Anymore, when I review authors like Bertocci, I am reminded of the cut song from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe about De Belville. I’m sure you all have it memorized already, but just in case, here’s an abridged version of the first verse:
De Belville was regarded as the Crichton of his age:
His tragedies were reckoned much too thoughtful for the stage;
His poems held a noble rank, although it’s very true
That, being very proper, they were read by very few.
[…]
And everybody said
“How can he be repaid—
This very great—this very good—this very gifted man?”
But nobody could hit upon a practicable plan!
Of course, being a W.S. Gilbert production, the story ultimately ends with a happy accident, by which De Belville gets a seat in the House of Lords.
Well, I would of course be all in favor of granting Mr. Bertocci a prominent seat in government. But until that day comes, I guess I’ll just keep trying to reward him as best I know how: namely, by writing rambling reviews of his books.
His latest short story is about a young woman named Kayla, a theater major starring in an ’80s pop-rock themed adaptation of Cinderella. The show isn’t going well, but the one saving grace is that it spares Kayla having to think about her future.
You know, normally I hate literary fiction about angst. Yet, that’s exactly what Bertocci writes, and damme, I enjoy it. I think mostly it’s because he doesn’t lose his sense of humor, even while writing about themes like the anxiety and uncertainty that all young people starting out in life face. He handles these motifs seriously, but always with wit.
In the comments on last week’s post, Anonymole pointed me to an article in The Guardian about a recent study on AI. The punchline: “Ideas generated by ChatGPT can help writers who lack inherent flair but may mean there are fewer unique ideas.”
Well, I can confidently say that Bertocci does not lack for flair, and he has plenty of unique ideas. That’s why I love his fiction. In a world increasingly awash in regurgitated AI media, his Bildungsromane stand out for their witty prose and relatable characters.
