The Visible Man

I’m first going to say that I really enjoy Cluck Klosterman's writing.  I've read most of his collection of essay nonfiction books, and I read most of his contributions to Grantland.com.  I say all this because The Visible Man was my first foray into Klosterman’s fiction (he only has one other novel) and unfortunately I can't recommend it.  The premise is interesting and I found myself enjoying the nonconventional structure, but in the end the story goes nowhere and I didn’t see the point (maybe it was over my head?). 

The Visible Man is written as a copy of a manuscript of the same name written by Vicky Vick, a therapist who's attempting to sell this book about her recent patient, who she simply refers to as "Y".  According to Vicky, "Y" is in the unique situation of being a former scientist (unless he’s lying) who has developed a method to cloak himself in order to appear invisible to others.  In essence what he does is wear a suit covered in a mysterious gel like substance that makes people unable to see him, or more appropriately to see through him to whatever is behind him.  Don’t think too much about whether this makes any sense, as “Y” says, we just wouldn’t understand the science.  "Y" uses this “invisibility” to observe people alone in their homes in an attempt to understand what they’re really like (or so he says).  So yes, "Y" is basically a creepy stalker.  And in one case the victim of his observation almost dies (in large part due to his actions) and in another a man actually does die (indirectly because of his actions).  So he’s both a creepy stalker and a potential murderer.

"Y" seeks therapy to help understand his own actions, so Vicky's manuscript contains transcriptions of her interactions with "Y", including phone calls, her notes from the sessions, and eventually their meeting in person (while he's not cloaked).  The majority of the book covers various stories of the people that "Y" observed and the . . . uh . . . interesting things that occurred during these visits (I think what he discovers is that people are weird – or maybe he was just picking weird people).  Anyway, about halfway through the book had me interested and I was like "hmm . . . where is this going?"  But about 3/4th of the way in it was more like "uhh . . . where is this going?"  Because it just sort of ends after Vicky and “Y” (and unfortunately for him – Vicky’s husband) have a heated confrontation when “Y” appears in Vicky’s home cloaked.  Again, perhaps the symbolism went over my head (I doubt it), but I just didn’t think it was very good.

So the gist here is feel free to skip this book (sorry Chuck), but I still highly recommend any of Klosterman’s nonfiction essays, which are interesting and humorous and a much better way to spend your time. 

Next up:  The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper