Erased by Jim Krusoe

Have you ever read a book and just loved it, and then, after it was over, thought about it and said, “What exactly happened there?” That’s how I felt about Jim Krusoe’s Erased. His sense of humor carries you through the book, which is described in many reviews (very accurately) as a dreamlike sequence of events. There are times you want to laugh out loud, and others when you’re not so sure if the joke is on you. It is intriguing, unsettling, and hilarious at the same time.

Theodore’s mother left him as a child in the care of a neighbor. It was so long ago that now, as an adult, he barely remembers her at all. She reappears in his life and he, unsurprisingly, is not very moved by this event. But, he is trying. One night, on the phone, she has an odd conversation with him about life and death, and the fine line between the two. He is concerned that she is not herself, but not worried enough to check on her for a couple of days. When he finally gets around to it, she is gone again. Not long after this, Theodore gets a newspaper clipping in the mail about her death in Cleveland, by drowning. This seems odd for a fisher of her abilities, but perfectly normal compared to the events to come. When the first postcard arrives from his now-dead mother, “I need to see you”, he finds it odd, but not extraordinary. After the next postcards arrive, Theodore heads to Cleveland to search for her himself. He leaves his lucrative garden implement business in the care of his shady seeming (at least to me) assistant, and heads off to Cleveland, land of the very odd postcard.

There is pretty much nothing normal that happens after this: a city-wide rodent hunt, the all-girl Satan’s Samaritans biker club, questionably taught art classes, bowling leagues, and of course, fishing. Even more than the long list of odd characters Krusoe assembles to tell this tale, the city of Cleveland itself looms large as a character in this book. So yes, it was definitely odd, but for some reason, I wanted to pack my bags and head to Cleveland, Land of the strange and wonderful story.