Product Description

"Buffalo Lockjaw, like its charming, bitter screw-up of a narrator, reaches finally for larger meaning, and succeeds. . . . A brazen and tender book about a city and a scene, a mother and a son, and the beauty and pain of several kinds of love."
--Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land

"Ames knows how to build up the world with a light hand while still getting to the complicated and painful ways we muddle through. Funny, fresh, and generous."
--Aimee Bender, author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt

"In Buffalo Lockjaw, love of one's parents and love of one's hometown mix powerfully with the mad undertow of loss that seems as inevitable in life as gravity."
--Jonathan Ames, author of Wake Up, Sir!

"Greg Ames, one of the funniest writers I've ever read, faces dead-on the most terrifying event in a person's life. Buffalo Lockjaw is frightening, heart-rending, and beautiful. . . . I didn't want it to end."
--Poe Ballantine, author of Things I Like About America

"Greg Ames manages to evoke place and expose the complexities of character in a single swift phrase. It is a funny-sad, heartbreaking, hypnotically readable debut."
--Adrienne Miller, author of The Coast of Akron

James Fitzroy isn't doing so well. Though his old friends in Buffalo believe his life in New York City is a success, in fact he writes ridiculous taglines for a greeting card company. Now he's coming home on Thanksgiving to visit his aging father and dying mother, and unlike other holidays, he's not sure how this one is going to end. Buffalo Lockjaw introduces a fresh new voice in American fiction.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213597 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-01
• Released on: 2009-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 290 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401309800
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Dreary, winter-bound Buffalo, N.Y., is as much a character as any of the slackers populating Ames's darkly humorous debut about a young man with a copy of Suicide for Dummies in his car and a 56-year-old mother with Alzheimer's who he believes wants to die. James, 28, fled hometown stasis in the mid-'90s for Manhattan, where he writes greeting card verse for Kwality Kards. Back home at Thanksgiving to visit his mother in a nursing home, he reconnects awkwardly with old friends who hail his supposed big-city success. His family isn't as awestruck. Father Rodney, a solid citizen rooted in country club bonhomie, laments his son's lack of discipline, and his lesbian sister, Kate, a physical therapist visiting with her girlfriend from Oregon, mocks her brother's career path. Both evade his oblique references to euthanasia—the real reason for his return. Ames's depiction of James's bedside concern for his mother straddles the line between caustically comic and wrenchingly emotional, while the wry riffs on family tension and the sad state of Buffalo that appear throughout this fine first novel don't undercut the serious consideration of murder or mercy for terminal patients. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
James Fitzroy travels home to Buffalo for the Thanksgiving holiday—and to assist his mother in committing suicide. Ellen, only 56 and a nurse, author, and patients-rights activist, has Alzheimer’s. Several years before, as her dementia deepened, she told James she planned to commit suicide; he talked her out of it but now understands that she knew best. But James is the slacker in the family. Can he do it? Buffalo Lockjaw is a small, knowing, finely crafted debut novel, capable of rousing empathy, identification, pain, and even laughter. Small details of nursing homes—and Alzheimer’s—are painfully accurate; “memory boxes” outside rooms, middle-aged visitors shocked that Mom is dressed shabbily in some other patient’s clothes, moments of unexpected lucidity, Perry Como songs playing, and endless memories of Mom when she was herself. Ames is equally incisive on family dynamics. James and his father grope to understand each other, and James spends as much time as possible revisiting his Buffalo youth. And that’s where the laughs are. An altogether winning novel. --Thomas Gaughan

About the Author

Greg Ames grew up in Buffalo, New York. His work has appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, McSweeney's, Fiction International, The Sun, and other publications. He has taught fiction at Brooklyn College and at Binghamton University. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

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Customer Reviews

Brilliantly Written

Buffalo Lockjaw is a brilliantly written story about a son who feels responsible for his mother's current, debilitated state. After talking Ellen out of suicide when she was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's Disease, James Fitzroy sets out on a journey back to his hometown of Buffalo to, for once in his life, do something of meaning, to save his mother from her suffering and follow through with her own wishes. Buffalo is the perfect backdrop for the story, not only because this is where the author grew up, but because,like the main character's mother, Buffalo is a city that is full of life and beauty, but is, in many ways, suffering. In a very clever way, the author teaches us much about Buffalo through several character sketches sprinkled throughout the first half of the novel, characters from the city of Buffalo that the main character, James, interviewed in his earlier days while conducting an ethnographical study. For some reason (unknown to himself at the time), James is listening to a tape of these interviews when he drives into Buffalo, and through his continued listening of it, the reader begins to learn about the city of Buffalo and comes to understand it as its own rich character in the story.

Throughout the course of the story, James finds that his past seems to collide with his present as he works through his decision to help his mother. We're introduced to his family and see the pain and heartache that surrounds watching a loved one suffer from advanced Alzheimer's as she becomes more debilitated and loses her sense of self. We also see the guilt that consumes James as he watches his mom suffer. He feels responsible for her current state, because, after all, he was the one who talked her out of suicide. No longer capable of conveying what she wants, James wants to make things right, but he finds himself locked within his tendency to be more of a witness than a participant in life. This story could definitely make for some really heavy drama, but the author seems to perfectly blend the heartfelt drama with comedic relief. He cleverly juxtaposes the heartache with funny encounters and witty exchanges with James' childhood friends and pseudo love interests. Within this context, the reader comes to understand how truly trapped and disconnected all of the characters are in their current lives. They all seem locked in their most vulnerable states, especially James. He's trapped in the past, in his mind, in his self destructive role, and in his wanting to save Ellen.

This notion of being trapped is carried throughout the novel and then linked to the title of the book and the idea of Buffalo Lockjaw. Not only was this really good writing, but within this context, I found myself wanting to piece things together, as if the story was its own puzzle. I wanted to know answers about the characters and wanted to learn more about the depth of James' grief, particularly in relation to his mother. The answers are all there, but the reader has to dig around a little bit to fully understand the characters (including Buffalo) and their relationships. Consequently, it's almost like the reader is on a journey to uncover things about James' past and to fully understand him. This had me rooting for James to finally do the right thing, to escape his past and present, and to do and be more. To me, all of these elements working together make for good literature. A lot of contemporary books are too commercial, too contrived, and so obvious. Buffalo Lockjaw isn't like that. It's multilayered, it's full of so many different facets, it evokes an emotional response, and it's REALLY good writing.

The book is also full of so many great lines, lines that really make you think. It lends itself perfectly to book club discussions. Usually, when I read a book club selection, I mark passages and lines that I found to be really telling or poignant, stuff that makes for great discussion. In a given novel, I typically find a few lines that are worth noting and sharing with the group. Buffalo Lockjaw is chock-full of TONS of thought provoking lines and ideas. It gets the reader thinking a lot about who we are and where we come from literally and figuratively. It makes one wonder about how memory works and how our childhood and where we are raised really becomes so central to what we remember. And the thought provoking lines? There were so many. I think my favorite one was the line from one of James' philosophy professors, "If you've got one foot in the past and one foot in the future, you're pissing on the present." How brilliant is that? That's so poignant in its own right, but especially poignant for James, who is totally pissing on the present for so much of the book. The reader wants him to step up and take control of his present life and relationships, but, ultimately, he never really does.

I was really glad the author didn't do the resolution thing at the end and make things neat and tidy. Life in general, especially James' life, is just too messy for that. Instead of the predictable happening, the author chooses to end the novel in a quieter and more subtle way, a way that is much more fitting to James' character. In other words, James may not save the day in the manner that one would initially hope for (Thank God, a writer who didn't cave!), but he does come to better understand Ellen and what she wanted for herself and for him. Through some telling letters written by his mother, James and the reader learn that Ellen, as a mother, feels a level of responsibility for her son's insecurity. She's been trying to teach him to save himself, and he's thinking he needs to save her. Really, all she wants is for him to not quit, to try, "to move a muscle" (note: I'm trying not to spoil the ending here). I love that he figures all of this out on his journey to save his mom, which is really the biggest selfless act. Even more, I loved that there was this dual level of James being selfless that wasn't so overt and made the ending seem less resolved. This is an ending that really satisfies the reader because it's quiet and humble and very true to James' character.

Can you tell I loved Buffalo Lockjaw? It was hard not to love it. It's a powerful story with a universal message about life and memory and love. Be here, be present, start living now. And, underneath the message, there are so many great things happening within the story and the writing - it's beautiful, it's brilliant, and it's really hard to let go of it when you're done.

Buffalo Lockjaw, a Nurse's Story
A personal note about Buffalo Lockjaw.

This book really moved me as I lived through a similar experience with my mother who suffered from pre-senile dementia before she died last year. Plus I'm a nurse practitioner (NP), live in the neighborhood and graduated from Buff State so it seemed to hit me on many levels.

I picked up the book at Talking Leaves, happy to read a book about Buffalo that didn't totally trash our city. Plus I live here in the "Elmwood Village" and was excited by so many familiar references. I did not know the book's subject matter and was and honestly unprepared to jump right into that reality. Let's just say that my pain was still pretty raw and the vivid details were sometimes too much for me. I went through some Kleenex reading this book. But it's also clever, funny, insightful and beautifully written. I found myself chuckling much more often than choking up. I often ruminated over individual sentences. Still, I am left with the image of Ellen, a shell of the woman she once was, undignified, and James trying to understand and "do right" by her. And it feels familiar.

As an NP with a little fear of my own risk of dementia I found myself identifying mostly with Ellen, also an NP, even though I cared for my mother in much the same way as James. That is to say I did not usually physically care for her but "helped out" when I saw her and was deeply affected by her decline.

Anyway, it seemed to me that the author had personally experienced the devastation of watching a bright, funny, together person who he loved wither and slip away only to catch a glimpse of her during those rare precious moments of lucidity, as I had.

Buffalo Lockjaw was a gift to me and will stay with me for a long time.

"I am a witness to the savage dance of the world"
The book opens with James Fitzroy visiting his mother, Ellen, on Thanksgiving, at the Elms facility in Buffalo where he grew up. He arrives from NYC in a rental car with 'Assisted Suicide For Dummies' on the back seat; eight days sober and wondering how he will handle this year's Thanksgiving. Ellen has Alzheimer's, can no longer walk on her own or talk coherently; a once vibrant woman brought down by a heinous disease. As James notes of his mother's residence in the facility; "My mother is not entirely human - not a daughter, not a mother, not a wife. Her past wiped out, she is just another sack of flesh, dehumanized. She has become a freak. Staff members put food in Ellen's mouth, strip clothes off her body, dress her and lay her in bed - she's an oversized doll, an animate toy - but she does not belong to their species any longer."

James works writing for a greeting card company in New York City, his sister Kate and her lover Allison fly in from Portland Oregon to be with Ellen also. His father Rodney is in the process of selling the old house to move into a smaller, more economical living arrangement. It's safe to say Ellen will never get better, never be coming home, and wouldn't recognize it if she did.

James is haunted by the fact that when his mother first knew of her illness, she spoke to him of suicide, of not wanting to end out like the people she had nursed her entire life. But James, adamantly against it, talks her out of it until it's too late for Ellen to make her own decision. Now he's riddled with guilt every time he sees his mother, or rather the shadow of the once vibrant woman his mother was.

Told in first person by James, the novel is interspersed with snippets of a project James had once worked on; 'An Oral History Of Buffalo', where he captured random people's thoughts on the city they were raised and lived in. While few, these snippets are extremely interesting and entertaining. Greg Ames has written a very good book, one with no answers to the problem of Alzheimer's but a deeply moving glimpse into the lives the disease effects. There's a surprise ending that fits the story well. Ames deserves Kudos for his writing skills, the book stays interesting from cover to cover, a fast and intriguing read that will move your heart and your brain, and leave you thinking. Enjoy!