Professional backgammon player Alexander Bruno discovers he has a growth behind his nose that’s pressing against his eyes and producing a permanent blot in his vision. By chance, he meets a high school acquaintance who’s since become a real estate mogul and decides to bankroll Bruno’s life-saving surgery. But what’s he expecting in return…?
There’s a lot I really liked about The Blot (published as A Gambler’s Anatomy in the US - a much better title), but it’s mostly vague things. Jonathan Lethem’s writing is entertaining, the characters’ actions, dialogue and thoughts are interesting, and elements of the story are intriguing. It’s not a plot-driven book, so it’s unpredictable and also fairly ambling pace-wise, and not a great deal happens, but it’s also never boring.
What gives me pause is: what is this novel really about??! Because I honestly have no clue. Is it simply a potboiler or is Lethem making a statement about… something? I’ve been thinking about this novel since I finished it and I’m no closer to understanding what (if anything) it was driving at. It’s almost like I have my own literary blot when I think of this book and I can’t see past it! Or maybe I’m trying to see something that isn’t there? Unless Lethem wants us to believe psychic powers are real??? Maybe this sense of uncertainty is deliberate in trying to make the reader feel the same way the main character does most of the time…? That’s probably a stretch on my part!
It’s great as it is anyway. Bruno is a likeable human wreck and Keith Stolarsky is an always amusing villain-ish character with a lot of fun chatter. Lethem’s love of Philip K. Dick is apparent here, particularly once the narrative moves to California (where Dick spent most of his life): who’s working for who, are characters being unconsciously manipulated, are they part of a master plan they can’t see yet - it reminded me of stories like A Scanner Darkly. And then there’s the Dick-ian character names like Garris Plybon and Noah Behringer.
Bruno’s German girlfriend Madchen was the only weak link in the story. Bruno meets her briefly once in the opening scene, speaks to her for a total of a few minutes over some phone calls - but she’s willing to drop everything to fly halfway around the world and play nursemaid to him while he’s convalescing!? That made no sense. They’re practically strangers but Lethem wrote their relationship as if they had been together for years. Their “love” was wholly unconvincing and contrived.
The novel also loses steam post-surgery (possibly the best part of the novel, told from the perspective of the Jimi Hendrix-obsessed surgeon Behringer). It was interesting to learn of Stolarsky’s very peculiar empire but then, as often happens with stories without a plot, the novel ends with a feeble and unmemorable shrug.
Still, I enjoyed most of The Blot and definitely recommend it to fans of this author though it’s also accessible to most readers. For a substantial and well-written novel, it feels oddly lightweight, but it’s a fun and enjoyable journey through the unusual combo of professional gambling and specialised surgery.
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