital orderly — once again transporting dead bodies. Though it was hard to leave the cadavers behind, at 24 Doug co-wrote and directed the feature film Remembering Mel, a quirky, ambitious comedy that was screened in Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. Today he runs an award-winning video production company.