CONFESSIONS OF
A KNIGHT ERRANT
by
Gretchen McCullough
Humorous Fiction
Publisher: Cune Press
Page Count: 240 pages
Publication Date: October 18, 2022
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Confessions of a Knight Errant is a comedic, picaresque novel in the tradition of Don Quixote with a flamboyant cast of characters.
Dr. Gary Watson is the picaro, a radical environmentalist and wannabe novelist who has been accused of masterminding a computer hack that wiped out the files of a major publishing company. His Sancho Panza is Kharalombos, a fat, gluttonous Greek dancing teacher, who is wanted by the secret police for cavorting with the daughter of the Big Man of Egypt.
Self-preservation necessitates a hurried journey to the refuge of a girls’ camp in rural Texas. Then a body turns up nearby that is connected to Middle East antiquities, and they are on the run once more.
Confessions of a Knight Errant is a book following the narrator, Gary, who in on the run from Interpol and his misadventures with his dancing companion and a woman who runs a girls camp in Texas - following a revolution in Egypt. However, the Middle East isn't done with them, as murder and antiquities follow them to the Lone Star state. This book is somewhat episodic in its structure and it's also full of larger-than-life characters, who are essentially caricatures.
I really enjoyed this book. It's a bit whacky, it's very unexpected in terms of my usual reading, and it's definitely a funny time. I don't inherently love the characters, but I love their portrayals and characterization. I liked the pacing, I liked the globetrotting elements and I also liked the way things just kept snowballing until all the connections were made.
Confessions of a Knight Errant is a humorous romp around the world with a few alternate identities, a lot of meandering pathways, and a lot of characters you have to read about to believe exist within the book. I give it a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯ stars. Don't come into this one looking for a typical murder mystery or a standard adventure story. Come in for episodic narration and a "you have to read this to believe it" kind of story.
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Gretchen McCullough was raised in Harlingen Texas. After graduating from Brown University in 1984, she taught in Egypt, Turkey, and Japan. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama and was awarded a teaching Fulbright to Syria from 1997-1999.
Her stories, essays and reviews have appeared in The Barcelona Review, Archipelago, National Public Radio, Story South, Guernica, The Common, The Millions, and the LA Review of Books. Translations in English and Arabic have been published in: Nizwa, Banipal, Brooklyn Rail in Translation, World Literature Today, and Washington Square Review with Mohamed Metwalli. Her bilingual book of short stories in English and Arabic, Three Stories From Cairo, translated with Mohamed Metwalli, was published in July 2011 by AFAQ Publishing House, Cairo. A collection of short stories about expatriate life in Cairo, Shahrazad’s Tooth, was also published by AFAQ in 2013.
Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University in Cairo.
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"You have to read this to believe it." I love that summative statement and that it's a whacky, unexpected, funny book. I look forward to reading it. Thanks for your review!
ReplyDeleteNice review and I do like your comment, "you have to read it to believe it." It is somewhat of a tall tale and they all tend to stretch believability.
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