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NoirNovels.com - A unique repository for all things noir
Too Much Of Nothing
Reviewed By Steve Nester Eric Sperling is a restless spirit. Really. Murdered in the early 1980?s, Eric is a nefesh, a human spirit in need of purification before ending his purgatory on earth. Fifteen years later he still wanders the California beach town of Calaveras, a suburb of Los Angeles, studying Jewish mysticism and trying to figure out how to move to the next spiritual level. Eric is angry, bitter, and unable to put his wrongful death at the hands of Tom Linden behind him. In his debut novel, ?Too Much of Nothing?, Michael Scott Moore brings the reader back not to the California of the Gold Rush, or the birth of Hippie Culture, or to the edge of history, but to the Reagan Administration nightmare of ?urban congestion, bad wages, slavery, poverty". Banality rules, punk rock is still raw and dangerous, and there is dope everywhere thanks to Central American Contras in need of gun money. When Tom Linden?s father dies, Eric?s parents ask him to take the younger high school student under his wing. It turns out Linden is disturbed and defiant, and plays teacher to Sperling, introducing him to drugs, vandalism, and nihilism under the dull, smog obscured southern California sun. The Beach Boys and the happy, carefree life they trilled about might as well be dead; and the oranges in this Sunshine State bildungsroman gone wrong are sour. As Linden?s anti-social behavior gets worse, the schlemielish Eric tags along for the ride. The one glimmer of hope is Rachael Cisneros. The daughter of Mexican-American labor activists, the immature Tom thinks she is his girlfriend. Though kind of heart, Rachael sleeps with just about everyone, including Eric. When Tom finds out, he opportunely turns a car accident into murder. With Eric with him during what should be a simple fender bender, he kills the boy who should?ve been looking out for him. The story of Tom and Eric is described as Eric rides the rails fifteen years later to give a good spooking to Tom, an aimless carpenter and alcoholic in northern California. And what a spooking he gets. A final showdown is provoked between Tom and Rachael, now a successful attorney, with Eric watching from the wings, hoping to be set free. ?Too Much of Nothing? is an unsentimental book with plenty of wry humor, but does not employ the terse and droll Joan Didion style of narration which a lesser writer might have opted for. The voice is original and doesn?t dwell or repeat to make a point. Having the story told in the first person enables the reader to form an immediate emotional bond with the tragic Eric; having Eric be a ghost allows him to possess a kind of omniscient point of view, which gives the book a fuller dimension. Mentally and emotionally, Eric has grown and he is now able to explain and put into words things he couldn?t have as a teenager. Eric has had enough time to think and fill in the blanks. When sentiment is called for, it is given in precise measurement, keeping well away from mawkishness and pining, and then the story moves on. ?Too Much of Nothing? is the story of an uncomfortable time brought back to life by someone who has earned a well deserved eternal rest. |
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