Ether

September 5, 2011
In Ehrenreich’s second novel, God takes the form of a homeless man adrift in a frightening postapocalyptic world who vainly seeks to return to his former glory. At first glance, this notion appears an interesting conceit; God rendered a has-been, a loser, whether by the faithlessness of modern man, the advances of science, or the godlessness of this terrible present. Had the author taken a page from Milton or Dante and pursued a consistent metaphor, he might have produced a fine commentary on the status of God in modernity. Unfortunately, Ehrenreich appears primarily interested in debasing divinity (he is fascinated by squalor) and word-smithing small gems in an otherwise unconnected series of vignettes. There is peculiar beauty to be found (the burning of a hummingbird on a gasoline pyre), but much is too obviously an exploration of Ehrenreich’s whims, such as a cloying section devoted to facts about sea creatures that is a far cry from the meditations of Melville. God is a difficult subject, perhaps best left to serious thinkers and not authors interested in shock value.

October 15, 2011

Imagine a world in which a cast of nameless characters wander a postapocalyptic landscape for reasons that are unclear at best, and you'll end up with not only a metaphor for American politics but also a novel very much like this work by Ehrenreich (The Suitors). Set adrift in a burning world, this ragtag band of acolytes follow a man provisionally named The Stranger, a threadbare, vaguely Christlike figure who is endowed with no miraculous powers, only a drive to search for an object that is never explicitly named. Throughout, we are given intermittent glimpses into another character, an authorial presence who interacts with The Stranger until the close of the book, when his creation disappears into the pages of the novel. VERDICT This odd cross between Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is full of captivating scenes, and the protagonist is interesting if puzzling. But the devices that Ehrenreich uses to create distance between the action and the reader leave the novel with an ungrounded feel. For adventuresome readers only.--Chris Pusateri, Jefferson Cty. P.L., Lakewood, CO

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2011
In the stylistically diverse world of contemporary literature, Ehrenreich's works fall squarely into the postmodern camp. His stories have appeared in counterculture magazines such as McSweeney's, and his debut novel, The Suitors (2006), presented a surreal retelling of Homer's Odyssey. In this slender new novel, Ehrenreich casts himself as a troubled first-person narrator clashing with his own characters, including the tale's protagonist, an unnamed, disheveled stranger making his way through a postapocalyptic landscape. Bearded and badly soiled, if messiah-like, the stranger totes a mysterious wrapped package others covet. In a series of loosely connected vignettes, the stranger crosses paths with a wide variety of eccentrics and malcontents, including a cocaine-snorting bar patron who tempts him, a homeless bagman who idolizes him, and a gang of skinheads that brutally attacks him. Throughout a roving narrative filled with luminous yet often disturbing imagery, Ehrenreich freely interjects his own voice and ambivalent musings about his characters' fates and motivations. Although the scarcity of explanations here will baffle most readers, Ehrenreich's fans will be delighted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)