Willard and His Bowling Trophies
Richard Brautigan
1975
Around 170 pages
I started reading this book while waiting at the DMV to renew my license. I didn't know how sexually explicit it was going to be, and ended up feeling a little bit perv-y for reading it in public. But I guess none of us are at our best at the DMV.
Bob likes to tie up and gag his wife Constance, and read her Greek poetry. Constance caught genital warts from another man, which really puts a crimp in the sex life. Meanwhile, the Logan brother have dedicated their lives to recovering the bowling trophies that were stolen from them three years earlier.
Brautigan writes in such a straight-forward, digestible style, that he can tell the strangest stories. It was an odd reading experience, because the characters are all so weird, and the title character is a paper-mache bird. But I enjoyed the ride. Brautigan never overstays his welcome.
Unlike many raunchy novels on this List, it wasn't completely revolting. So that was nice change.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Brautigan got the name Willard in the novel from his friend Stanley Fullerton's papier-mache bird.
In 2018, filmmaker Kansas Bowling and musician Kat Meoz shot the only existing footage of the real Willard for a music video for Meoz's song "Here I Wait."
UP NEXT: Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
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