"HOW TO KEEP YOUR VOLKSWAGEN ALIVE," by Christopher Boucher, Melville House Publishing, $15, 239 pages (f)
Through the metaphor of driving and maintaining a 1971 Volkswagen, author Christopher Boucher explores writing, raising a child, and personal life experiences in “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive.”
Playing with the idea of John Muir’s 1969 book of the same title, the author uses a surrealistic approach inspired by his teachers: writers George Saunders and Junot Diaz.
Set in western Massachusetts, the novel stretches the imagination, and is a little bewildering to anyone expecting a typical novel.
The publisher calls the book a “zany literary universe, a place where metaphors shift beneath our feet, familiar words assume new meanings, objects talk, trees attach, and time actually is money.”
For example: “The Invisible Pickup Truck didn’t see the Tree’s attack on my father, but he did hear it – he told me later that he was parked at the far end of the lot, and reading a novel about trout, when he heard the sound of a window shattering. He said he also remembered the noise my father made – an unk, he said – as the Tree split open his chest.”
There is a fair amount of vulgar language used and taking the Lord’s name in vain. There are references to premarital sex, which the author calls “faith or faithing.”
Boucher and his wife are driving a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle as they make a three-week, cross-country tour to promote the book. He is keeping a chronicle of the tour online at www.vwalive.com.
The author currently teaches writing and literature at Boston College, and is the managing editor of Post Road Magazine. In his free time, he plays banjo in a bluegrass band.
IF YOU GO ...
What: Christopher Boucher book signing (and he will possibly play his banjo, too)
When: Saturday, Aug. 13, 4 p.m.
Where: The King's English, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City
Web: kingsenglish.com
Rosemarie Howard lives in a 100-year old house on Main Street in Springville, Utah. She enjoys creating multimedia content. Her website is at www.dramaticdimensions.com.