SCENE JUNE 2022

SoMinn THE BOOKWORM SEZ

TERRI SCHILCHENMEYER Terri Schlichenmeyer is a book reviewer based just across the river from SoMinn in LaCrosse, WI. She can be contacted at bookwormsez@gmail.com

‘Hello, Molly,’ ‘Razmatazz’ and more How Do I Un-Remember This? Unfortunately True Stories

by Danny Pellegrino c.2022, Sourcebooks $25.99 272 pages Some things are better forgotten.

That time you had a wardrobe failure in gym class. Ugh, when your Mom revealed one of your childhood incidents to your best frenemy. The worst date everrr. Those are things you’d like to pretend never happened but they did and, as in “How Do I Un-Remember This?” by Danny Pellegrino, what have you learned from them?

Memories are funny things: you can reminisce with someone about something you both saw or experienced, but you won’t remember the exact same things in the same way. Says the host of the podcast Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, that’s when it’s perfectly okay to take a “little detour...”

Growing up in a small town in Ohio, Pellegrino remembers being an awkward kid. He had many friends, but they couldn’t always be trusted. At sleepovers, he generally preferred the company of the host’s mother because she could be counted on for good gossip. He liked girls sometimes, but he remembers how confusing that was because he liked boys, too. He recalls bad dates, good brothers, the process of coming out, and the fluster of being outed. Even his family could be awkward: he remembers family trips as being full of cheap motels, bad roads, and “stress wine” for his mother.

And what can you learn from this?

You learn that if your parents can embarrass you, they will, and that bruises last forever but they don’t always hurt that long. Know that there are days when it’s perfectly okay to say no but that any time is a good time to discuss “The Trolley Song.” You’ll see why we should retire the young-white-cis-man trope in superhero movies. You’ll learn why it’s important to be careful of the things your cleaning lady has access to, and be thankful if you have parents who love you. And you’ll learn that sometimes, life is simply “about getting through the journey alongside the ones you love.”

Judging a book by it’s cover is something we’ve been told not to do, but still. Looking at the front of this memoir hints at the humor inside, and yep, humor is here but it isn’t the only thing. “How Do I Un-Remember This?” is warm and fuzzy, too.

That might be because this book is more like a conversation than a monologue. Author Danny Pellegrino includes his readers in his memories, and even when they’re not identical, they’re universal. Embarrassments during puberty, parents that make you red-faced, bad dates, public humiliation, fan obsessions, been there, done that, discussed and disgusted.

But then those things are put into perspective, in a way that seems like a gentle hand on your arm. Count your blessings, Pellegrino reminds readers, and look for the good and wise in what you recall. Even when – maybe especially when – those memories are full of barbs.

Have fun reading this book, but don’t be surprised if “How Do I Un-Remember This?” tugs on your soul, too.

Indeed, some things are better forgotten. This book isn’t one of them.

Conversations with People Who Hate Me:

12 Things I Learned From Talking to Internet Strangers

by Dylan Marron c.2022, Atria $27.00 272 pages Sometimes, it just makes you feel gruff.

Seriously, the internet should be the G.O.A.T. invention. It should be a place to connect with friends and share laughs, a safe place to go when you want to be yourself. It should be a place to tell your story, free of danger and full of truth. Nobody should butt heads online, or be victim of a bullygoat.

Instead, as in “Conversations with People Who Hate Me”

by Dylan Marron, we gotta deal with the trolls.

The fact that Marron had a “HATE FOLDER” in his email should speak volumes.

As a gay man and a writer-performer, he expected a certain amount of negativity online; that’s the nature of the internet. But as a creative employee of Seriously.TV, the emailed hate, death threats, and homophobia just got to be too much.

Before his job at Seriously.TV, he’d acted, reported,

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waited tables, and cultivated a “prompt” that served him well. “What am I going to do about it?” is what he asked himself every time he was faced with something that bothered him and this time, the answer was a series of conversations with haters who’d commented.

He began to mine the HATE FOLDER for people to talk with.

The first was a guy Marron calls “Josh,” a decent guy who was a lot like Marron. Their conversation, done remotely, was a hit with fans and it gained Marron a lot of “points.” In a small way, it gained him a friend, since he and Josh came to an understanding. Marron was happy with that, and with subsequent “Conversations...”

But after he quit his job at Seriously.TV to go it alone, he found himself at an impasse.

The old way of doing his conversations needed to expand to include a wider angle and different guests.

Marron imagined himself bringing together hater and target on bigger subjects. He’d learn more about people – and in the process, he’d learn more about himself.

The lesson was underscored a few Sundays ago: something huge happens, something loud, and everybody’s got an opinion. “Conversations with People Who Hate Me” helps show that we can talk civilly about issues without insults.

But will haters – the people who presumably need this book – be willing to read it?

Surprisingly, on one side of this book, author Dylan Marron shows that that’s entirely possible: once he approached his interviewees, many people who hid behind the ‘net rued their actions and words. Granted, the haters he hosted were highly, carefully curated, but Marron’s approach shows hope.

The other side of the book is the one that teaches tolerance and a sort of Zen approach when you’re the target of a troll. Haters gonna hate, as they say... but with enormous grace and thoughtfulness, Marron offers better ways to perceive it.

Readers looking for another way to invite open dialogue, and those who are aghast at spewing commenters on social media will love this book. If you want to do better, “Conversations with People Who Hate Me” could help make happy bridges.

Hello, Molly! A Memoir

by Molly Shannon c.2022, Ecco $27.99 304 pages The audience roars.

That’s music to a performer: the best you can ask from a group of people expecting to be entertained is approval for your efforts. Laughter, for a comedy. Gasps for a drama. Tears for a tragedy and tapping toes for a musical, that’s what you want. But remember: as in “Hello, Molly,” the new memoir by Molly Shannon, not all of life’s a stage.

For most of her life, Molly Shannon’s mother stood off to one side, a main character with a big role but few lines.

She was killed in a car accident when Shannon was just four, as if she made a cameo appearance and then was off the script.

But not entirely. With the help of family and friends, Shannon’s father, Jim, raised Shannon and her sister, Mary, to remember their mother and to seize life in every way possible, encouraging his girls to be bold and “wild.”

Once, when Shannon was thirteen and her best friend was eleven years old, Shannon’s father planted the idea in her head to hop a plane. The girls ended up stowing away in plain sight on a flight from Cleveland (near their home town) to New York City. He paid for their trip back home.

And yet, being Jim Shannon’s daughter wasn’t all fun and games. He was an alcoholic, as was his father and his father-in-law; when he was sober, Shannon recalls parties, spontaneous trips, loving encouragement, and permission to skip school. When he was drunk, she says that she and her sister were always watchful for his mercurial moods and his propensity for a different kind of “wild” behavior.

She couldn’t wait to leave home.

And yet, through college, a fledgling career, and a popular spot on Saturday Night Live, her father was always there, always a touchpoint for her past but also an irritation; enormously proud of her, but with a short wall between them.

It wasn’t until she was well into her adulthood that Shannon realized he harbored a secret, and then everything made sense...

You don’t expect a terrible, gasp-worthy accident to be the foundation for a funny story, but there it is, the opening number in “Hello, Molly.”

Quickly-quickly, though, author Molly Shannon pulls readers in – somewhat awkwardly, at first, but in the same excited way that your fourth-grade BFF did when there was something important or interesting that you simply had to see. That, in fact, is the feel you’ll get in the first part of this book: like you’ve been taken by the hand and pulled toward something that was going to make this the

J U N E 2 0 2 2 | W W W. S O U T H E R N M I N N SCENE. C O M

best day ever.

As you read on, that’s not much hyperbole. If you like Shannon’s work, you’re going to adore this memoir, which appears a lot like her skits: hectic, heartfelt, hold-your-sides hilarious, honest, and always, always arms-wide charming.

Bring your sense of humor here – but bring tissues, too.

So, take a look, fellas. Here’s what you want in a book, fellas. “Hello, Molly!” is gonna make you roar.

The Social Lives of Animals

by Ashley Ward c.2022, Basic Books $30.00 373 pages Sometimes, you’re such a goose.

And that’s okay; a little horsing around never hurt anyone and times with friends are the best. You can chatter like monkeys, laugh like hyenas, get a little squirrely, and memories are made like that.

You need your friends to get wild every now and then, and in “The Social Lives of Animals” by Ashley Ward, you’ll see that flying, running, climbing, and crawling creatures are really no different at all.

Anyone watching a few dogs playing in a park, or a clowder of cats in a windowsill would likely agree that animals can form relationships. But how does that matter to humans?

Says Ward, being able to “trace direct... parallels between our own societies and those of the animals...[can] help us to appreciate how sociality shapes our lives...”

We love to gather in groups, for instance, and Antarctic krill likewise hate to be alone. As it turns out, gathering in large groups helps keep krill alive because it confounds whales, who enjoy krill for dinner. Being in groups keeps locusts alive, too: locusts are can be cannibals, and the innate desire not to be eaten keeps them all moving “in the same direction.”

Teamwork may be essential at your job, just as it is with army ants. One bite from a single army ant hurts like crazy but it won’t kill you. A bunch of army ants, though? That’s a different matter entirely.

Flocks of birds have influenced the making of selfdriving vehicles. Fish have taught scientists how many influencers are needed to move a crowd. Studies with rats show the effects of dense crowding on mental health, and cows are good at recognizing friends by their portraits.

Hyenas communicate to the pack which prey they plan to hunt for the day. Whales play, and dolphins play with them. Monkeys lie to get what they want. Animals innovate, reason, have a culture, and communicate, Ward says, and they have a lot to tell us...

So you say that someone called you a birdbrain the other day. What a compliment, as you’ll see when you read “The Social Lives of Animals.”

Chances are – especially if you’re an animal lover – you’ve already an observer of animal behavior and, if so, you’ll be happy that author Ashley Ward extends your knowledge. There are, it seems, dozens of facts on each page that will delight lovers of fin, feather, and fur, as well as new findings and fascinating anecdotes.

But this book isn’t all serious bull. Ward is a lively writer who’s obviously interested in his subject – he’s a professor of Animal Behavior at the University of Sydney, after all – and his personal tales of exploration and discovery are academically lighthearted, like cocktail party banter that’ll make you chuckle.

Perfect for armchair biologists and animal lovers of all kinds, this is one of those “hey, listen to this” kinds of books that you’ll want to share out loud. Start “The Social Lives of Animals” and you’ll go ape over it.

Razzmatazz: A Novel

by Christopher Moore c.2022, Wm. Morrow $28.99 400 pages Your good luck charm is never far away.

A pair of socks, a coin, guitar pick, rub it with your thumb, hold it in your pocket, wear it all day, and you know what happens: life is smoother, problems melt away, and just things get easier. How it happens is hard to say, but that really doesn’t matter.

You just know it brings you luck, and as in the new novel, “Razzmatazz” by Christopher Moore, you’d do anything to keep it close.

For far too long, Sammy “Two-Toes” Tiffin was downon-his-luck.

Because of a foot injury, he couldn’t fight in the War so he was stateside, bartending at Sal’s, hanging around drag king joints and lady-lover clubs, and living in a

San Francisco brownstone in a closet-sized room with a single bed. There was just enough space in the place for Sammy and his girl, Tilly – whom everybody called The Cheese except to her face – to give one another the old razzmatazz now and then.

So when Eddie Moo Shoes said his Uncle Ho had a job with big money involved, Sammy really couldn’t say no.

Many years before, Ho had come to America from China as a “paper son” of descendants of ancient Chinese fighters; branded on his forearm, his destiny was to be a member of a fierce tong. Alas, Ho was a gentle, peaceful soul, so he was instead sent to care for the girls in the tong’s brothel. Eventually, Ho and one of the brothel’s slave girls escaped, but not before stealing a magic statue.

Now another tong wanted the statue.

And so Sammy’s job was to retrieve the statue and save Moo Shoes’ uncle’s life, but there was another, pressing job to do first. Someone was killing San Francisco’s crossdressing lesbians, one by one, and many of Sammy’s friends and associates were terrified.

He had to find the killer. And he wouldn’t even have to do it alone.

If you are not familiar with author Christopher Moore’s works, pick up a copy of “Razzmatazz,” read the first few pages, and you’ll totally get it: there are very few parts of this book that are tame in any way. You can trust your eyes on that.

“Razzmatazz” is a soup of every noir movie set in Chinatown that you’ve ever seen, every 1940s crossdressing cliche you’ve read or heard, mixed together with a couple of dragons and an alien thrown in for fun.

And, curiously, that’s exactly what coalesces: a big, clever, sprawl-across-the-floor novel that’s fun. Moore, in fact, says in his afterword that there are bits and pieces of real history written into this story, but it’s otherwise a “silly and absurd” novel that’s purely intended to entertain. You can trust your eyes on that, too.

Be warned, though, that this book isn’t for everybody.

It’s irreverent, wild, and profane on any regular page but it’s also LOL, if you aren’t easily offended. If that sounds like a dream to you, then try “Razzmatazz.” It’ll work like a charm.

Here Goes Nothing

by Steve Toltz c.2022, Melville House $26.99 384 pages So how’s the weather up there?

Does it rain or snow, or is there constant sunshine?

Are there animals where you are? Do you have houses or hobbies up there? Come to think of it, are you even up or do you go to a separate but parallel plane when you die? In the new novel “Here Goes Nothing” by Steve Toltz, those answers and more may be TMI. The first thing Angus Mooney knew when he woke up was that he was naked.

Naked, in the middle of nowhere, and there was a fight to catch a rickshaw out of.... where? Where was he, and where did he need to be? One of the rickshaw drivers finally told him: he was dead.

Oh, right.

Angus remembered then that he and his wife, Gracie, had been fooled into taking care of a man named Owen who’d lied to them before moving into their house. When Angus learned about the lies, Owen admitted that he was in love with Gracie and he killed Angus right then and there, leaving his body in a rubbish bin.

And so, Angus mourned, wherever he was, which seemed to be some sort of hedonistic holding place where people still needed to work. That was important because there was a plague on Earth that’d started with dogs and spread to humans, which were arriving in the dead place in tremendous numbers. They – the recently dead, that is – had to have somewhere to be before they went wherever they were going to go later, or something like that. Nobody seemed to know for sure.

But there was some good news: Gracie had been pregnant when Owen killed Angus, and Angus missed his wife and his daughter but he finally learned that there was a way to let them see him. His ghost. Whatever, but you bet he did everything he could to pay for that.

Then one day, he looked up from his drink at the dead place bar, and there was Owen...

You might already have the impression that “Here Goes Nothing” is kinda weird. And you’d be right.

It’s weird, but it’s also irresistible. It’s hilarious sometimes and full of pathos at others, and there’s just enough chaos in the plot to make you want to know what’s next. Author Steve Toltz’s characters are all villains, from the scheming Owen to the bordering-on-insane Gracie to Angus, who’s dead at the outset of the book.

The plot itself is one thing. The prose is quite another.

Toltz writes sentences that’ll make you spit out your coffee, followed by a turn of phrase that makes you want to bookmark the page so you don’t forget it. Readers who are word nerds, take notice: the writing itself is... wow..

This probably isn’t a book for everyone; there’s profanity here and that’s the least of it. Still, if you’re up for a funny novel that’s a little on the wild side, say “Here Goes Nothing.” Yeah, it’s weird but you’ll weather it just fine.

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