Assumption: A Novel

Although Percival Everett's cynical and satirical books often explore race (especially America's obsession with it), class, and the rural-urban divide, they are never alike. His previous novels have scattered across genres: Western, urban fiction, social realism, farce, and more. He embraces the formulae of whatever genre he is writing--and then completely upends them. His latest book is a postmodern twist on crime thrillers and their premises and tropes.Deputy Sheriff Ogden Walker comes across as one likable and discerning officer of the law--although his relationships with the mostly white residents of a New Mexico desert community often seem a bit frayed. He is devoted to his mother; he is haunted by the idea that his father would be disappointed in him; he is appropriately lighthearted and friendly with his colleagues; he is polite and concerned and seems relatively unambitious; and he doesn't really like guns much--to the point where he often isn't carrying one. He is "a fool to love the desert, a fool to have left school, a fool to have joined the army, a fool to have no answers, and a fool to expect answers to questions he was foolish enough to ask." He becomes increasingly obsessed and involved with a series of three criminal cases with strikingly similar aspects; by the third case certain facts and contradictions appear to implicate him in a murder, and he hightails it to Denver to clear his name. Linked to the increasing pile of dead bodies are white supremacists, meth addicts, and people who suddenly appear on the scene and assume false identities.Like all of Everett's books, "Assumption" is an easy, breezy read; it vividly creates both the protagonist's milieu and the three cases that end up in his lap; and Everett's trademark dialogue is at its countrified crackling best here. But the novel presents a few challenges, the major one being the very structure of the book. Is the book composed of three novellas featuring the same character--as some critics and reviewers have described it? Or is it a single "novel"--as it is labeled on the cover? It's not a trivial distinction; the answer will determine how you interpret the startling, weird, and (yes) exasperating last few pages--that is, whether the finale belongs to the end of the third "story" or whether it casts in doubt everything you've read since the very first page.And it's those final pages that will almost surely perplex and perhaps infuriate most readers. For the first two hundred pages we see the world through Walker's eyes, but at the end there is a sudden, baffling change in perspective that comes across almost as a cheat. In spite of the book's coy title, there's a fine line between toying with your readers (and the assumptions and presumptions they bring with them) and simply bamboozling them. On the one hand, I haven't yet decided what I think of the book; on the other, I haven't stopped thinking about it during the last few weeks.I've learned from past experience not to pass judgment too quickly on Everett's fiction. I've read half a dozen of his novels so far and love them all, but the book that impressed me least while I was reading it ("Erasure") is also the one that has lingered most powerfully in my memory. So it's hard to predict how I'll end up feeling about "Assumption," but I can absolutely say that I'm looking forward to reading what others think about it.

My guess is that people who have already read some other fiction by Percival Everett are more likely to enjoy this book than those who haven't. I have, and so, I did. Everett often toys with readers' expectations--or in this case, with their assumptions. For me, he's at his best when he draws jolting attention to HOW we tend to read.As I read this novel I became increasingly disappointed, because it seemed like rather ordinary, drab detective stuff (and the detective story isn't even a genre that I generally like). The central character, a black or biracial deputy sheriff in a very white and Latin American setting, spends a lot of time bumbling around in search of clues. The endings of the first two parts seemed rushed and almost lazy (and an abundance of typos provoked further disappointment--can't Graywolf Press spend a bit more on copy editing?).But then, by the end, what I'd been assuming about the protagonist was thrown back in my face, and that familiar Percival Everett feeling came back in full force. I've since been thinking about the book a lot, going back in my mind over the rest of it, which no longer feels at all lazy. I've been thinking about assumptions that I make in real life too, where I also "read" people all too quickly. If anyone's been lazy, it's me, the "reader." So I'm finally grateful to Percival Everett, for reminding me to check my assumptions.

I really enjoyed this one! I liked the author's style and the mood/pace he set. A bit reminiscent of Jim Thompson at times. His main character, Ogden Walker, is a semi-reluctant sheriff in small town New Mexico. He is short on patter and seems a bit moody. The first 2/3 of the book are two cases he gets involved in. Then the last third takes a sharp turn and the plot does the unexpected! Pretty cool to read!

What to say, really? Everett is a complex and strange master for our complex and strange, so-called 'modern' landscape. He always manages subtle and sometimes misleading stories and conversations about human proclivities, about race, about society, without ever letting them obnoxiously and lazily take over the stage. He always seems to have a more meaningful game at play, masterminded behind a never-ending series of stage curtains.If nothing else Everett should always be read to experience something I can only think to call his confidence, an ephemeral talent for touch and tone, a hand at the small of your back, guiding you, with intentions always unclear--you might be set down for a warm meal, or shot and left gasping in a shallow river. Every footstep feels muddy, uncertain, superbly ambiguous, always unsettling. Everett always finds ways of reminding me as a reader to work against my own complacency. The author is not always your friend. By the end of this one, you're going to adore the title and spend the hours after finishing it haloed by afterimages, aftershocks, ghost presences burned into your peripheral vision.

This brings to mind the best of Macguane and Portis, landscapes, dry humor and some curve balls. really enjoyed it

If you read reviews before reading the book, you will be duly armed and may miss this wonderful ride. Anytime a work of fiction makes you think about what you've read long after you have finished, it has to be deemed a success. The book is three separate stories, but all linked by the same characters and settings. It is being billed as a novel, so I will judge it as such. This distinction, will make all the difference in the world.Ogden Walker is a small time deputy, trying to solve murders, in three separate incidents. He is not really a detective, so obviously he is in way over his head, but the nature of the incidents make you somehow root for his success. The writing is classic Everett, meaning exceptional. You will certainly be turned on your head at the novel's ending. It's a quick read, and after finishing, you will either laugh out loud, or be mad that you've been had! Great book!

My first Everett read and will not be my last - he was my fiction discovery of '16. He turns crime fiction tropes on their head quite brilliantly, and also has a great way with a witty turn of phrase. Outstanding.