A Frolic Of His Own

A FROLIC OF HIS OWN

by William Gaddis

 

Award: National Book Winner 1994

 

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1996, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1994, NY Times Finalist 1994

 

Date Read: April 28, 2023

 

In A Frolic Of His Own, Gaddis plays with the idea of art vs. money, as well as the law vs. justice. Oscar, a buffoon and a recluse, believes the legal system is his recourse for a car accident he had where his own car ran him over. He has also written a play about the Civil War that he believes has been stolen to use as the basis for a Hollywood epic. He is suing about that as well. While the accident lawsuit isn’t successful because he’s the claimant and the defendant, his lawsuit against the Hollywood producer is successful. But at what cost?

 

Hobbling around in his Appellate Court Justice father’s dilapidated estate, Oscar goes on rants and drinking binges while bemoaning his lot in life. Christina, his stepsister, ping-pongs between assuaging Oscar’s tirades and trying to spend time with her bedraggled husband, Harry, who is an attorney working on the case of a lifetime. Christina, along with Lily, Oscar’s somewhat girlfriend, keeps the house running and there’s a chronic conversation about what’s for dinner. I felt like every other page they were talking about dinner, going to the grocery store, who had eaten or not and what they’d eaten. Obsess much, Gaddis? Or was this a nod to how life goes even amidst the drama of life?

 

Frolic is filled with legal opinions, particularly of a decision by their father about a public art installation and a dog that got trapped inside and whether the art could be demolished in order to save the dog. There are also the opinions handed down in Oscar’s cases – of the first loss of his case and the success of his appeal, won on a technicality. 

 

I would love to say that these 586 pages were a joy-filled ride but I found this tedious, the dialogue boring and I think he could have got his point across in half as many pages. I unfortunately agree with Jonathan Franzen when he called Frolic “repetitive, incoherent, and insanely boring,” although I didn’t find it incoherent but definitely repetitive and insanely boring. Onward and upward.

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