The Muse Asylum

David Czuchlewski

Jake is a journalist for a weekly alternative paper in NYC. He sets out to get the story of a lifetime - to find and interview Horace Jacob Little, a reclusive author whose identity is such a well kept secret that even his agent doesn't know who he is. In another storyline, Andrew Wallace is a schizophrenic who believes that Horace Little is out to get him. Andrew and Jake are connected through Lara, the girl they both loved when they were at Princeton (which is where Czuchlewski wrote the guts of this book, while studying with Joyce Carol Oates.) What transpires in the novel are separate but intricately related searches by Jake and Andrew to uncover who Horace Little is, searches which become personal journeys for each of them.

Czuchlewski tells his story from two seemingly opposite vantage points: a schizophrenic's desire to prove his convictions and a journalist's conviction to get his story. The anticipated result for each is the illusion of grandeur, the imagined prize for each is the girl they both love. What makes it all the more interesting is that the focus of each of their obsessions is an author who is as much an illusion as anything else in their respective quests.

A very complex premise for a novel for such a young and inexperienced author. Czuchlewski pulls it off quite well, even if the language and some of the scenes often give away his age. I consider this book on par with what Mysteries of Pittsburgh was for Chabon.