TALES OF WONDER: Gracie and the Wacky Bunch is a mischievous, wandering, mind-bending tale with a set of unique and slightly deranged characters who wander in and out at need, chewing the scenery, toppling set pieces, and occasionally setting fire to the props. In short, this is not a novel to be read when you want something clear and rational, with an organized plot and carefully-developed characters. This is a book to be read for the sheer madness of it, for the way in which it challenges preconceived notions and celebrates the weird contingency of the world and reality. There is a plot, of sorts, but it takes a while to get going and doesn’t bother making a whole lot of sense – sense isn’t the important thing here, adventure is, and there’s plenty of that. The author’s descriptions are creative, vibrant and playful, lavishing attention on meals, houses, and scenic views that are peripheral to the action, and then leaping back into the story with glee and gusto. Character descriptions challenge and play with stereotypes, sometimes hitting us over the head with blatantly ridiculous or over-the-top or outright disturbing imagery – for example, the scene in which one of the villains is carefully examining the skin of one of our heroes, an albino Afro-Briton with a chicken bone through his upper lip, for the purpose of collecting it and making it into a skinsuit, is horrifically uncomfortable, clearly intentionally so.
There’s not much suspense about who’s going to win this fight – the heroes, after all, include people with powers that can literally redesign reality – but it’s the journey that matters, and the journey is beautifully random and mischievously unpredictable. The author seems to lose track occasionally of certain characters or devices, only to have them show up in new and different form at a later time, as if to surprise the reader who may have forgotten they exist. He also regularly breaks the fourth wall (if that phrase can be applied to novels) by inserting authorial commentary on events or characters, frequently addressing “a mysterious visionary and itinerant man of knowledge” called Maynard – frankly, this doesn’t tend to add much to the story but a bit of snark, but at least it doesn’t derail things too much either. All in all, while there is a semi-serious undertone to this book, it’s not one to be taken with too much serious analysis or over-thinking. Just go along for the (frequently wild) ride and enjoy the scenery along the way.
Richard Wyly’s TALES OF WONDER: Gracie and the Wacky Bunch is a lively, creative adventure with a cast of bizarre characters – less a novel than an oddball piece of performance art designed to leave the reader both entertained and perplexed.
~Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader