Before Elvis There Was Nothing

by Laurie Foos

Overview

“A wonderful mixture of insecurity and insanity. Every line of Laurie Foos’ new novel is suffused with intelligence, wit and daring. Exhilarating!”—Fay Weldon

A fabulist for the twenty-first century, Laurie Foos is back with a whip-smart, refreshingly contemporary take on the nature of beauty, the importance of appearance and the all-too-human cravings for friendship, spiritual fulfillment and love.

A modern-day superwoman, Cass embodies the Elvis adage “ Taking Care of Business ”—from coping with the disappearance of her Elvis-obsessed parents and caring for her agoraphobic sister to treating the folically-challenged and avoiding the attentions of a perverse podiatrist—until the day a horn sprouts from her forehead. As Cass seeks treatment for her unwelcome appendage, she finds herself in a facility only Dr. Moreau could love. Join the beautiful Cass as she plans her escape and, in the process, resolves her physical and spiritual ailments, discovering more about herself than she ever thought possible.

In a world gone mad, where we’re all on display and our obligations and obsessions are magnified by a voyeuristic culture, this feverishly hip, comic caper is the perfect tonic—one that may even answer the burning question that lurks deep in all of our hearts: “Has Elvis really left the building?”

Laurie Foos, lauded as “the unholy love-child of Kafka and Erica Jong,” is the author of four previous novels: Ex Utero , Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist , Twinship and Bingo Under The Crucifix . She teaches in the Lesley Seminars in Cambridge and lives just outside of Boston with her husband and her dog, Jesse. Visit her website at www.lauriefoos.com .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566891684
Publisher:	Coffee House Press
Publication date:	05/01/2005
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Laurie Foos, lauded as "the unholy love-child of Kafka and Erica Jong," is the author of four previous novels: Ex Utero, Portrait of the Walrus by a Young Artist, Twinship, and Bingo Under the Crucifix. She teaches in the Lesley Seminars in Cambridge and lives just outside of Boston with her husband and her dog Jesse. Visit her website at www.lauriefoos.com.

Editorial Reviews

Absurdist characters in surreal situations populate Foos's spare fifth novel, which despite its comedic charms, derails in a confused jumble of half-realized ideas and unresolved plot lines. Cass, a 30-something hair replacement specialist, and her agoraphobic sister, Lena, are defined by the disappearance of their parents, who abandoned their teenage daughters on the 10th anniversary of Elvis's death to seek the King. Foos, a deft humorist, hobbles herself by chaining the novel to an ongoing Elvis joke. Lena is an emotional cripple who spends her days waiting futilely for letters from her parents and her evenings online with her Elvis-freak Internet psychiatrist. Cass, a stunning beauty with a podiatrist boyfriend and an obsession with Yiddishkeit and Judaism, seems to function better than her sister. But her repressed difficulties or evidence of chosenness soon take the form of a six-inch horn sprouting from her forehead. She consults a suspicious "goy" doctor, who sends her to a mysterious in-patient facility to have the growth removed. From here, the book veers toward a fantastical conclusion that lacks emotional resonance. Despite Foos's charming, conversational prose and thematic ambitions, the novel may leave readers more perplexed than provoked. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

After tackling wombs and walruses in her previous fiction, whimsical satirist Foos uses her fifth outing to showcase a human horn and an all-too-human King. There are two sisters in Anywhere, U.S.A. One is beautiful and one is not (except for her feet). The beautiful sister (and narrator) does her best by the town's unbeautiful by working as a hair-replacement specialist. Her name is Cass (after Mama Cass), and her sister is Lena (after Horne). Their parents were sad-sacks who never understood their daughters and whose only pleasure in life was Elvis. Our Father (as the girls called him) once worked as a roadie for an Elvis impersonator, and, when older daughter Lena was 18, on the tenth anniversary of Elvis's death, he and Ma left home for parts unknown. Now, 18 years later, Lena still believes they may return. The more practical Cass thinks that's hooey, but plays along because she feels sorry for Lena, who experiences panic attacks and hasn't left the house in eight years, since her marriage ended badly. Suddenly, Cass has her own problem, a bump on her forehead that seemingly will grow into a horn. Any connection with her childhood fixation on rhinos, or even with Elvis's rumored rhinoplasty? Wordplay and her metabolism dictate that she feel horny, like her boyfriend, Vance, who mounts her in a frenzy. Cass consults a dermatologist, then a surgeon, and she winds up in a nuthouse where all the patients have different animal parts, though otherwise the place seems like the same old refuge for writers stumped for inspiration: forbidding hallways, white coats. Elvis, whose spirit has hovered over every page, comes to Cass's rescue. Once she dons his cape, proffered by a sympathetic nurse,she's home free. Foos strives for a light touch, but the recurrent references here (hair, feet, ham sandwiches, the allure of Jewry and Elvis trivia) seem more like nervous tics than prompts for a sympathetic chuckle.

Kirkus Reviews