A-Muse-Ing by Willa Okati

[reviews_and_ramblings]

As the title says, this is a very "amusing" book. The expedient of the artist's muse who unexpectedly appears in front of his owner it's not new, and new isn't either the fact that the muse and the artist fall in love... the novelty is that the tale is a funny one, and not the usual fated sad ending one. This is the double faced side of Willa Okati's works: she can write very angst tales (A Year and a Day, for example), but also iper funny romps (like Strange Places).

Harper writes script for television. He is creating a new plot for a series, his last chance to success; he has some scarce idea, but he is not heading to a good end. Until the morning he finds his muse, his naked muse, on his kitchen counter making coffee. Rory is a very handsome, hyperactive muse, who has made some mistakes in the past; Harper is his new "mission", and this time he shouldn't fail, since fail means that he will "puff" in the empty space.

Maybe since he is a bit crazy, like all the artist, Harper soon overcomes the shock to find a naked man in his kitchen, and starts to see the positive things... other than obviously the fact that the naked man is well hung and quite handsome. All seems perfect, if not for the little problem represented by the Clerk, alias Rory's boss, a man by the book in any means, who admonishes Harper that Rory is only on borrow, and that once Harper will find again his inspiration, Rory must go on his next "mission".

Even if there is this Damocle's sword pending on Harper's head, the book is quite funny, and even the villain, Patrick, is too nice to be a real danger. As in other books I read by Willa Okati, the supporting characters are almost as interesting as the main ones: Lisa, Rory's colleague, and Janie, Rory's boss, concur for the role of "best girl friend" of Rory; Patrick is an ex that probably most of us would like to have (as an ex of course, since as boyfriend material he sucks...); and even Artemas, Rory's turtle, has some main scenes and cues worthy of a prize (yes, the turtle "talks", even if not in a "human" way...). Actually the characters without "spoken" cues, are almost the most interesting, like the coffee vendor... this is the strenght of the book, and one of Willa Okati's, the ability to create a cacophonous world full of color, flavour and flash, all mixed together in a blur that, I don't know how, produces a complete output with a lot of sense.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=814

Reading List:

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Cover Art by April Martinez