When 14-year-old Judd Breslau gets the boot from Yale, he finds himself in the employ of Phillips Chatterton, an eccentric Egyptologist who may or may not have unlocked the secrets of the pyramids. Living communally in a dilapidated Baltimore mansion with a gang of aged academic misfits, Judd spends more and more time with Chatterton's beautiful daughter Valerie. Before long, she draws him away from his research and into a series of madcap adventures that ultimately land him in a prison built of human excrement in a minor province of Iraq.
Bowl of Cherries is the rare debut novel that succeeds in balancing hilarity and heartbreak, telling a sprawling comic story with surprising intimacy. The rarity might be accounted for by the fact that Millard Kaufman is a rare debut novelist. Born in 1917, Kaufman is a former marine and screenwriter twice nominated for an Academy Award, who is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo. Having decided in his late 80s to try his hand at writing novels, his first attempt attracted the attention of McSweeney's, the hipster publishing house founded by Dave Eggers. It’s easy to understand why.
The book is clearly the work of a man relishing the freedom allowed by the printed page. No longer concerned with writing to the conventions of feature films, Kaufman lets loose with scenarios and dialogue that are unlikely to ever be seen on the silver screen. He delights in word play, discussing his elderly colleagues' "fossil fears," and referring to former president Bill Clinton as being "snatch-happy." Undeniably verbose, Kaufman will send many readers reaching for their dictionaries. No show-off, his frequent use of 10-dollar words is a celebration of language.
A lively comic novel that spans from an Ivy League campus to a Brooklyn porn studio to an Iraqi prison, Bowl of Cherries is a rollicking read that is as erudite as it is entertaining. Though the plot is undoubtedly convoluted, it is also compelling and well paced, and readers will find themselves caught up in the story. Occasionally vulgar (particularly in his discussions of horse genitalia), Kaufman largely succeeds in keeping things classy. Writing about decidedly modern subject matter, there is nevertheless an old-timey quality to his writing that gives the book a timeless feel. Inventive and insightful, Bowl of Cherries is a stunning debut novel by a 90 year-old wunderkind.
