The Morels

February 18, 2013
Hacker earns all the stereotypical accolades of a debut novel—promising, ambitious, sincere—but his execution is far more original, and the result is an odd alloy of kitchen-sink family drama and metafictional inquest. Arthur Morel, who as a child was a talented violinist with a flair for self-sabotage, has just finished his second novel (also called The Morels), a barely fictionalized account of his relationship with his wife Penelope and their son, Will. His book’s last scene, however, depicts Arthur and an eight-year-old Will engaging in a sexual act that shocks the public and quickly scuttles his relationship with his family, who are unmoved by his claims of poetic license. Penelope begins to suspect that the novel is an oblique admission by her husband of more than a merely unsavory imagination, and soon Arthur’s mounting troubles become a legal matter. His only remaining ally is a small-time filmmaker, whose faith in his friend’s innocence leads him to make a documentary that might uncover the facts behind the fictionalized Morels. Savvy readers will know that Hacker is up to something from the beginning, and what develops is an eloquent treatise on the rights of artists to exploit their personal histories—and why they do so, and at what cost. The payoff goes a long way toward justifying an overstuffed middle section that suffers from the frequent absence of the novel’s two anchors, the ever-frustrating Arthur and precocious Will. Hacker does more than establish himself with this fine debut; he delivers a mission statement and the book retains the same ability to shock as its namesake. Agent: Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic.

April 15, 2013
The line between art and sanity blurs to oblivion when a delusional novelist composes what he believes to be his greatest work of art. The question of just what constitutes art is at the center of debut novelist Hacker's densely constructed puzzle of a story, but, boy, does he make you work for it. Our Everyman narrator doesn't have much of a story himself: Chris is a film editor who is just barely muddling his way through mid-1990s Manhattan. But he's absorbed by another's tale when he accidentally reunites with Arthur Morel, a schoolmate. Both were child prodigies at a prestigious music academy, which Chris remembers with awe as the site where Arthur gave a command performance, followed by a literal defecation in front of his fans. These days, though, Arthur is a writer, married to a high-end bakery chef named Penelope and odd father to a son, Will. What makes Arthur so odd is his nearly fanatical devotion to the concept of writing as performance. In fact, his new novel is called The Morels and is religiously faithful to his life, with one exception. The novel's denouement features a graphic sexual trespass against his son. "[I]t's not a mystery," Arthur tells Chris. "It's not a romance, or what have you. This is--excuse the pretentiousness of saying it--literature. I'm looking for good, for true, for dangerous. This is my mandate, my only mandate. There is no formula. It's a direction, the vaguest sort of destination, a kind of compass that, if I know how to use it, will show me the way." As events unfold, Arthur's elaborate defenses start to crumble. Hacker is a fine writer with a promising head start, but the narrative's dizzying construction and meta-on-meta layers of obfuscation and posturing do start to get wearying by novel's end. The air of talent lingers on this debut, but it's far more interested in self-reverie than being interesting.

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Starred review from February 15, 2013

In this audacious, thought-provoking first novel set in recent New York City, the nameless narrator, a former music student now in filmmaking, bumps into an old acquaintance, Arthur Morel. Arthur is an author who's publishing his second novel, the main characters of which are Arthur and his family, fictionalized to varying degrees. The novel includes a shocking revelation involving Arthur and his son, which leads the man's in-laws to file legal action against him. The narrator and his movie-making friends begin a documentary about Arthur, his work, beliefs, and influences. The narrator's story is also told along the way, a not-uncommon story of an intelligent young man unable to commit to a career or a relationship. He seems to make progress over the course of the book, but where Arthur and his family are concerned, happy endings are not always available for a tortured artist following an uncompromising muse. VERDICT One of the top first novels of the year. The author spins out the story at a fast clip, creating a believable and entertaining tale. Woven into the fabric of the work are discussions of the function of art in society, the difficulty of arriving at the truth, and a thoughtful, compassionate detailing of the social and personal repercussions of individual actions and beliefs.--James Coan, Milne Lib., SUNY Oneonta

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Starred review from May 1, 2013
In Hacker's engaging debut, eccentric author Arthur Morel writes a novel that pushes the envelope of art-for-art's-sake beyond anyone's capacity to understand, much less forgive. Portrayed via the indulgent eye of someone who may be Arthur's best friend, he seems like a paragon of artistic genius. But had this been written from his family's point of view, Art would appear nothing short of certifiable, maybe even indictable. That's how far Art's art stretches the bounds of acceptability, even morality. While Hacker's cleverly crafted characters grapple with the fallout after Art's book hits the standshas Art actually experienced the actions depicted in his novel?larger questions loom. Should art be constrained by social mores, or does great art rise above them? Can literature be judged on the same plane as, say, a painting or a play? How much of the artist's soul is exposed in his/her work? Can Arthur be given a pass just because he's the son of totally loopy parents, who raised him in an environment of moral nihilism thinly disguised as artistic privilege? Whether a reader is intrigued by the philosophical questions or not, this family's plight makes for a marvelous read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)