Being Written by William Consescu

I placed Being Written on by TBR list several months ago when I read about it at New Books. From the description it seemed like an interesting book, but it languished on my TBR list until I read a favorable review at Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books.

Daniel Fischer, the protagonist knows that he is a character being written in a book. He knows this because he can hear the author's pencil scratching away when he is in a scene of the book. But, Daniel has a problem. He is only a minor character. He aspires to be a major character, and to that end works very hard to intrude upon the narrative of a major character he happens across in a bar, Delia. This leads to a darkly humorous story as Daniel struggles to maintain the author's attention in order to be the main character he wants to be.

Narrated in a combination of third and second person, this work of metafiction can be mind-bending at times. After all, Daniel is the character in a novel, the one the reader is reading, of course. But, then again, maybe Daniel is just mad? One could go around in circles trying to figure out which it is. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I like metafiction, the reflexivity of it. But, it isn't for all. So, if you don't mind having your head messed with a little bit, give Being Written a try.

4.25/5