ANDREZJ OF HOLLYWOOD
A Postmodern Epic in Eight Parts
by David Schulze
Schulze offers an epic, character-driven novel of love, Hollywood, and ambition that spans two decades.
In 2016, 21-year-old Jacob Andrezj is a cinema buff with a chest full of DVDs and the passion to talk about them. He studies screenwriting in Boston and has just returned stateside from study abroad in Florence, Italy, where he explored his sexuality. However, he finds the gay scene in New England, particularly during Pride Month, lacking—until he meets an older man named Stewie Hanz, who turns Jacob on to the music of the Pet Shop Boys and listens to his intense criticism of films such as Lawrence of Arabia. Meanwhile, out in California, Drew Lawrence is a 40-year-old filmmaker who, thanks to his frustrations and abuse of steroids and other drugs, is prone to destructive outbursts. When he’s not snorting cocaine, having sex with male go-go dancers, or cruising around in his Jeep (with a license plate that reads “JEEPGUY”), he’s wondering where his “magic” went, so he embarks on a quest to regain his artistry. A man known as Whale is a young intern for a famous movie producer who calls himself “the Professor,” who, despite his moniker, is hardly instructive. Whale, along with his fellow interns, is often humiliated whenever he interacts with his boss; for example, the Professor gave him his insulting nickname. To aggravate matters, Whale lives with a wealthy slacker named Alex Avery who gets his kicks from drugs and rewatching The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). It’s clear that the entertainment business isn’t what Whale bargained for.
Some portions of Schulze’s novel are written as a screenplay, others are not, but the main narratives effectively interweave as the story goes on. The work is more than 800 pages long, and with that length come a range of styles and tapestry of tones, with physical connections that range from a relatively chaste kiss of two strangers to a drug-fueled Drew working his “coarse leathery hands” over a conquest in a bathroom. The page count also allows for intriguingly nuanced characters, and as the characters’ stories grow more complex, readers will find themselves consistently curious as to how the next scene will develop. Will Drew run himself ragged or find a path of reform? Will Jacob and Stewie make things work even when the latter reveals a secret? Schulze effectively paints Jacob as someone who desperately wants to join “the industry” even though his boss physically beats him. Many strange denizens of LA make their ways across the stage, as well. The many-layered narrative heavily focuses on dialogue, which makes for a slow pace. Jacob makes numerous digressions that add little to the story, explaining everything from Hogwarts to a T-shirt from Glee to how he picks what music to play in the car with his friends. (Even Stewie complains: “You say so many things!”) As a result, readers will find that speed is always a priority.A sprawling collage that, though lengthy and chatty, offers memorable characters.