Very rarely does a writer capture both a character’s emotional depths and the culture which produced them.  Seth K. succeeds at both.  He succeeds at drawing a realistic portrait of our celebrity-addled culture and conjuring a remarkable representative for that culture. 

When I first read the novel, I became carried away by the beauty of the language.  Ironically, this very language is being contested within the WFG forums; see Eli’s criticism.  But to me, Seth has an incredibly light hand at prose, his paragraphs flow seamlessly from one into the other, and I admire the sharp observations and consistent voice.

But quality of writing aside, what drives a good story is often a good idea.  What we love about Anna Karenina or 100 Years of Solitude or Fahrenheit 451 is the vision—the potential space it offers our imagination.

The Tom Drake Experience takes a couple dominant themes in our contemporary culture and explores them through the rampant desires and addictions of a single character.  Self-image is everything to Tom Drake.  Fashion is his narcotic and his ego is as gigantic as it is pathetically small.  We read that "power swelled within Tom after every purchase."  We read, "I’m never satisfied.  I’m the eternal consumer." 

In TDE we have the intersection of image, self-improvement, capitalism, consumerism, fashion, corporate life, and manhood.  The author adroitly weaves these strands into what is—on the surface—a simplistic story.

Tom Drake is a bachelor who resigns from his low-paying job to accept a position in so-called Corporate America.  He has an immense love of fashion, and in the beginning we don’t understand the full implications of this talisman. 

Fashion is the pivot point around which novel’s entire representation of culture and individual revolves.  Why fashion?  When you think about it, fashion is the perfect symbol for our times.  Fashion combines individualism, self-image, identity and consumerism into one idea. 

As the novel progresses, we learn a little more about Tom’s past, which throws his present self and situation into relief.  The scenes alternate between the uncool Tom of the past and the fashion savvy Tom of the present.  The author must walk a fine line in describing Tom in the present, and here is where some reviewers, I believe, are mis-reading the pathos of the novel.

The first reviewer, Grace McDermott, missed the second level of meaning entirely.  And it’s easy to do, so I’m not blaming her.  As a text, TDE is vulnerable to Grace’s cursory reading of the novel as the glib portrayal of a shallow, superficial Tom. 

What I’m saying is—there is another level to this writing. 

I can even see why Grace interpreted the novel the way she did.  Tom Drake is cocky, self-obsessed, and typically male; and the prose teeters on the misogynistic, which to a female, I could imagine is disarming.  But this reading of the novel overlooks the fact that Tom relies on his expanding wardrobe to provide himself with security and confidence—especially in the highly competitive world he’s about to enter.  He is intoxicated by his delusions of grandeur and when they wear off he’s just as miserable. 

The second reviewer, Chris P., gave the novel a higher rating.  Having discovered the element of TD’s self-hatred, Chris argued that there was depth to the main character and thus the narrative was an effective one.  I agree.  However, TDE is more than a good character study.  Yes, it presents a full, three dimensional character with serious inner conflict and real emotions, but it reveals something else too, something about ourselves and our culture.

Now before I move on to my thesis; let me discuss the latest review of TDE by Eli James.  Eli writes, "But Tom’s view is also vastly under-utilized. Let us ask ourselves simple questions: what does Tom work as? Is Lexi his wife? If she is (and I believe the writer says she is), then why is vast swathes of their shared lives together not explained to us?"

Tom is a corporate slave; he probably works in an investment firm.  Lexi is his friend and confidant.  Ginger is the woman he falls in love with.  These seem like such basic questions to me; I’m forced to wonder why Eli gets tripped up here.

As much as I love to read Eli’s writing (I’m a huge fan of Novelr), I don’t really think he gives a thorough critique of the novel itself.  His strongest point is his attack on the style of the novel, which he argues is forced, awkward, too "careful" and lacking "creative heat".  To convince us of his point, he takes us through an interesting discussion of what a Steinbeck Statement is.  He says that TDE is full of these sorts of literary general statements.  He interprets the tone, then, as false.  He also interprets the character as "repulsive" and false.  Which is to say, Eli falls into the same trap as Grace. 

The narrator is purposely ambiguous as to what Tom’s goal is.  We know he wants to be a "superstar" and have "hot chicks" but that is hardly a worthwhile explanation for a character who I believe is a contemporary archetype.

Tom Drake has adopted a persona.  He has internalized the projected ideals of a society, society’s "standard of perfection".  The countless references to exact types of clothing, the brands, and the realistic description of them demonstrates one irreducible fact:  Tom Drake is trying to create a perfect self through material objects. 

In a capitalist culture, consumer objects are of the highest value.  Tom Drake has his sights fixed on the holy grail of consumerism, the most expensive brands, the top name labels, the independent designers; this is the cream of capitalism, Ladies and Gentleman. 

Now if only Tom Drake can clothe himself in these rich robes then—and only then—will he become "more than a man." 

What does that mean?  What does it mean to become more than a man? 

If you think it means nothing, then you’re absolutely right.  It’s an utterly meaningless statement.  Because to be "more than a man" is to be no man at all.  It is to be some monster of perfection.  Some unhuman being.

This novel is a rare event.  Read it and then think about it’s implications.  Don’t be swayed by the reviewers who only see the surface; the surface is misleading.

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