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9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Pure Jazz Dec 26, 2009
By Randall M. Tillotson
Engel's book possessed me like a tractor beam. I couldn't put it down. If jazz can be written, Engel has done it. Each chapter was like a unique solo at times, but in the end, all the parts fit together perfectly.
His chapter "The Possessed" was absolutely the best depiction of modern work life I've ever read. Anyone who works in a cubicle can see themselves in that chapter, and easily say, "Oh, my god, that's me!!"
And the idea of Plant Man was totally unique. These are the kinds of persons that used to come into the office at work, silently tending the plants, and disappearing. I'll never think about these attendants as just silent robots again.
"The Parlor Radicals" was wonderful. He uses furniture and appliances that speak a common language, and play the roles of good and supremely evil characters in our society. Anyone who has yelled at their television will love this chapter.
This book's style was totally unique, and produced one of the best mirrors of our society that I've read in years. I hope Engel has more on the way.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 He who writes with fewest words wins verbs not required period Jan 25, 2009
By Jodi
"languagejunkie"
The author describes this book as a "modular novel". For those who might be wondering what a modular novel is, please allow me to clarify:
Modular novel - use of verbs and punctuation are optional and highly discouraged.
It absolutely amazes me that somebody can fill up 329 pages of ramblings, with only 9 verbs total among those pages. It's enough to make me wish I were illiterate. This book beat the snot out of my motivation, and it took me nearly 3 weeks to finish the darn thing. Now I need a drink.
I still have no idea what this book is about. It was an absolute chore to read and I couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. I try to find something positive in every book I read, even the books I hate. I have tried and tried, but I can't think of anything positive to say about this book. It is complicated and confusing and in serious need of an editor. A couple of verbs scattered here and there with some prepositions in between might help make the language more understandable. Proper punctuation is not illegal, either. I realize this is supposed to be some sort of artistic prose, some nouveau creativity, but it just doesn't have the linguistic capability to be considered artistic. I'm not even sure this book has the linguistic capability to be considered English.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 What a Snoozer Jan 21, 2009
By J. Finkel
"Jack of Trades"
Topiary is a very different kind of book from what I would normally choose to read. The writing style centers around a free form poetry but occassionally wanders into or mixes with legitimate sentences. I like to believe I am opened minded enough to appreciate virtuous writing regardless of my familiarity or comfort with its presentation. Whether or not this is the case, I am certain that I did not enjoy reading Topiary.
Plot:
Primarily this is my main grievance with the book. It's the length of a real novel, but has very little plot. There just isn't much going on. I'm not saying a good work of fiction NEEDS a good plot, but in this case, it would have helped. And I really did have my hopes up, as one of my closest friends has worked in the same obscure job as the main character for the last several years.
Setting:
Topiary is set in a dystopian society that could easily be modern day USA as seen by a juvenile paranoid-delusional off their meds. There are also running themes of obsession/contempt with sexuality and violence. A dystopian setting can really be a great canvas to work with, but not in this case. I felt the setting (and characters) were unconvincing and shallow. Topiary is less a sharp jab at all the follies of our society than a simplistic, twisted, boring dream.
Characters:
Topiary, could be a character study, I guess...but the characters are poorly developed (if at all), even the main character - Plantman. Plantman shows little emotion and only superficially interacts with other characters. Plus, plantman is extremely boring, like most of the characters.
Style:
The writing style is not for me. However, I recognize parts of the book that are written with grace, wit and even charm. If I had taken this book apart and digested it in smaller portions, I might have been appeased, even appetized by this style. I just don't think it worked for this book. Still, I'll throw in a star.
Overall:
I could play Beethoven's compositions all day long. They can be dark, disturbing and manic-depressive, with a hint of paranoia just like Topiary. However, they are emotionally powerful and complex. Reading Topiary feels so sterile, so emotionally vacant, despite the disgust slathered over every description and contempt that reaches out in every direction.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Burroughs, Junior Jan 06, 2009
By Brian J. Greene
"djbrian"
This novel is an experimental, non-linear work, so it makes little sense to discuss its "plot." The book reads something like a combination of William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, and George Orwell. It is basically "about" a guy who was once an arty student who became a failed advertising man before getting work as a caretaker of plants. The company he works for, Topiary Techniques, is like the Starbucks of horticultural care, with its overeducated staff and aggressively optimistic front. Meanwhile, The Nation is at war, and it's all there for everyone to see at all times, a bit of nightmarish hyper-reality that brings to mind Orwell's 1984. Mostly the book is just funny, though, and thought-provoking. It contains a collection of loosely-connected, dream-like snippets. You never know if the next section you read will have anything to do with the one you just read, you never know if the characters and elements of a segment you read and enjoy will come back at any point . . . You just to take in each little section for what it is, and get out of it what you can. The experience of reading it is quite similar to what you get with Burroughs's' cut-up novels, like The Naked Lunch, Soft Machine, Cities of the Red Night, etc. Overall, the book is not strong enough for Engel to be on a par with Burroughs, but it is intriguing enough to where I'd want to read more by him.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A Review of "Topiary" in Letter Form Nov 18, 2008
By Eric Larsen
"Eric Larsen"
I just finished Topiary last night--and it's taken me a while to come down from it. My god--energy, sustainedness, inventiveness, ruthlessness, piercingness, tumult, order, drive, thoughtfulness, weariness, lightning bolts--you cover the map, shoot, you CREATE the map and THEN you cover it! Amazing book. God knows, I wish it well, and you, and wish the numbers of those lucky enough to read it to be ever greater.
Dozens and dozens of notes and comments, sticky tags, the like. Catch the poetic energy, just for one example, on p. 66, the internal rhyme, "Hour-a-day mental space to press pump cycle soar with sexy dancers grooving to The War." Amazing! Page 71 rates a huge exclamation mark from me. On page 77, a note saying "Would have out-Dintenfassed Dintenfass in 1970. Out-Bellows Bellow." As good as the best. Ever run across Mark Dintenfass? He and I overlapped in Iowa City 1970-71, he was under Richard Yates, came out right away with five or six novels--and has fallen into silence since. Had an energy in narrative to reckon with, though.
Page 82 gets "This is 1984 written for now, the way it's actually come about." My god, lines like ". . .for whatever we watched was watched simultaneously by millions. One could never be alone while watching."
The "Smoker's Ode" on p. 85 earns a huge exclamation mark. "The Missing Young" deserves prior publication in the New Yorker as poetry. The book just gets better and better, the chapter headings alone drawing crowds of neurons to them, and things like the dialogue among the furniture! Damn, it's good! "'It's about time someone told that guy off,' whispered the Rocking Chair to the Lamp.'" As delicate as Virginia Woolf and as crushing as William Burroughs. Whole chapters that way. Ditto with "The Solitary Novelist." Perfect down to every micron. And then--off goes the author again to the races, to the rest of the novel. There are writers whod've gotten stuck on the solitary novelist and pirandello'd and meta fictioned and forced whole novels out of it, but Adam Engel gives it a quick, unforgettable lick like it's never gotten before, or never gotten more expertly or knowledgably, and then he heads back to pasture, city, or mountain ranges to continue gathering up the rest of all, all, all there is to be gathered. I'm really in awe. The wife who died during cosmetic surgery (p. 164 and elsewhere), thus with the lop-sided face. In itself, a small tale of the time. Ditto as re. the solitary novelist. Perfect and never allowed to preach, but only to delight, albeit with the grim delight of Hamlet's graveyard scene. And the way the whole is tied and woven together throughout, a la page 216, "Soon, Plantman. Soon your story will be told." Yes! Will be, has been, and little does A.T. Rotious know what he's saying, or what the solitary novelist is "making" him say!!! As many levels of irony as in Don Quixote.
Thanks to the nth power for "Topiary." I bow in admiration and in gratitude.
Eric Larsen is the author of A Nation Gone Blind: America in an Age of Simplification and Deceit, I Am Zoe Handke, An American Memory, and the new novel (http://www.ericlarsen.info/end.19th.intro.html) The End of the 19th Century.
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