I Did Not Like This Book

Going To See The Elephant
Rodes Fishburne
Delacorte Press
January 2009
304 pages

“Going To See The Elephant” borrows an arcane phrase to evoke times past, and a baroque sense of adventure. However, Rodes Fishburne’s debut novel never quite gets out of its own way long enough to deliver on that promise. Using a struggling writer as a protagonist is a risky move. As Slater Brown slowly goes broke while trying to write the Great American Novel in San Fransisco, he litters his notebooks with decorative turns of phrase that never lead anywhere. While these short, self-conscious bursts of words might make decorative flourishes in a poem, or might serve as touchstones in a more focused narrative, here, they compound the main character’s aimlessness, frustrating and alienating the reader. It’s a shame to see this narrative so weighted down by its central character.
Once Slater finally finds a job at the struggling weekly newspaper, the Morning Trumpet, the story begins to pick up, as other characters focus Slater away from his own, tiresome thoughts. As he begins covering stories, other characters rescue the novel from Slater’s numbing self-absorbtion. His gruff editor named Motherlove, Tucker Oswell, the binge-eating mayor, and the mysterious woman who calls herself Callio, each perk the novel up when the narrative shifts to their eccentric perspective. The few glimpses of San Fransisco through Slater Brown’s eyes hint at the potential for a quirky novel with a strong sense of place. There’s a lot of beautiful language sprinkled throughout this novel and frustrated potential it never quite realizes, but ultimately, the story is not terribly compelling.