The Orange Spotlight

Tao Lin Shoplifting From American Apparel (Melville House, Sept. 2009)

I am all for minimalism, in fact, I strive for an honest simplicity everyday, but I feel I am missing something every time I read the work of Tao Lin. When Tao sent me his novella I was excited because I had read through the mixed reviews and wanted to see for myself what had some comparing him to Mark Twain and other saying he had no talent beyond his PR skills. I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle, I do see the humor and fundamental sadness in this book, but just as in his debut novel he fails to really tell a story.

The novella is almost a diary as it follows the main character Sam (a writer, vegan, shoplifter) as he finds himself in jail, at parties, at concerts, in Florida, and finally back in Manhattan. What Tao has a difficult time expressing or capturing (or perhaps chooses not to express) is the level of emotion the his characters are feeling. He uses phrases like "neutral facial expression" or "excited facial expression" at times when other writer would actually describe the expression.

What the novella does manage to capture is the lifestyle and mentality of many young writers and bloggers searching for ways to express themselves. For the most part the internet is a cold medium, and Lin's novella reflects that coldness even in times of what to most maybe a romantic encounter. His emotions rarely change as he calmly describes everything from jail floor fights to 10 minutes kissing scenes to thoughts of suicide. The most powerful realization that he manages to share is that he knows what he has created and is not sure what he is going to next. You can feel that overwhelming weight of expectations as Sam says, "I mean, I don't know, we're in a park right now, I feel good right now, I feel like I'll kill myself after this." After he is challenged by his friends he goes on to explain that he just doesn't know what to do overall. It is a brief bit of insight in a book that otherwise just floats over the surface of a the life a man who has created a persona that has gained him a fairly large following.

Shoplifting From American Apparel is part of Melville House's Contemporary Art of the Novella Series. Tao Lin's second novel is scheduled to be released in Sept 2010 and is currently titled Richard Yates.