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Rating: Wandering among the shelves of new noir books in a large Roman bookstore, I came across this novel by Les Claypool. I immediately checked if it was the same Les I knew, the great bassist, member, and founder of Primus, and indeed it is.
The book was released in the United States in 2006 under the title "South of the Pumphouse" and was translated into Italian by Fabio Genovesi and published by the small publishing house "quarup" from Pescara.
Contrary to his lanky and syncopated bass-playing style, as a writer Les is much more fluid, precise, sparse.
It's the story of two brothers, Ed and Earl, who reunite in "El Sobrante," a town in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a fishing trip. They manage to catch an astonishing sturgeon, the kind only their recently deceased father could catch.
"In reality, it's just an alibi hiding the true adventure: the discovery of 'what remains' of their country, of times past, of convictions developed over time, and especially of the relationship that binds them." (I copied this because it seemed to convey the idea well, but I can't remember from where :-()).
Joining the boat trip is a friend of Earl’s, whom Ed finds utterly detestable: he's a racist, bigoted, and sexist jerk, which is way too much for a free-spirited person like him.
So he decides to "alienate" himself briefly with the help of some hallucinogenic mushrooms, hoping to ignore that idiot's constant jabs.
The story, although initially a tad slow, flows along creating a dark atmosphere, filled with misunderstandings, cynicism, various drugs, death. The ending is great; it can be dangerous to be unclear when boasting about epochal feats.
Claypool cites among his inspirations Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, David Sedaris, Jean Shepherd, Bill Bryson, but he doesn't forget to affirm, at the end of an interview he was given, that:
"I am just a bass player".
P.S. If I were you, I would think twice before accepting the offer of a mini tuna sandwich.....
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