Review by primeRex -- Call Me Pomeroy by James Hanna
-
primeRex
- Posts: 63
- Joined: 24 Jun 2018, 14:23
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 20
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-primerex.html
- Latest Review: Who Told You That You Were Naked? by William Combs
- Reading Device: B00KC6I06S
Review by primeRex -- Call Me Pomeroy by James Hanna
[Following is a volunteer review of "Call Me Pomeroy" by James Hanna.]
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
A 190 pages fiction narrative of satirical nature whose time setting runs from 2014 through 2015 and place setting revolves around San Francisco, London, Dublin, Bristol and Paris being the itinerary of the major character- Ol’Pomeroy through whom James Hanna expresses his thoughts in some overlooked areas in today’s politics.
Ol’Pomeroy just gets out from prison, collects “230 Benjamins” (230 Dollars) from the General Assistance Center and makes for Oakland where he meets Charlemagne (Brian Hines), an English American and leader of the “Guy Fawkes”, a violent group whom he assists to stage non-peaceful demonstrations, solely for the sake of free meals and “Pocahontas”- a sexually altered female. During riots, he beats up Policemen with his guitar, an act for which Charlemagne idolizes him and promises to link him to his father who owns “Apple Records”, a huge recording firm in the United Kingdom on the condition that he beats up more Cops. On his release from Santa Rita Prison, Charlemagne sponsors Pomeroy's flight to London. Wanted by English Police because demonstrators in the United Kingdom idolize him, he further flees to Ireland where he pisses on Blarney Castle, a celebrated stoned statue, exasperates a bunch of fanatical veterans to a loud brawl and would have been arrested by the police but for Molly, a friend he made earlier from demonstrations against the new world order. Molly helps to secure his escape to Bristol, Scotland from where he further gropes into Paris for he had gone from “the man that beats up cops” to a “wanted terrorist, sexual predator and singer of pornographic songs”. In Paris, he meets Oxsana, a wanted nude Femen Demonstrator, gets into more trouble and is incarcerated at the “…Fleury Merogis, …the biggest jail Ol’Pomeroy has ever seen”. But by now his “Ants in My Pants” has gone from some YouTube video to some loud subversive lines sung by demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Rio, Berlin, Quebec and Zurich with topless demonstrators screaming, “free Pomeroy!”. By efforts of Ms. Jessica, he returns to San Francisco where he eventually stumbles upon a real effort that eventually guarantees his total freedom from parole and permits him to sign his contract to release the song- “Ants in my Pants”.
The story is told in the first person pronoun, an important technique that aids better comprehension of the main persona; psycho-violent, who has been in and out of three prisons before Chapter three of this story and notorious for smashing guitars on Cops. Interestingly, he is a Fifty-seven-year-old man who resides in and views everything from fantasy, treating life like a nursery rhyme- always strumming and singing…” This fuels his ignorant ego that everything craves and exists for ‘Ol’Pomeroy’ and that every female voraciously longs for his biggest asset- the bulge in his pants, his ‘Schlong’. So, on visiting the Louvre in France, he claims that only his ‘Schlong’ can put a real smile on the face of the Mona Lisa portrait and that the Eiffel tower reminds him solely of “…Pomeroy's Dong”. He is also one very spontaneous person who has no daily plan, a major reason why he is tossed through five different countries. However, being an ardent reader, he is also a historian, political analyst and a lover of the arts. He is also kind, prone to sobriety when there is cause for it. In our opinion, “ol'Pomeroy” represents the ordinary man in unsophisticated groups and how he views politicians and their politics. James Hanna uses this multi-dimensional character in a satiric manner to, in such palatable manner, attempt at truths in politics that are hard to confront.
The story is hilarious, one that got me cracking with laughter. The unorthodox writing style and diction fit into the glamour this story affords. One example is the lavish use of funny metaphors: “… Towel-heads (Arabians)”, “Lizzies” (Pounds Sterling), “Benjamins” 100 Dollars bill.
I also liked the brilliant analogies employed, giving the book some high class taste well suited for blue-blooded minds. In page 55, Sam the Pootang Man who used to sell “Spanish Fly Down” drink is compared to his slow applaud style ”…maybe he's tryin’ to trap himself a fly…”. Again, there is no break in flow of thought as each chapter opens with a re-cap of the former chapter; making reading the story a fantastic sensation. Furthermore, music brings magic to the plot making it melodramatic as there is lots of singing at intervals, not to mention that most characters including Pomeroy, Oxsana, Ol'Sam, Bo Peep are all good singers. The songs in the story are much so that the Corollary of Songs featured, at the end of the book took five pages to complete. Optimists and all lovers of satire and politics and will find his book most appealing.
There is nothing in this book, “Call me Pomeroy”, that I dislike. Any grammatical error can be passed on as part of the Vernacular language and non-orthodox writing style employed thus, this book was exceptionally properly edited. However, a Glossary for the numerous slang and Pidgin English used like “Nam” for Vietnam as used in page 21 should be included to aid easier comprehension for certain readers who may have trouble with such unfamiliar vernaculars. Yet, for the numerous endearing features of this book, I rate “Call me Pomeroy” a 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Call Me Pomeroy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like primeRex's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
A 190 pages fiction narrative of satirical nature whose time setting runs from 2014 through 2015 and place setting revolves around San Francisco, London, Dublin, Bristol and Paris being the itinerary of the major character- Ol’Pomeroy through whom James Hanna expresses his thoughts in some overlooked areas in today’s politics.
Ol’Pomeroy just gets out from prison, collects “230 Benjamins” (230 Dollars) from the General Assistance Center and makes for Oakland where he meets Charlemagne (Brian Hines), an English American and leader of the “Guy Fawkes”, a violent group whom he assists to stage non-peaceful demonstrations, solely for the sake of free meals and “Pocahontas”- a sexually altered female. During riots, he beats up Policemen with his guitar, an act for which Charlemagne idolizes him and promises to link him to his father who owns “Apple Records”, a huge recording firm in the United Kingdom on the condition that he beats up more Cops. On his release from Santa Rita Prison, Charlemagne sponsors Pomeroy's flight to London. Wanted by English Police because demonstrators in the United Kingdom idolize him, he further flees to Ireland where he pisses on Blarney Castle, a celebrated stoned statue, exasperates a bunch of fanatical veterans to a loud brawl and would have been arrested by the police but for Molly, a friend he made earlier from demonstrations against the new world order. Molly helps to secure his escape to Bristol, Scotland from where he further gropes into Paris for he had gone from “the man that beats up cops” to a “wanted terrorist, sexual predator and singer of pornographic songs”. In Paris, he meets Oxsana, a wanted nude Femen Demonstrator, gets into more trouble and is incarcerated at the “…Fleury Merogis, …the biggest jail Ol’Pomeroy has ever seen”. But by now his “Ants in My Pants” has gone from some YouTube video to some loud subversive lines sung by demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Rio, Berlin, Quebec and Zurich with topless demonstrators screaming, “free Pomeroy!”. By efforts of Ms. Jessica, he returns to San Francisco where he eventually stumbles upon a real effort that eventually guarantees his total freedom from parole and permits him to sign his contract to release the song- “Ants in my Pants”.
The story is told in the first person pronoun, an important technique that aids better comprehension of the main persona; psycho-violent, who has been in and out of three prisons before Chapter three of this story and notorious for smashing guitars on Cops. Interestingly, he is a Fifty-seven-year-old man who resides in and views everything from fantasy, treating life like a nursery rhyme- always strumming and singing…” This fuels his ignorant ego that everything craves and exists for ‘Ol’Pomeroy’ and that every female voraciously longs for his biggest asset- the bulge in his pants, his ‘Schlong’. So, on visiting the Louvre in France, he claims that only his ‘Schlong’ can put a real smile on the face of the Mona Lisa portrait and that the Eiffel tower reminds him solely of “…Pomeroy's Dong”. He is also one very spontaneous person who has no daily plan, a major reason why he is tossed through five different countries. However, being an ardent reader, he is also a historian, political analyst and a lover of the arts. He is also kind, prone to sobriety when there is cause for it. In our opinion, “ol'Pomeroy” represents the ordinary man in unsophisticated groups and how he views politicians and their politics. James Hanna uses this multi-dimensional character in a satiric manner to, in such palatable manner, attempt at truths in politics that are hard to confront.
The story is hilarious, one that got me cracking with laughter. The unorthodox writing style and diction fit into the glamour this story affords. One example is the lavish use of funny metaphors: “… Towel-heads (Arabians)”, “Lizzies” (Pounds Sterling), “Benjamins” 100 Dollars bill.
I also liked the brilliant analogies employed, giving the book some high class taste well suited for blue-blooded minds. In page 55, Sam the Pootang Man who used to sell “Spanish Fly Down” drink is compared to his slow applaud style ”…maybe he's tryin’ to trap himself a fly…”. Again, there is no break in flow of thought as each chapter opens with a re-cap of the former chapter; making reading the story a fantastic sensation. Furthermore, music brings magic to the plot making it melodramatic as there is lots of singing at intervals, not to mention that most characters including Pomeroy, Oxsana, Ol'Sam, Bo Peep are all good singers. The songs in the story are much so that the Corollary of Songs featured, at the end of the book took five pages to complete. Optimists and all lovers of satire and politics and will find his book most appealing.
There is nothing in this book, “Call me Pomeroy”, that I dislike. Any grammatical error can be passed on as part of the Vernacular language and non-orthodox writing style employed thus, this book was exceptionally properly edited. However, a Glossary for the numerous slang and Pidgin English used like “Nam” for Vietnam as used in page 21 should be included to aid easier comprehension for certain readers who may have trouble with such unfamiliar vernaculars. Yet, for the numerous endearing features of this book, I rate “Call me Pomeroy” a 4 out of 4 stars.
******
Call Me Pomeroy
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like primeRex's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Who Told You That You Were Naked? by William Combs
