Ablutions

By Patrick deWitt and Fellswoop Theatre

Picture yourself as a bartender, sipping top-shelf whisky and watching your customers descend into nightly oblivion. Your heart is broken by the world around you and, leaving the whisky aside, you hatch adevious, unthinkable plan of escape…
Award-winning FellSwoop Theatre present Ablutions: a dark, modern drama, adapted from the novel by Man Booker shortlisted author, Patrick deWitt. A grimly funny tale from the sodden depths of the Los Angeles underworld, Ablutions blends a live soundtrack and deWitt’s heart-wrenching humour.
WINNER: Ignite Theatre Festival’s Critics’ Choice Award

• Language: English
• Publisher: OBERON BOOKS Ltd
• Release date: Feb 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781783198719

Patrick deWitt

Patrick deWitt is the author of the novels French Exit (a national bestseller), The Sisters Brothers (a New York Times bestseller short-listed for the Booker Prize), and the critically acclaimed Undermajordomo Minor and Ablutions. Born in British Columbia, he now resides in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews for Ablutions

[pgmcc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is written in an experimental fashion, supposedly as notes for writing a novel. I got used to the format sooner than I expected and it didn’t annoy me too much.The story is told from the viewpoint of a person who works in a bar and is an alcoholic. Descriptions of people and events presented as notes for a novel soon build a mosaic of the main characters life, his failed hopes, and the general decline of his wellbeing.I would not recommend this novel to people of a sensitive or conservative nature. The characters and events are not those generally found in polite society.De Witt managed to keep me guessing about how the story would play out and he managed to do something that I recall Franz Kafka achieving in his novel The Castle. He had me experiencing the feelings and circumstances of the viewpoint character. At one point in the story the main character has been drinking heavily, he has had some personal hygiene accidents, and experienced some disappointments and letdowns. When I was reading that part of the book I felt grubby, woozy of mind, and could sense the building depression of the character. The book grew on me as I read it and I do believe de Witt has demonstrated skill by making the reader experience the feelings of the character in the story and keeping the reader guessing as to how things will turn out, but I cannot bring myself to give it a full four stars. It will have to do with three and a half which is still good in my scoring scheme.

[steven.buechler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The beauty of great literature is the ability of the author to immerse a reader into a life of another person. When that happens, a reader gains insight not only into a life of a protagonist but is able to look at their own life in detail. That is what Patrick deWitt has done brilliantly in his novel Ablutions. Page 3DISCUSS THE REGULARS. They site in a line like ugly, huddled birds, eyes wet with alcohol. They whisper into their cups and seem to be gloating about something - you will never know what. some have jobs, children, spouses, cars, and mortgages, while others live with their parents or in transient motels and are on government assistance, a curious balance of classes particular to the parts of Hollywood devoid of klieg lights and make-believe. There are sometimes limousines at the curb out front; other nights feature police cars and ambulances and vicious street scenarios. The bar interior resembles a sunken luxury liner of the early 1900s, mahogany and brass, black-burgundy leather coated in dust and ash. It is impossible to know how many times the ownership has changed hands. It is a simple device that deWitt using to capture us into the life of his bartender - using the second person. But it works. A reader is absorbed into the mind of this unnamed character and gets to understand him. And making the bartender work in a bar in Hollywood, allows deWitt to make general observations about North-American culture in general.

[giovannigf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a pretty good first novel about a bartender with serious substance abuse problems written by an author who says he has worked as a bartender. It’s well written, very witty and often darkly funny. I would recommend you check it out. The New York Times website has the first chapter.

[jorgearanda_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story of addiction and decay told with humour and precise, charming prose. I'm now platonically in love with deWitt.

[kevinjoseph_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ablutions has a really memorable, gnarly cover and contains snippets of great writing and realistic-seeming observations about our nihilistic bar room culture. Otherwise this tale of a slacker Hollywood bartender fails to rise above the mediocrity of its completely unsympathetic protagonist, a drug addict who seems to care nothing for the well being of his wife, so-called friends, or even himself. If the gimmick that's meant to set this story apart from other wallowing tales of alcoholic self-destruction is its loose, unfinished structure, that's truly unfortunate. The main challenge that novelists face is how to construct a seamless narrative that pulls together plot, theme and character into a coherent, meaningful whole. Patrick deWitt has managed to sidestep this challenge entirely, jotting down a series of loosely connected observations prefaced with "discuss [this person or that thing]" and passing them off as a novel. I would liken the difference between Abolutions and a real novel to the difference between a set of PowerPoint slides in the business world and a carefully constructed memorandum. Anyone can jot down thoughts and observations, but integrating them requires a lot of hard work and forces the writer to acknowledge and address weaknesses in plot and theme. Patrick deWitt has the talent to be a good novelist but it remains to be seen whether he's willing to put forth the effort to convert his raw ideas into something more meaningful.

[bness2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A bit of a disappointingly grim novel. I kind of knew what I was in for after the first few pages. Some of the characters are intriguing, but overall I found the story too scattered to be interesting. I also found the narrator's voice distracting. As the subtitle says (Notes for a Novel), the perspective is from that of "notes" where the narrator keeps referring to himself as "you." I just find that sort of a narrative perspective stilted.

[aula_6 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't find this amusing in any way. Rather, I found the litany of ills and travails of the characters relentlessly sad and depressing. This surprised me, as I greatly enjoyed both his 'Undermajordomo Minor' and 'The Sisters Brothers'. There was a subtle humor to both of them that I felt came through, unlike 'Ablutions', which I found simply depressing.

[martha_thayer-45494 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Would win a 'most candidates for rehab per page' contest. A second-person novelty perhaps, but I liked it.

[librolindsay · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are really great moments throughout, but the level of dysfunction really got to me in the end. Boy, am I glad I've decided to cut back on drinking.