Miracle Man
By Ben Schrank
From the jacket:
In Ben Schrank's vividly realized debut novel, Martin Kelly Minter yearns for a meaningful relationship with his beautiful Puerto Rican neighbor, Luz, and a place in history as a modern-day Robin Hood. A college dropout, self-exiled from his middle-class family, he works as a moving man in Manhattan. When Kelly decides that the wealthy New Yorkers he moves don't appreciate what they have, he steals from them and plots to give to the poor. And on a cold winter day he bakes bread, counting on its warmth to seduce Luz. Kelly tries to do right, but when he gets the chance to make big-time money as a big-time thief, he calls this his destiny.
First paragraph:
We'd just finished a job, and I leaned against the side of the International. Our truck was old and pretty busted up. It was covered with a hippie-style painting of a massive pale hand (God's) bursting through fat white clouds with a glowing cardboard box in its palm. The rest of the truck was sky blue. The painting was old, and it was peeling and torn in places where Teddy and the other drivers had knocked the truck against cars, buses, trees, buildings, and other trucks.
The element of this book that I most enjoyed was the main character's Robin Hood complex. When I read that in the description, it sold me the book. I'm a sucker for guys with a strict moral code, I guess.
This story is very straight forward. In the beginning, Kelly is in a low spot in his life: living in a crappy apartment, working as a moving guy, just broken up with his girlfriend, seperated from his family. His best friend (and blood brother) Felix works for the same company and shares the same moral beliefs. Kelly is more comfortable with Felix even though Felix is married and with child, than Kelly is with his own biological brother, Kevin. Kevin is a doctor to the rich people, the people whom Kelly so dispises, and he represents everything Kelly frowns upon.
All Kelly wants is for people to be equals (and, for his actions to please people). He despises rich people in overpriced clothes, living in overpriced apartments, being catered to hand and foot while so many people are poor or homeless. Kelly has his heart in the right place: he always buys extra food so he can hand it out on the walk home, he hands out all the bills in his wallet, will even give someone the shirt off his back--but he wants to make a real difference. He steals from the clients he helps move, earings or money or statues, and gives it all away. But when the oppurtunity arises for him to make some serious cash, Kelly eagerly accepts and starts to brainstorm on how he can make a difference with the money.
One thing leads to another and as predicted, Kelly soon becomes the very thing he hates: a rich person in rich clothes living in a huge apartment. While his intention was that by making such a move he'd have the perfect cover for even more stealing, Kelly realizes that he actually likes being able to buy more than he needs. He's torn: he knows that he's breaking his own code, but not until his life starts to fall apart does he try to right all that's gone wrong.
I did not particularly love this book. It was not what I thought it would be, and the story was very simple and predictable. The dialect was heavy at times, and none of the supporting characters (save Felix) seemed to have the depth that Kelly did. There was not much action--much of the story consisted of Kelly waiting for orders. I could not manage as much sympathy for him as I would have liked to. The story seemed a little... flat.
However, I could not stop reading it, and I can't name the element that kept me hooked. Schrank attended the New York graduate program for Creative Writing, and I say that whatever he learned there is what prevented this from being a total loss. The structure was solid, the pacing steady... the story is true to mold. And maybe that's why I didn't enjoy it completely--it was too fill-in-the-blanks. Miracle Man is Schrank's first novel after years of non-fiction writing for Seventeen magazine, and I'm betting that his next novel will be much better, once he's allowed the story to have its own heartbeat. Combine Schrank's talents with a more colorful, engaging plot and he will be unstopable.
Two out of Five stars
1 comment:
While this sounds like an interesting read, I agree with your analysis of the book and why it failed to breach the two out of five star rating. As you know, I used to be envious of those writers who cut their teeth at writing school, whether that be a formal degree or an adult education type setting. Now I don't. I think those writers who live and breathe writing, who read avidly, who craft and re-craft their work and who self-teach can often beat the pants off those who do formal classes. Formal classes teach strict rules but I don't know if they can adequately teach heart.
Of interest though is the social reality that poor people are generous but rich people rarely are. More disturbing is the trend for rich people who were once poor to lose that connection. Some of the most miserly are those who once had it hard but who gained their luck through windfall.
Thanks for writing such an insightful and well considered post from a book that seems like it was a little less so.
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