The Ecstatic

By Victor LaValle and Victor La Valle

Book Overview

Anthony James weighs 315 pounds, is possibly schizophrenic, and he's just been kicked out of college. He's rescued by his mother, sister, and grandmother, but they may not be altogether sane themselves. Living in the basement of their home in Queens, New York, Anthony is armed with nothing but wicked sarcasm and a few well-cut suits. He intends to make horror movies but takes the jobs he can handle, cleaning homes and factories, and keeps crossing paths with a Japanese political prisoner, a mysterious loan shark named Ishkabibble, and packs of feral dogs. When his invincible 13-year old sister enters yet another beauty pageant--this one for virgins--the combustible Jameses pile into their car and head South for the competition. Will Anthony's family stick together or explode? With electrifying prose, LaValle ushers us into four troubled but very funny lives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037571331X
• ISBN13: 9780375713316
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Tired of the bull

I'm writing because I'm just concerned, straight up, with some of the reviews this novel has been given by people who meant well but, if I'm being honest, simply can't give other people a fair minded picture of this spectacular novel. First of all, IT'S NOT CONFUSING!!!!!!!! I can't say that enough. The problem is that if you've only been used to eating candy your whole life you're not going to know how to take a steak. Some of the people who've posted before me have been talking about how the novel loses them at times, but if you're used to reading smart fiction, even slightly literary, then you can breeze through this book. In fact, at times you'll have to slow down because you're enjoying the poetry of the language so much that you forget to take notice of the story. Are we ever going to just come out and say you should have to take an IQ test in order to read certain books? Probably not, but maybe we should. I mean, I don't think great literature means that it's got to be confusing, but I get mad when I see good, decent folks trying to pretend that just because there's not a straightforward romance going on the book is Finnegan's Wake! Of course, I realize that now I've made nothing but an in joke, but what saddens me the most is that there are people for whom that reference was over their heads. My god, the state of American readers is dismal. Okay, I shouldn't turn this review into nothing but a big complaining session so let me tell you that I haven't read a book this ambitious and profound in ten years. Imagine a novel that tries to be funny and heartbreaking at the same time, sometimes in the same line. I put this book down feeling like I'd discovered my eyes after years of being blind. It just made me so happy to see that this painful and touching novel was actually published.

A long, strange trip

The first thing that struck me about "The Ecstatic" is that the writing is really of very high quality. Lavalle is a master of character description, and brings the eccentric characters in this story vividly to life. I suppose the backbone of the plot is that our hero is on a journey of self-discovery, and in the process finds himself in some hilarious and sometimes dangerous situations. I don't know to what extent this novel is actually autobiographical, but it makes me wonder. Overall, a very entertaining and somewhat surreal read. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Bif! Bam! Boom!

This book hit me so hard, but I couldn't put it down. What is it about families that keeps creating great literature. They just contain this energy. Victor LaValle tapped into that and put it on the page. What I liked was that sometimes I was laughing along, thinking this was just a big book of jokes and then, BIF! BAM! BOOM! he'd have a scene that broke my heart. Then he'd go right back to the funny stuff. Wow. I never really thought you could do that without losing the momentum. I missed the people in it right after I closed the book. It's just a book for anyone who cares at all about seeing real human beings in fiction.

Wonderful !

This is one of the best books I've read in quite some time. Experiencing an individuals descent into madness is a topic not often handled with such grace and dark humor it's done here with the off-handed skill of a great talent I look forward to reading future works by this author.