The Average American Male: A Novel
by Chad Kultgen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chad KultgenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-13
ISBN: 0061231673
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of The Average American Male: A Novel
Book Review: Am I Missing Something?
Summary: 2 Stars
Take the subject matter and directness of "High Fidelity" and violently mash it together with with the in-your-face stripped down style of "Fight Club," and you have "The Average American Male." On paper this sounds like a winner, but unfortunately this book has neither the dry wit of the former novel nor the thought-provoking hipness of the latter...though I feel it strives for both. Unless I'm missing something.
Let me sum up this novel for you quickly. The protagonist is a stereotypical, sex-driven, non-committal male to the nth degree and Chad Kultgen takes us into his testosterone-drenched mind without holding anything back. Throw in some relationships and some extended sex scenes, and you've got yourself a novel.
I'm no literary savant, but the novel's title along with the main character's lack of a name leads me to believe that the protagonist is meant to represent an "everyman" that I should be relating to. And yes, as a young heterosexual male I will gladly admit that a few of the ideas presented in this book struck close to home. However, I found myself more detached and repulsed by this character than drawn to him. The book completely centers around him, yet he is never fleshed out as actually resembling a human being who has sentimentality, goals, philosophical thoughts, or complex emotions. In the end I felt like I was reading about a caricature.
Then again, maybe I'm SUPPOSED to feel this way about the main character. Maybe Chad Kultgen is being ironic on one more level than I first perceived. Afterall, this book cannot act as a biography of its target audience since the actual reading of this novel (and consequential enjoyment of literature as a whole on some level) automatically makes the reader far more complex than the main character. Any real person resembling the character in this novel would be far too busy trying to score then to actually sit down and read a book. So if this irony concerning the reader was intentional, than we are left with a tale about a loathsome character leading a depressing life who comes to an unfullfilling end. But atleast its not supposed to reflect the true state of the American male. And if this irony was unintentional and this novel is supposed to be a dissertation on the male psyche, well, I hope I'm not alone in believing Kultgen is remarkably mistaken in just about every respect.
Unless, of course, I am missing something.
Summary of The Average American Male: A Novel
Are you ready to meet the average American male?
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