Twenty-eight year-old Izzy Spellman runs background checks on potential "future ex-boyfriends" and passes out drunk on her parents' front porch.
Her adolescent little sister, Rae, trails strangers for fun, negotiates taking a bath as if it were an international business deal, and winds down at Izzy's regular bar by confiding into the bartender over a ginger ale, while he waits for Izzy to come and claim her, again.
Their perfect older brother, David, is a successful, dashing lawyer (responsible for Rae's negotiating skills) who was once the victim of Izzy's criminal acts of childhood sibling rivalry, in the form of sneaking in his room at night and cutting his hair or erasing his hard drive.
Their parents bug their rooms and sweat out the truth about typical adolescent rule-breaking as if they were being interrogated for the murder of JFK.
They all take turns retrieving their Uncle Ray from his "lost weekend" disappearances of gambling, hookers, and booze. After all, according to Izzy, "it is an essential rite of passage, for all the Spellman children to, at one time or another, take a road trip to collect their uncle."
They are all blackmailing each other, all spying on each other, all tailing each other, and all smashing out each others taillights so that it is easier to spot each other while they are doing it.
This is the Spellman family. As you can see, the parents' PI firm, Spellman Investigations, is not only the family business, but it is also at the heart of the family's personal lives as well. In fact, the Spellmans seem to spend more time investigating each other than their professional cases.
This is not a novel driven by a captivating plot, but by the quirky characters and their everyday relationships with each other and the people that they meet. It is sarcastic and mature and reeks of a furtive humor that is blatant to the reader, but just a day in the life for a Spellman. And narrating it all is Izzy Spellman, in a love/ hate relationship with the only life that she has ever known, yet one that seems to keep her from being the "normal" woman she wants to be.
This isn't a youth literature book; it is an everyone book. This is also a Wes Anderson movie just waiting to happen. I wasn't surprised to learn that author Lisa Lutz is also a screenwriter and that The Spellman Files has been bought by Paramount Pictures. I picture this novel developing into a movie like the Royal Tenenbaums or Running with Scissors, one carried by in-depth, introspective characters and a dry humorous plot in the background. I dug this book, big time.
2007's The Spellman Files was followed up in 2008 by The Curse of the Spellmans, and Revenge of the Spellmans will be released in March of 2009.
Here is a brief video of author Lisa Lutz talking about The Spellman Files:
7 comments:
This book sounds like my holiday weekend. What an awesome book to read. I can just wonder how each character develop over the course of this book. Lisa Lutz appears to be a dynamic writer. Like they say all good fiction comes from real experiences. I wonder was this Lisa's young adult experience. Thanks for the video clip.
While reading your post, I thought to myself that this sounds like a disney movie. I will be looking out for it on television. This novel appears to take a different turn from the YAL that we have read and are currently reading. It doesn't appear to make the reader cry or feel a connection to a character as in LFA and ON and Speak etc, etc.
This sounds like such an awesome read. I especially liked the author's comments on the motivation/background knowledge she gained for writing The Spellman Files. Books that can grab your attention by the characterization are ones that hold your attention throughout--and for me it always seems like a TV show in my mind when I read a novel like this, and with the author's want for writing screenplays--it would be perfect for me.
I always wished that The Royal Tenenbaums was a book so that I could read it and imagine the characters for myself. It sounds as if this book might be the next best thing. I'm glad to see that there are some YAL books out there that are more character-driven than plot-driven--makes for a change of pace for readers!
Hi Kate and Shirley--I'm reminded from your comments that this book, I believe, isn't a YA novel in the sense that we explored during Unit 1--I believe it is a novel from the "Alex Awards," a book list devoted to adult novels of potential interest to teens.
This probably explains some of the differences you noticed in Lauren's write up of this novel.
Lauren--maybe you should reference the Alex Award directly in your review--am I right on this?
Cheers,
TP
I enjoyed watching the video on Lisa Lutz. I haven't read the book but I can definitely get a sense of the characters from her personality and your review. It sounds like a good read. I am also a sucker for reading books with movies coming out.
Wow! Looks like a great book! I have seen my students with this book from the local library. I also love the books turned movies...although the books are always better!
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