Reviews

A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis

lnprad's review

3.0

In 'A Frolic of His Own,' Gaddis churns out a slow-burning satire of individuals litigated to the hilt. It's funny, but it's difficult. For some, Gaddis's heavy dialogue, packed with the casual ellipses and broken clauses of common spoken language, may become just as overwhelming, suffocating, as the legal briefs he includes in the book. I encourage those to press on and join me at marveling at his command, his flow and rhythm in imitating anxious conversation. Unfortunately, that not be the only struggle for the reader. A few may ultimately abandon this book at some point because they have no meaningful connection with these characters past a running grimace. Since these individuals tend to be so blithely absurd, patience is required to swim in their rattling-on of greedy hopes. But just as I did before, I ask the readers to read on and inward, hopefully reaching the point to find the rewarding goodness of dark biting humor in Gaddis's portrait of humans fighting and suing into absurdity.