A LIFE FULL OF QUARKS

In Johnson’s novel, a brilliant physicist tries to build a life after narrowly surviving a childhood filled with reanimated dinosaurs, runaway aliens, and mutated Mexican beaded lizards.

Addressing an unidentified listener, John Chant recounts the wonder and heartbreak he experienced growing up as the child of parents Alan and Ann, two extraordinarily brilliant but emotionally unavailable scientists permanently at war with one another. It’s impossible to accurately convey the off-the-wall lunacy comprising the first act, but suffice it to say that it chronicles young John’s many adventures before the irrevocable rift between his parents leads to the ultimate dissolution of the family. (It’s clear that John’s eventful childhood has left an indelible mark on his psyche, and he wonders if he will forever be an outsider and alone.) That the author is able to follow all this up with even more absurdist insanity in the ensuing acts as John kicks off his teaching career at a university “College of Inhumanities” testifies to Johnson’s expansive storytelling prowess. Somehow, seemingly disparate story elements (like stolen “probability pumps” and the sullen kid John befriends in fifth grade) all weave together seamlessly in an unforced and pleasing fashion. This fantastical “memoir” following protagonist John’s attempts to navigate academic life (“‘Never fear blood’ was in fact the school sports motto”) after growing up a curious kid in an even curiouser family is a true work of literary alchemy. Packed with deep pathos and unrelenting dark humor, the novel delves deeply into questions about the true nature of love in all its mysterious—and quite possibly mystical—components. One of the most moving episodes in the story occurs when John and Ann speak for one last time at the latter’s gravesite—Ann’s confession to her heartbroken son is simple, concise and absolutely devastating, and the emotions it stirs feel fully earned and organic. By contrast, one of the funniest episodes happens when Dean Pancake—John Chant’s longtime simian nemesis—meets his ultimate fate. Some might find the humor morbid, and maybe even cruel; readers on Johnson’s wavelength will be too busy guffawing and welcoming the laughter.  

Heartbreaking and hilarious.