The Pickle Index: A Novel
Nov 2015 · Macmillan + ORM
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" The Pickle Index is full of life and everything else—it's rowdy and sweaty and heartbreaking, and by heartbreaking I mean funny, and by funny I mean laugh-until-you're-exhausted-and-leaking-and-hungry."
—Miranda July
Zloty Kornblatt is the hapless ringmaster of an even more hapless circus troupe. But one fateful night, Zloty makes a mistake: he accidentally makes his audience laugh. Here on the outskirts of Burford—where both the cuisine and the economy, such as they are, are highly dependent on pickled vegetables—laughter is a rare occasion. It draws the immediate attention of the local bureaucracy, and by morning Zloty has been branded an instigator, conspirator, and fomentor sentenced to death or worse.
His only hope lies with his dysfunctional troupe—a morose contortionist, a strongman who'd rather be miming, a lion tamer paired with an elderly dog—a ragged band of misfits and failures who must somehow spring Zloty from his cell at the top of the Confinement Needle. Their arcane skills become strangely useful, and unlikely success follows unlikely success. Until, suddenly, the successes end—leaving only Flora Bialy, Zloty's understudy and our shy narrator, to save the day.
Punctuated with evocative woodcuts by Ian Huebert, Eli Horowitz's The Pickle Index is a fast-moving fable, full of deadpan humor and absurd twists—and an innovative, exhilarating storytelling experience.
—Miranda July
Zloty Kornblatt is the hapless ringmaster of an even more hapless circus troupe. But one fateful night, Zloty makes a mistake: he accidentally makes his audience laugh. Here on the outskirts of Burford—where both the cuisine and the economy, such as they are, are highly dependent on pickled vegetables—laughter is a rare occasion. It draws the immediate attention of the local bureaucracy, and by morning Zloty has been branded an instigator, conspirator, and fomentor sentenced to death or worse.
His only hope lies with his dysfunctional troupe—a morose contortionist, a strongman who'd rather be miming, a lion tamer paired with an elderly dog—a ragged band of misfits and failures who must somehow spring Zloty from his cell at the top of the Confinement Needle. Their arcane skills become strangely useful, and unlikely success follows unlikely success. Until, suddenly, the successes end—leaving only Flora Bialy, Zloty's understudy and our shy narrator, to save the day.
Punctuated with evocative woodcuts by Ian Huebert, Eli Horowitz's The Pickle Index is a fast-moving fable, full of deadpan humor and absurd twists—and an innovative, exhilarating storytelling experience.
" The Pickle Index is full of life and everything else—it's rowdy and sweaty and heartbreaking, and by heartbreaking I mean funny, and by funny I mean laugh-until-you're-exhausted-and-leaking-and-hungry."
—Miranda July
Zloty Kornblatt is the hapless ringmaster of an even more hapless circus tro...
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Ratings and reviews
1 review
Ethan Zeigler
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November 6, 2015
Before I begin, I must state that I received this book in a giveaway from the publisher through Goodreads in exchange for a fair review. "'Ladies and gentlemen,' I began, 'do we have a show for you tonight.' The question sounded less rhetorical than I intended." Going into this I had no idea what to expect. News sources said things about apps and 3D printing and circus members, none of which made much sense in context. Thus I was very pleasantly surprised by what the book itself turned out to be. Available as both an app that I presume will supply parts of the story over a real-time 10 days or in standard papery book form, The Pickle Index is a witty and fun novel that sits somewhere between 1984, Idiocracy, and Monty Python, a failing circus troupe comprised of ragtag ne'er-do-wells with typical and fantastic circusy abilities. The story is principally told through the viewpoint of two characters; Hank Hamper, a love-struck journalist who has it out for our intrepid troupe and tells his sections in the form of first-person news reports, and Flora Bialy, a shy circus runaway who tells her story and the ongoing story of the troupe by way of the Pickle Index. The Pickle Index is a sort of device which prints out recipes sent from other citizens. Every household must send out a recipe for pickles or pickled-goods, whether original or forwarded on, each night or face severe punishment. This society is absurd and utterly wonderful. Our narrator, Flora, finds this just as silly as you and sends her recipes out each night. Her titles are fab (Cuke-Fudge Dippin' Stix and Scouse Wallies to name just two) and the instructions to make the recipe are the method in which the story is told. The entire books is chuckle-worthy, both in its absurdity and the wordplay the author utilizes, and the way the ending plays out truly must be seen to be believed. God bless Martin Van Buren. Very solid read that plays with the way a story can be told and I look forward to exploring Horowitz' bibliography further.
About the author
Eli Horowitz was the managing editor and then publisher of McSweeney's. He is the coauthor of The Clock Without a Face, a treasure-hunt mystery; Everything You Know Is Pong, an illustrated cultural history of Ping-Pong; The Silent History (FSG Originals), with Matthew Derby and Kevin Moffett; and The New World (FSG Originals), in collaboration with Chris Adrian. He lives in San Francisco.
Eli Horowitz was the managing editor and then publisher of McSweeney's. He is the coauthor of The Clock Without a Face, a treasure-hunt mystery; Everything You Know Is Pong, an illustrated cultural history of Ping-Pong; The Silent History (FSG Originals), with Matthew Derby and Kevin Moffett; and...
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