KING KONG

In Bloom’s novel set in 2023, a man searches for meaning in his life and career after the death of his lifelong love.

As the story opens, Tokyo-based American Sebastian Reuter is an accountant, painter, former actor, and all-around learned man who finds out that Valeria, the woman he’s loved for 23 years, has died. He characterizes her demise in spiritual terms—specifically, as yet another in a long series of battles between God and the Devil: “The Devil killed her today.” Over the course of the novel, readers learn more details about Valeria and her backstory. It’s revealed that Reuter hadn’t seen her in three years when she died, ever since she married another man, but her passing still stings and sends him spiraling through memories of his past life when he returns to Los Angeles to attend her funeral. In LA, he meets a stranger named Freya, and they have a fun, light dalliance—exactly the kind of encounter that Reuter needs at the moment. However, he doesn’t stick around for very long, as he’s needed back in Tokyo, where he meets another woman, Famke, whose husband is unfaithful to her; she’s looking to have a fling of her own. Briefly, there is a hint of tension as Reuter weighs his encounters with Freya and Famke in his mind, ruminating on which relationship might suit him better. However, in both his encounters and his reflections, Reuter remains detached and clinical—a trait that he attributes to his earlier acting training in which he learned to separate himself from his emotions. This feeling of emotional separation, while consistent with his character, seeps into the rest of the novel.

What begins as a Bret Easton Ellis–style cataloguing of brands (“He had a Constantin Vacheron watch and Brunello Cucinelli shoes, a Tom Ford suit, and a black tie too skinny for the occasion”) descends into mantras that, unlike in Ellis’ work, never quite read as satiric: “I was quitting smoking. Whenever I stopped, I always became Terminator, the Viking Surfer Terminator Driver of the willpower to do all I was capable.” Halfway through the novel, its conventional structure breaks down as Reuter digs into his notions about religion (“The Devil is challenging. But I can’t be harmed under God’s protection. Then, is it God or the Devil in disguise?”) as well as his ongoing work involving quantum theory (“My quantum mechanics physics spatial geospatial intelligent general and special theory draft story work in progress was a train of thought frame of mind-body consciousness conceptual anchoring referential point…”). He also touches on a range of other topics, including investment strategy, resulting in tangents that often border on incoherency. Overall, the work offers an unusual glimpse into the mind of a modern man who’s clearly not doing very well. Some readers will find the novel’s breakdown of typical story structure and descent into hyperspecific rumination to be an offbeat and engaging choice. However, others are likely to find it tedious and off-putting.

A scattershot mix of cataloguing, introspection, and philosophizing.