10.25.18
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
• ARTS •<br />
MUSICAL FIRE<br />
SHARP-WITTED ROOTS-ROCKER WILL<br />
HOGE CHAMPIONS THE CONSTITUTION<br />
AND BLASTS THE NRA IN ‘MY AMERI-<br />
CAN DREAM’<br />
P.19<br />
THE<br />
ULTIMATE<br />
MYSTERY<br />
NOVELIST JONATHAN LETHEM READS<br />
FROM ‘THE FERAL DETECTIVE’ AT<br />
SPLASHY RED HEN PRESS BENEFIT AT<br />
CASTLE GREEN<br />
BY BLISS BOWEN<br />
Often it’s what’s right in front of us — what we<br />
think we know best — that deceives us most, and<br />
is the most dangerous. .<br />
So it is with Jonathan Lethem’s new novel “The<br />
Feral Detective,” a surreal mystery crackling with wit<br />
and menace, set in the general vicinities of Claremont<br />
and the Mojave, between the blurred lines dividing<br />
the savage from the socialized, at the time of Donald<br />
Trump’s inauguration. Lethem tells the story in the<br />
voice of Phoebe, a wisecracking Manhattan writer<br />
with a penchant for vino and uncommunicative men,<br />
who abstractly plots a “red-state tell-all op-ed” while<br />
stomping around Upland on a half-baked quest to<br />
rescue a friend’s missing daughter. A social worker directs<br />
her to the office of a shaggy, red leather-jacketed<br />
detective known as Heist, who hosts a possum in his<br />
desk drawer and secrets behind words he meters out<br />
with Morse code brevity. As the title suggests, nature<br />
— in the wild and the human psyche — remains the<br />
ultimate mystery.<br />
Lethem will read from the book at Sunday’s splashy<br />
Red Hen Press benefit at the Castle Green. (He’ll also<br />
discuss it with Oscar-winning director Kenneth Lonergan<br />
at Pomona College Nov. 1.) A creative writing<br />
professor at Pomona College, he holds the endowed<br />
departmental chair formerly occupied by David Foster<br />
Wallace, a point he volunteers almost reflexively, and<br />
lives within walking distance of the campus as well as<br />
his literary subject matter. That includes the wildlife<br />
with which we coexist to varying degrees of awe<br />
and annoyance; the “demolishing steady sunshine”<br />
that can feel like an overheated meteorological hand<br />
pressing us into the ground; and a topography that<br />
hides much in plain sight. A native New Yorker who’s<br />
lived here for eight years, Lethem’s senses gradually<br />
awakened to the local landscape’s subtleties as he<br />
developed the idea of a detective who’d once been<br />
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18<br />
FILM | THEATER | BOOKS | MUSIC | COMMUNITY | LISTINGS<br />
TRAVELING THROUGH<br />
THE VOID<br />
VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE THE<br />
VOID BRINGS AUDIENCE-IMMERSIVE<br />
ADVENTURES TO GLENDALE<br />
GALLERIA<br />
P.21<br />
Jonathan Lethem<br />
TROUBLE AT HOME<br />
‘BEAUTIFUL BOY’ STARS STEVE<br />
CARELL IN THE TRUE-LIFE TALE OF<br />
A FATHER STRUGGLING TO SAVE HIS<br />
SON FROM DRUG ADDICTION<br />
P.24<br />
GET YOUR OWN...<br />
BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER<br />
GHOSTLY FANTASY<br />
“Spiders and<br />
Monsters and<br />
Ghosts, Oh My,” a<br />
Flights of Fantasy<br />
Halloween show<br />
for teens, features<br />
Lorrie Oshatz<br />
and Theresa Amy<br />
blending folk<br />
tales, fables and<br />
rhymes in a blend<br />
of spookiness and laughter starting at 3:30 p.m.<br />
today, Oct. 25, at the Pasadena Public Library<br />
Santa Catalina Branch, 999 E. Washington Blvd.,<br />
Pasadena. Call (626) 744-7272 or visit<br />
pasadenapubliclibrary.net.<br />
FALL FUN<br />
All ages are<br />
invited to don<br />
costumes and<br />
enjoy games, a<br />
costume contest,<br />
Halloween<br />
films, free family<br />
photos and<br />
other activities<br />
from 5 to 9 p.m.<br />
Saturday in the<br />
San Gabriel Mission District. Free. Call (626)<br />
308-2800 or visit sangabrielcity.com.<br />
FANCY PUMPKINS<br />
Guests of all ages<br />
are invited to the<br />
annual pumpkin<br />
decorating<br />
contest, using<br />
glitter glue, pipe<br />
cleaners and<br />
washable markers,<br />
with all materials<br />
provided,<br />
first come, first<br />
served, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at One<br />
Colorado, 41 Hugus Alley, Pasadena. Free. Call<br />
(626) 564-1066 or visit<br />
onecolorado.com.<br />
HALLOWEEN TREATS<br />
Guests are<br />
invited to don<br />
Halloween costumes<br />
and visit<br />
the Pasadena<br />
Senior Center’s<br />
coffee bar for<br />
free coffee, hot<br />
cider, candy and<br />
other treats, with<br />
music provided<br />
by Deejay Joe, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at 85 E.<br />
Holly St., Pasadena. Call (626) 795-4331 or visit<br />
pasadenaseniorcenter.org.<br />
<strong>10.25.18</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 17
Change language