The Cosmology of Bing

Rating:
Summary: a novel of revelation and redemption
Review: As a fan of Mitch Cullin's fiction, I am continually surprised and entertained by the structure of his novels. THE COSMOLOGY OF BING with its introspective young-old characters best reveals Cullin's broad skills as a writer, storyteller, poet, and an appreciator of fine art. Cullin appears to be exploring his own possibilities and creatively expanding his style. However, without doubt in any format he is a keen observer of life, whether that life is a cat's, or a cactus, or a complex set of wants and needs.

This, Cullin's fourth novel, seems to pick up where WHOMPYJAWED, his satisfying first, left off. Willie, the hobbledehoy of the first, manifests as Nick in the fourth. Since Cullin's second book, BRANCHES, aggravated next by TIDELAND, an anxious anticipation accompanies my reading of his fiction, whether COSMOLOGY's plot situations call for it or not. Cullin creates a worrying, subtle suspense. Questions arise from the reading.

Some answers appear,then vanish, like the eerie lights of Marfa,Texas. Cullin does not disappoint, and he doesn't make excuses for his characters' foibles, no more than those mystery lights disappoint, or can be explained away. Just why did Bing's grandmother bite him? Pittances of cash for effort and petty exchanges of self between Susan and Bing are annoyingly funny and believable. The importance of meaningful work,the interdependence of friends and lovers, students and teacher, the essentials of trust in give and take -- these issues are the woof and warp of the novel. All are deftly woven into whole cloth.

THE COSMOLOGY . . . is tender, sly, and amusing in ways that readers of Larson's "The Far Side" cartoons can appreciate. No football. No boy in a not-so-abandoned well. No Barbie doll heads, or human taxidermy. A bit more grope and grizzle than I generally choose for pleasure reading. (No denying humans being human.) With Cullin one must un-expect the expected. Nothing he writes is merely gratuitous. Cullin's contract with readers is a contract of beneficence.

Rating:
Summary: A Rare and Great Read
Review: Cosmology of Bing is a brilliant and fascinating read with compelling perspectives on the lives of students and faculty at a top private university, covering both their separate and intertwined worlds. There are rare, compelling, revealing and often painful perspectives on life and realities. There is Professor Bing Owen and his once beautiful wife, a brilliant poet struck prematurely with tragic health, and Nick Sulpy, a student Bing loves, and Nick's roommate Takashi. The book has wonderful characters and is spun through a yarn with fascinating metaphors on the realities of life on this earth and the vast universe beyond. Cullin's book is not what one always reads about universities, but is a rare insight into what literally occurs on campuses. I bought it via the NYT review, and found the super assessment to be be monumentally valid.

Rating:
Summary: Tale of Unrequited Lust
Review: Cullin's "Cosmology of Bing" is quick read. It is filled with insight on how unrequited longing cripples happiness. The silent character of the novel, Susan, sits like the Greek chorus, observing events and making comment via her poetry, which is quite beautiful and good. The mixing of the two forms, poetry and fiction, is a major accomplishment of this smart novel. The subplot of Nick's adventures in college with the gang of pie throwers who attack the Christian right with cream pies is marvelous diversion. Bing Owen comes across as the bisexual counterpart of George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe," an emotionally stunted alcoholic aging professor who has substituted outward propriety to mask inward anger and longings. Where the novel is weak for me is that Bing is so humanly flawed that he's not likeable. Nick's naieve association with the professor reads well, and is counterpointed by Nick's relationship with his soulmate/roommate Takashi. Cullin has created a wonderful tale, a bit on the dark side, that explores the inner emotional landscape, and keeps it fun with the surrounding events of college pranks. This is a very good book; one you won't want to miss.