Goats Book

On the back cover of this coming-of-age story we learn that Mark Jude Poirier is a graduate of the "Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins and the Iowa Writers' Workshop". I read "Goats", his unusually sure-footed debut novel, to a background of faint grinding and whimpering noises, almost as if someone were throwing kittens into the machinery in the basement. Puzzling, as the basement is free of both kittens and machines. Finally I realized that the odd acoustic phenomenon was just the eldritch sound of Poirier's workshop classmates wailing and gnashing their teeth.

As well they might. There are so many reasons for "Goats" to crash and burn. Mark Poirier makes one seemingly indefensible writing choice after another. Ellis, the main protagonist, is this incredible boy-wonder! He's athletically gifted! He's tall and handsome! He exudes coolness from every pore. He's academically brilliant, to the point where the mean Latin teacher has to invent criticisms of his Latin accent to justify giving him an A-minus. (Seriously, that's his main academic worry). Maybe Ellis is just super-blessed, because Mark Jude Poirier allows him to grow emotionally (the book is, after all, first and foremost a coming-of-age story). The same can't be said for Ellis's mother and her latest boyfriend, neither of whom is allowed to rise above the level of shrill, irritating caricature. For crying out loud, the goats who roam around the manuscript get way more character development than many of the people.

Yes indeed, given the amount of page space given to those smelly, bad-tempered goats and their perpetually stoned owner, the number of blissed-out bong sessions, scenes of prep school angst that could have been lifted straight from "The Catcher in the Rye" (replace "lacrosse" by "crew", underage drinking spree in N.Y. by u.d.s. in D.C., the Dakota by the Watergate, "run-in with surly hooker" by "unfortunate incident with belligerent transvestite"), it seemed inevitable that this book should collapse in flames. To my surprise, it does no such thing - the story has a kind of goofy charm that just continues to grow on you. MJP has broken any number of very sensible rules about story-writing, and appears to have gotten away with it. Thereby offering further proof that writing a novel that "works" is never really about observing a given set of conventions. A writer with sufficient cojones can get away with almost anything, if they* have enough talent, confidence, and if their* heart is in the right place. Genuine humor and an appreciation of life's absurdities are a help; understanding what makes people tick is essential. At the risk of succumbing to the biographical fallacy, it's tempting to link Poirier's ability to get details of his characters' actions so convincingly right** to his having grown up as the fifth of eleven siblings.

Whatever the explanation, the combination of skills that Mark Jude Poirier demonstrates in "Goats" is impressive and appealing. There's not exactly a shortage of debut coming-of-age novels, but few are as good as this low-key, surprisingly engaging, story.

Whether or not the goats have a deeper symbolism is something you'll have to figure out for yourself.

*: "they" and "their" used to indicate the third person singular, of indeterminate sex.
**: It didn't surprise me to read that he was scriptwriter of the excellent 2008 movie "Smart People"

"Smart People" is the kind of film that drives some people insane with annoyance and that some of us find totally irresistible, bordering on genius. It's got the charm of a Wes Anderson flick without all of the supremely annoying baggage.