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The Adjustment (2010)

by Scott Phillips(Favorite Author)

3.79 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1607477300 (ISBN13: 9781607477303)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Phoenix Books

review 1: I have to admit, I was pretty amped about reading this book. I liked "The Ice Harvest" (both the book and Harold Ramis's film adaptation), I have enjoyed other books on guys returning from World War II to my hometown (like both my grandfathers did), and I think Phillips has a good, raw style in his prose. One of my best friends (an English teacher) recommended it. At the end of the day, though, I like having a protagonist with which I can empathize, and this book is basically a couple of months in the life of a sociopath. His track record as a soldier, a father, and man in general presents a chain of minimal performances and no regrets. I found myself halfway through the book wishing for the classic noir moment when thugs/angry husband/corrupt cops give the main chara... morecter a good beating or switchblade up the nose. If you want to read a good dirty book about Wichita in this period, check out Earl Thompson (either "A Garden of Sand" or "Tattoo"). If you want a novel about vets coming home to Wichita and making the "adjustment" to peacetime, I think Jim Lehrer's "Oh, Johnny!" conveys a lot of the real but bitter moments of real life. The common thread here is this--Thompson and Lehrer give the reader a multi-dimensional protagonist and place him in the middle of sour, disappointing life experiences to make a point about decisions we make and their consequences. I'm not sure what point Phillips is trying to convey in this book other than do the bare minimum to get by in life, then leave town when it gets complicated. I think he could have pulled this off--as he did in "The Ice Harvest," if his main character wasn't such a turd.
review 2: The anti-hero of this novel, PR man Wayne Ogden, may be the nastiest fictional narrator I've encountered since reading C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." Everything he says and does subverts the dual cliche's of "The Greatest Generation" and Midwestern values. Ogden is a returning Army veteran from World War II -- but his service was in the quartermaster corps, where he made tons of money as a black marketeer and a pimp. Now back home in Wichita, he's got a steady job and a wife who loves him -- but his job is as a bag man, pusher and a procurer for the company CEO and he cheats on his wife every chance he gets. In the course of this book Ogden lies, steals, beats up people, burgles a dead man's house to steal evidence, blackmails executives, even kills a man -- and for the most part has great fun doing it. He experiences not a single moment of remorse. In this short novel Phillips injects a lot of humor and action to keep the reader entertained, and he excels at deft characterization. He really makes Ogden's perverse circle come to life. What he has trouble with is plotting. There really isn't much of a narrative arc here. The one suspenseful part of the story -- someone from Ogden's past is sending him anonyous threatening letters -- has a pretty lame payoff. Ogden solves the mystery almost by accident and deals with the situation pretty easily. Over the course of the novel, Ogden doesn't grow or change one bit. He's exactly as twisted and mean at the end as he was at the beginning. I'd call this diverting noir, but not great noir. less

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