Men and Cartoons

October 25, 2004
Like Lethem's bestselling novel The Fortress of Solitude,
this collection blends the literary with the fantastical, probing themes of loneliness, failed relationships and the consequences of strange powers. These nine stories, starring comic book heroes and regular folks, are steeped in melancholic nostalgia, absurdist humor and a sly air of cultural critique. The strongest combine character studies with extraordinary elements: in "The Spray," police investigating a robbery in a couple's apartment leave behind an aerosol spray that reveals missing items as glowing images, which the couple subsequently use to find out more than they wanted to know about each other. In "Super Goat Man" and "The Vision," real and imaginary superheroes become the focus for the dashed hopes of characters who can't help feeling spiteful at their loss of innocence. Lethem delves into Borges and Kafka territory in some stories, notably "The Dystopianist, Thinking of His Rival, Is Interrupted by a Knock on the Door." In this surreal fable, a writer of bleak futures invents the perfect literary weapon to defeat his utopianist enemy, only to have it show up on his threshold. "Access Fantasy" is the most straightforwardly science fictional, set in a future when people live in their cars, immobilized by a citywide traffic jam. Stylistically varied, inventive, accessible, Lethem's stories offer a fine appetizer for fans hungry for his next big thing. Agent, Richard Parks.

November 1, 2004
Audio reviews reflect PW
's assessment of the audio adaptation of a book and should be quoted only in reference to the audio version.
Fiction
MEN AND CARTOONS: Stories
Jonathan Lethem
, read by the author, Tim Blake Nelson, Kevin Corrigan et al. Random House Audio
, unabridged, four CDs, 4 hrs., $16.95 ISBN 0-7393-1489-0

Music resembling the theme from Star Wars
—complete with bombastic kettledrums and an announcer who sounds like he's caught in an echo chamber—ironically introduces Lethem's offbeat collection of short stories. Though the stories deal with the extraordinary (i.e., superheroes, super inventions and, in one case, a look into the future), themes of loneliness, despair and absurdity usually prevail. Each offering opens with a mood-setting musical backdrop, against which the reader introduces him or herself and the selection. The nine stories are read by eight readers and, from the start, the standard—both literary and narrative—is set quite high. Actors David Aaron Baker, David Krumholtz and Kevin Corrigan each present fine readings, ably setting the tone their stories require. Less convincing, but still entertaining, is Sandra Bernhard, who seems like the odd woman out in this nerdy man's world of comics and sci-fi. Conversely, the most inspired choice is John Linnell of the rock band They Might Be Giants
. Lethem himself maintains the audiobook's high standard and performs his prose with a sensitivity that's sweet but never cloying. Overall, this is a satisfying, and sometimes surprising, audio collection. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover (Forecasts, Oct. 25).