Come for the Apocalypse, Stay for the Widgets A Review of Bad Attitude by Leopold McGinnis Reviewed by Pat King If you want the best example of contemporary outsider writing from the last couple of years, then you should read Leopold McGinnis’s self-published book, Bad Attitude. The book is cynical, funny, and yet, deadly serious about its subject. And it’s a polemic in the best sense. It takes the topic of consumerism, lays it on the operating table and examines its guts. The subject of the book is the end of the world, the apocalypse, something I’ve been incredibly interested in recently.
The book recognizes the giant difference between capitalism, which is essential, to some extent, in any free society and the mindless consumerism which is turning otherwise healthy humans into mindless robots. Any sane person might look around them and conclude that that Western society is veering toward a sort of point of no return in terms of exchanging mind and spirit for a couple pieces of silver. In Bad Attitude, McGinnis’s main character, Jesse Durnell, argues the West has already passed this point. He’s simply waiting around to watch the thing collapse upon itself. In other words, the apocalypse that mankind has been waiting for has already happened. The virus is already there, all that’s left is the death rattle. And of course the best place to view this consumer apocalypse is by working directly in the heart of the thing: retail. The narrator of the book, Jesse Durnell, is a salesman at Electronics Pit. Think Best Buy or Circuit City. Jesse has a college degree and worked for a while as a marketing assistant before becoming disillusioned and leaving the job. He’s worked various retail jobs since then, quitting them when they start to seem like, well, jobs. He quits and moves on when the fun stops. And when we meet him at the beginning of Bad Attitude, the fun has almost stopped. We know that Jesse is about to move on. However, Jesse decides to stay until a certain item, the Futura, a $10,000 “entertainment center” is sold. To Jesse, the item is the pinnacle of mindless consumption because of the sheer gaudiness of it coupled with the fact that it has every major gadget that consumers love (TV, DVD player, Internet connection, surround sound etc.) The gimmick is made up, of course, and absurd in its extravagances. But in the world of Bad Attitude, which is one where humor and satire exist as everyday things (a world not quite our own but close) it makes sense. And it’s possibly not as absurd as it sounds. Been to the electronics section of a Wal-Mart lately? Anyway, the Futura is a great plot device. There’s only one in the entire store. Jesse and his co-worker/friend Mark know that the person who buys the device will symbolize something that they can’t quite fully comprehend. The buyer will be the ultimate consumer, and therefore, the ultimate symbol of the apocalypse. Bad Attitude feels more like a plot book than a character book. The characters seem to exist to move the plot instead of the reverse. It was the best decision for a book like this. You don’t want to stray too far from the polemic, make it too much about any one individual character. Which might be a strange thing to say considering that the book is written in first person by Jesse himself. It’s very personal and we are always aware that it’s Jesse guiding us through this journey. Nevertheless, we never really learn much about Jesse outside of his work life. We know that he graduated college and that he doesn’t own a car and doesn’t care for the gadgets he sells. But not much else. Most of the book takes place inside the store. And this as it should be. The store is the stage where the actors perform (and make no mistake, everyone in this book is an actor of some sort). One can almost see the props and the lights. It’s almost suffocating but that’s exactly what’s happening to Jesse and his co-workers and even the shoppers at Electronic’s Pit. Bad Attitude is possibly a great book, especially for its length. It’s a dystopian novel that takes place not in the future but in the present. It’s our own Western dystopia where happiness is fleeting and it can be bought piece by piece, gadget by gadget. In retrospect, it seems like my childhood in the middle class American 1980’s was the beginning of the end. A point where we could have recognized where we were going and stopped it or at least slowed it down. And now, here in the 21st Century, in the face of the mighty Western apocalypse, what are reasonable people supposed to do? Jesse Durnell’s solution is called “Zen Nihilism” and it means that we can remain in a curious state of peace even while living with ever-increasing meaninglessness all around us. Part of the key is having fun and laughing at ourselves as well as the world. The book itself is the very spirit of Zen Nihilism; funny, cynical and told with great compassion. And that’s why it’s important. Contact Leopold directly at www.redfez.net to buy the book! It is short, hilarious, dramatic, devastating!
Last update : 11-06-2008 18:21
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