It seems to me that most authors are aware of a line (that may or may not exist) and they don’t cross it; or they are aware of it and play around the edge of it but again don’t cross it. Readers are aware of the line also and have certain expectations about it. Thus, most writers and readers have entered into an unspoken agreement. Its part of what makes certain books and authors affect us so much, how they treat the line and their willingness to go over it. Eugene Marten has proven time and time again that he’s not aware of any such line and consequently manages to just go right on past it, often into unexpected territory.
Firework is the crime fiction novel written as a disaster novel. It’s the story of one man’s personal apocalypse. Firework is an act of violence and an assault on the reader and by the end, by the time the full weight of Jelonnek’s actions have sunk in, the reader will feel like a victim.
Adding to the assault is the writing style. Imagine a prose that is like an extreme telegraphic mixed with an almost stream of consciousness coupled with internalized prose that often leaves out crucial information so that the reader will have to meet the book halfway.
This small passage illustrates on a micro level the types of omissions that we frequently see in Firework.
The woman who’d been on camera and lived next to the business that serviced office machines asked how old Miss D was.
“You’re kidding,” she said, and Miss D took her thumb out of her mouth.
The opening pages are a cold opening that finds Jelonnek getting caught up in a prostitution sting operation, getting processed and spending some time in jail.
“The young ones called each other out from their cells. Set to set, block to block, nation to nation. They called each other soldier. Six pop, five drop, nines and gats and gauges. Greetings and threats indistinguishable in the voices of monster children.”
This perception of prison relayed through the voice of Jelonnek comes as close as possible to replicating the confusion and chaos of detention centers which often seem to lack the order and routine of prison as well as the various types of prisoners that collide – from drunks to guys with expired licenses to transfers – it’s an unruly mix.
Jelonnek gets caught up again in larger forces when he leaves a wedding reception with his brother in law who decides to pick up a couple of prostitutes. This results in them getting chased by a pimp and Jelonnek deciding to take one of the prostitutes across the country to find a relative before settling into a life together.
Jelonnek is a lost soul and murmuring below the surface is his susceptibility to others. He’s not comfortable with who he is, he doesn’t even know who he is really so his eventually descent into madness is inevitable. Jelonnek is similar and cut from the same mold as past Marten protags. In a recent interview he stated that he has been working on Firework since 1992. So maybe Jelonnek is the Ur-Marten protagonist.
Over the course of two novels and one novella Eugen Marten has been quietly taking crime fiction out of its comfort zone.
Some other opinions:
