by PatrickDeWitt (Author)
A nameless barman tends a decaying bar in Hollywood and takes notes for a book about his clientele. Initially, he is morbidly amused by watching the regulars roll in and fall into their nightly oblivion, pitying them and their loneliness. In hopes of uncovering their secrets and motives, he establishes tentative friendships with them. He also knocks back pills indiscriminately and treats himself to gallons of Jameson's. But as his tenure at the bar continues, he begins to lose himself, trapped by addiction and indecision. When his wife leaves him, he embarks on a series of squalidly random sexual encounters and a downward spiral of self-damage and irrational violence. To cleanse himself and save his soul, he attempts to escape ...
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Publisher: Granta Books
Published: 05 Jan 2012
ISBN 10: 1847086349
ISBN 13: 9781847086341
.. . deWitt's writing is sharp and bitter and funny ... -- Los Angeles Times
DeWitt's dirty realism makes me want to roll in the mud with him. Brilliant. --Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan Viciously hilarious ... deWitt's portrayal of the drinking life is staunchly unromantic. -- Time Out New York (Five stars; Book of the day)
These scenes are stunningly depicted ... deWitt writes beautifully about ugliness, and his book casts a haunting spell. -- Booklist
DeWitt's style of prose is refreshing and more like real life speak than most books, without losing the necessary descriptiveness to relay the feel and pure nuttiness of the situation inside the Hollywood bar where the scenes are set. -- About.com
Ablutions is like an intense art-house movie, where the lead