/lit/ - Literature

This book is the Adaptation (the Charlie Kaufman film) of celebrity memoir.

It turns the memoir into a comic novel (in the pre-20th century sense). Norm and Adam's relationship dynamic is modelled after the classic one of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, which is also used in “Tom Jones” in the characters of Jones and Partridge, and in “Tristram Shandy” as well, in the characters of Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim

Now that the dust has settled, is this the greatest comic novel of all time?

Is this is modern day Tristam Shandy?

One question: who wrote the end chapter- norm or the ghost writer? After the ghost writer is murdered in the second last chapter, his manuscript for the last chapter of the book flies away. So how did Norm find it and get it published?

Oh I beg to differ

Anyone read this, and can rate it?

Here's a couple reviews I found on Amazon
" Norm Macdonald has a leg up on all of them. Based on a True Story isn’t really a memoir, as the cover claims. It’s closer to a novel, a Russian tragicomedy, perhaps. Dostoyevsky by way of 30 Rockefeller Center . . . This is a gutsy gambit—many readers will likely pick up the book for stories about hosting “Weekend Update”—but Mr. Macdonald’s willingness to take risks pays off mightily. A straightforward story about a comedian losing his money over and over again might be juicy, but it wouldn’t necessarily be any different than any other tale of addiction. It certainly wouldn’t be art. And that’s what Based on a True Story is. It’s a sui generis work of pseudo-memoir that will have you simultaneously laughing at Mr. Macdonald’s wit, scratching your head at the veracity of his stories and pondering mortality, as embodied by a dying child who wants to club a seal before he goes. It’s the best new book I’ve read this year or last."

"There are two things you should know about the book: First, it is easily the most ambitious thing Macdonald has ever done; Second, it is pretending hard to be nothing of the kind. . . . Based on a True Story turns out to be Macdonald’s experiment in hyperliterary comedy. It’s disorienting, funny, sometimes stupid, and often wildly beautiful. That’s the weird part. After a couple of amusingly implausible anecdotes about gambling, drugs, and Hollywood, a chapter on his childhood erupts into waves of unbelievable lyricism—with reflections on aesthetics and memory and trauma so poetic I kept sending passages to a pal who’s a Nabokov scholar to see if they reminded her of him too (even as I pictured Macdonald rolling his eyes at the comparison). . . . There has never been a less straightforward book. It’s playful and spry and just unbelievably cagey. But it broke me, and I’ll tell you why: Macdonald is a pretty extraordinary wordsmith, capable of working in an impressive range of styles and genres."

"A driving, wild and hilarious ramble of a book, what might have happened had Hunter S. Thompson embedded himself in a network studio."

Is this good?

I legitimately think this is a contender - realistically. It is accessible with a decent amount of artistic credibility, written by a (relatively) well known public figure. It's been described as Dostoevsky by way of 30 Rockefeller Centre. Maybe it wont be on high school reading lists but I think it will become one of those cult pieces that will have a devoted following for decades to come.

Plus, Norm has said that he wants to be remembered as an author and that he plans on writing three more books. If those are any good then people might look back on this one with even more fondness.

Just finished reading this novel. But I didn't understand the ending. Why did the ghostwriter think of pizza when he was murdered?

How did Norm get the ghostwriter's final chapter to put into the book- and why did Norm have to read the last chapter of the novel into a tape recorder as fast as possible? Was this a reference to Faulkner?

Just finished reading this novel. I liked it, it was funny and well written, but I feel like I didn't really "get it" or understand it. Am I a lone retard or was anyone else confused by this?

So, let me get this straight. The ghostwriter Keane took the messages Norm gave him over his answering machine and wrote them into the book we read- including the fictions, which were flights of fancy Keane inserted to make it interesting to him, because he hates Norm.

While he's doing this, Norm is narrating the events of going to vegas with the retard and his gambling buddy. Meanwhile Keane is trying to get his novel The House Painter published. When that gets rejected he decides to commit suicide.

Norm comes back to finish the book as soon as possible, and catches Keane trying to commit suicide. He stops him and they continue writing the book. Keane dresses up as Norm and starts imitating him. But why? Then he finds some people who never found Norm funny on SNL, and Keane says "I like him!" So is that supposed to be the turning point? Then Keane goes "I can't believe life can still surprise me and writes the final chapter of the book- which is what we read, which is the chapter where Norm says he feels lucky getting to be semi-famous and doing comedy. That's actually Keane finally beginning to understand and sympathise with Norm.

Then the two narratives intersect with Keane being shot to death and Keane smelling the pizza. Where did the pizza thing come from? Did I miss something? He drops the final chapter, and it flies into the wind. So Norm never got the final chapter- which we just read. So how did it get published?

Then the final chapter with Norm speaking into the tape recorder as fast as possible is confusing- he says Adam found the novel, which I think is supposed to be Keane's tape recorder? But then how did the stuff about the restaurant with Keane alone get into the book? Where did Norm find this after Keane was murdered?

Any of you guys read this? Funny as shit but also pretty well written considering normie boy never went to high school.

Anyone here excited about this? Is there a leaked version maybe?

Norm's book is coming out next week, and it's getting some good reviews. It's sold as a memoir but it's not really. Apparently it's Nabokovian.

>We get some stunning tidbits from the real Norm in Based on a True Story, but he vanishes into a haze of performative self-deprecation and dry wit anytime we start getting too close. Without going into details, I'll just note that the "memoir" begins to fall apart when a resentful ghostwriter starts chiming in. Only Norm Macdonald would ghostwrite his own ghostwriter. Only Norm Macdonald would loudly proclaim a preference for layer-less comedy while borrowing heavily from Nabokov's Pale Fire.

https://theweek.com/articles/646450/resurrection-norm-macdonald