Managed Care by Joe Barrett - PPPPP

Frank Johnson is 33 years old, yet he lives in a managed care facility. There’s nothing wrong with him physically, he’s there on principle. His grandfather passed away just before he was scheduled to move into the facility, and because the owner won’t refund the money, Frank is exploiting a loophole to make damn sure that he gets his money’s worth.

This absurd situation is taken up a notch when he meets a pair of middle school students through their social outreach program. Elroy is an orphan with a stutter, and Sally is a teenager struggling with her cross-bearing, guilt-inducing mother. Taking them under his wing, Frank decides to give the Catholic church a facelift. Hijinx ensue.

The narrator of the story rotates among the above three main characters, told from their first person point of view. Three elements really stand out with respect to this style.

First, Barrett does a great job of showing certain incidents from their differing points of view, making for compelling and amusing contrasts. It’s always interesting to see how characters can interpret the same situation differently.

Second, Barrett does an excellent job giving each narrator a distinct voice and personality that rang true to me.

Lastly, and most importantly, Barrett succeeds in making a cool character, Frank, come off as cool and likeable despite telling a story about how cool he is. I apologize for saying that in a convoluted way, but it boils down to the fact that when someone tells a story about how funny and witty they are, it’s extremely off-putting because they’re talking about themself. It makes me wanna rip out their esophagus. But Barrett is able to sprinkle in just the right amount of self-deprecatory humor to make Frank a really likeable character.

And speaking of humor, let’s get to what matters most. This book is funny. There are LOLs up the wazoo. The supposed comedies that I’ve been reading recently were depressingly unfunny, so I was worried that I was becoming jaded, but within like the first 10 pages of this book, an LOL hit me so hard that strangers on the train were looking at me like I had just dropped trou and started dancing the macarena. Exactly what I’m looking for when reading a comedic novel.

For those of you that are easily offended though, please note that a lot of the humor is juvenile, which is right up my alley. You’ve been warned.

For those of you that only want low-brow humor though, please note that this story also deals in universal, uplifting themes that really tie the story together and make it appealing to everyone. You’ve also been warned.

It is also worth noting that this book has more literary merit than As I Lay Dying by William Faulker, a Nobel laureate. I remember my high school English teacher gushing about Faulker and how he had written a whole chapter in just five words, like it was some monumental achievement on par with putting a man on the moon. Later in life, I actually read As I Lay Dying, and that ‘astonishing’ chapter was worthless gobbledygook that literary giants declare brilliant by ascribing profound interpretations to it. Barrett provides us with a seven-word chapter that kicks its ass because not only does it make sense, it’s also moving. And he later goes on to set the record with a forceful three-word chapter. Suck that, Faulkner! You dead corpse!

To sum up, Managed Care is an inventive and heart-warming story with lots of big and little LOLs and a decently satisfying ending. Barrett does a great job of creating characters that are not only humorous, but who also evoke emotion. He actually had me choked up a couple of times. And this is coming from a stone boy who when told by his parents that they were getting a divorce, replied by asking if he could go watch ThunderCats. Anyhoo, I recommend this book to anyone looking for a poignant comedy to read, and award it a well-earned and gleaming 5 pearls!

Bonus Quote (abridged slightly): Life is short. It’s weird, unpredictable, and erratic – like Cirque du Soleil.

p.s. Don’t miss my review of that abortion known as As I Lay Dying. It’s currently #2 on my Worst Books Ever list.

p.p.s. ThunderCats! HOOOOO!