Author | Sean Penn |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Novel Political satire |
Published | 2018 (Atria Books) |
Pages | 176 |
ISBN | 978-1-5011-8906-7 |
Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff is a 2018 American satirical novel written by Sean Penn. [1] Narrated from the point of view of Pappy Pariah, the book tells the story of Bob Honey, a supposed international assassin who kills elderly people with a mallet. Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, published the novel on March 27, 2018. [2]
In several interviews, Penn said that he was inspired to write the novel in response to current political movements, including the Parkland shooting survivors working to change gun laws. [3] Although readers can draw connections to modern events and figures, Penn claims that the book is about morality and modern American culture. [4]
With no formal plot, it is not entirely clear if Honey's life story, recounted through Pariah, is supposed to be true or a figment of Honey's delusional mind. [5] [6] Honey lives in a quiet street in Woodview, California. Since his divorce, he has a hard time connecting with other people and annoys his neighbors with his lawn mowing. Honey complains of the incessant marketing of modern society and never-ending news cycles. His ex-wife, who drives an ice-cream truck around his neighborhood, is now happily married to her divorce lawyer. Honey now longs for a young woman named Annie; when describing her, he says, "Effervescence lived in her every cellular expression, and she had spizzerinctum to spare." [5]
Honey is a former septic tank salesman who becomes an assassin. [7] He tries to be more social, throwing a barbecue for his neighbors. His job as a contract killer for a secretive government program takes him around the world. The off-the-books government program instructs him to target elderly citizens and others who drain resources in a consumption-driven society. His adventures include a trip to New Orleans to help Katrina victims. He travels to Baghdad, Beirut, South Sudan, and other locations for sewage emergencies. Honey also submerges himself into the Pacific Ocean in a quest to find sea life. An investigative journalist starts asking questions about him, causing Honey to start making changes in his life. He is threatened by an ever-invasive media and possible assassination attempts from his mysterious controllers. [8]
The book includes an epilogue featuring a poem that touches on current events — the Las Vegas mass shooting, North Korea, Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and the #MeToo movement. [9] Honey also writes a threatening letter to the US President "Mr. Landlord" in which he advocates for the President's assassination. [10] He declares, "You are not simply a president in need of impeachment, you are a man in need of an intervention. We are not simply a people in need of an intervention, we are a nation in need of an assassin [...] Tweet me bitch, I dare you." [11] [12] The lengthy epilogue poem ends with Honey killing the investigative journalist with his mallet and running away to parts unknown.
A portion of the novel was first published as a free Audible book, listing Pappy Pariah as the author and Penn as just the narrator of the audio book. [6] [14] Initially, Penn denied being the author of the book, insisting instead that it was written by an author he had met in a bar in Key West, Florida. [15]
In press junkets to promote the novel's release, Penn has stated his wish to quit acting and become a full-time novelist. [16]
Bob Honey was met with generally negative reviews, with several critics decrying the writer's undisciplined style. [17] Mark Athitakis writing for The Washington Post was critical of the book, observing that the satire was not humorous and the writing incoherent with overuse of alliteration. [18] Writing for the National Review , Jonah Goldberg had not yet read the book but commented on excerpts, characterizing the formulaic prose as "4 parts alliteration, 1 part wry masturbation references." [19] Goldberg's comments were based on a review and quotes provided by Claire Fallon of the Huffington Post , who herself was highly critical of the book, going so far as to announce that "Sean Penn The Novelist Must Be Stopped". [20] It was featured in Michael J. Nelson and Conor Lastowka's podcast series 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back , a program which analyzes literature they deem to be of poor quality. On Cracked.com, Mark Hill called it "the worst novel in human history," observing that "Penn writes like he's looked up every single word in his thesaurus except 'dictionary'." [21] The novel was also criticized for racist and misogynistic content. [22] In The Guardian , Sian Cain called Bob Honey "repellent and stupid on so many levels." [23]
Penn has defended portions of the book concerning the presidency of Donald Trump and the Me Too movement as being "taken out of context", remarking, "I think, we're in a sad state where fiction is attributed to opinion ... where fiction can't be just read as it is." [24] Several media sources have interpreted "Mr. Landlord" as an obvious [25] allegorical reference to Donald Trump. [26] [27] [28] According to the BBC News, "Critics were keen to pick up on Mr Landlord, a character that could be a thinly veiled dig at Donald Trump. He is described as a 'violently immature 70-year-old boy-man with money and French vanilla cotton candy hair'." [29]
Novelist Salman Rushdie praised the novel, saying "It seems wrong to say that so dystopian a novel is great fun to read [...] I suspect that Thomas Pynchon and Hunter S. Thompson would love this book." [30] Travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux also came out in favor of the book, calling it "Comic, cauchemaresque, crackling with life [...] Bob Honey is a hero of our Trumpian times reflected in the cracked mirror of Penn's prose. I loved that it defied the critics who are, as always like eunuchs in a harem observing the creative act but unable to do the same." [30]
Trevor Noah, on Comedy Central's The Daily Show , described the book as "a strange story that seems like a metaphor for real life." [31] Penn told Marc Maron in his podcast, WTF , that the novel Bob Honey was a way for him to combat the negativity and societal burnout he had been dealing with. "It was an exercise in avoiding defeat," he told Maron. "It's kind of 'operating world humor,' because I felt like a surgeon whose patient was inevitably going to die every day. And I thought, let me go practice this in an alternate reality form which got me away from the news for a while." [3]
The Pearl Jam song "Never Destination," written by longtime Penn friend Eddie Vedder, on the 2020 album Gigaton mentions Bob Honey in the lyrics: "Thank you Bob Honey. Thanks Paul Theroux. If ever I die, to this place let me go."
A sequel [32] was released on September 10, 2019, with the title Bob Honey Sings Jimmy Crack Corn, published by Rare Bird Books, [33] as it directly continues off the events of the first novel, seeing Bob Honey, hunted by the authorities, head to Washington, D.C. to directly confront the Landlord. [34]
Sean Justin Penn is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).
Bret Easton Ellis is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a writer, is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. His novels commonly share recurring characters.
Dennis Mark Prager is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show The Dennis Prager Show. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five-minute videos from an American conservative perspective.
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist. He started working for The Washington Post as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor.
Sean Patrick Hannity is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentary program, Hannity, on Fox News, since 2009.
Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured in numerous stage and television shows, such as Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and is currently headlining in Las Vegas at The Rio. Jillette serves as the act's orator and raconteur.
Kalpen Suresh Modi, known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portraying Lawrence Kutner on the television program House, as well as White House staffer Seth Wright on Designated Survivor and Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series. He is also recognized for his performance in the film The Namesake. Penn has taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the Cinema Studies Program as a visiting lecturer.
Christopher Shannon Penn was an American actor. He was the brother of actor Sean Penn and musician Michael Penn. Noted as a skilled character actor from a prominent acting dynasty, he was typically cast as a tough character, featured as a villain or a working-class thug, or in a comic role and was known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, The Funeral, Footloose, Rush Hour, Corky Romano, True Romance, Beethoven's 2nd, Short Cuts, The Boys Club, All the Right Moves, At Close Range, Pale Rider, and Starsky & Hutch. During his career Penn had won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his performance in The Funeral. He also provided the voice of the corrupt, ruthless cop Edward "Eddie" Pulaski in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 American drama film directed by Niels Mueller and starring Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Jack Thompson and Naomi Watts. It is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. The last name of the main character was changed to Bicke.
Andrew Sean Greer is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Less. He is the author of The Story of a Marriage, which The New York Times has called an “inspired, lyrical novel,” and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named one of the best books of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and received a California Book Award.
Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels, accompanying short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide, translated into 34 languages. She was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003.
Bob Fingerman is an American comic book writer/artist born in Queens, New York, who is best known for his comic series Minimum Wage.
Shadow Moon is a fantasy novel written by Chris Claremont and George Lucas. Published in 1995, it was the continuation of the 1988 motion picture Willow. This is the first book of the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, followed by Shadow Dawn and Shadow Star.
Donald Trump, President of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has attracted considerable media attention during his career as a celebrity personality, businessman, and politician. He has been portrayed and appeared in popular culture since the 1980s, including several cameo appearances on film and television.
Damon Dran is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Primarily an enemy of Black Widow and Daredevil, the character exists within Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Gene Colan, the character first appeared in Daredevil #92.
The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains is a 1987 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann and written by Michael Campus. The film stars Val Kilmer, Charles Durning, Sônia Braga, Kyra Sedgwick, James Keach, Elisha Cook, Jr. and Clancy Brown. The film premiered on HBO on October 31, 1987.
Elijah Daniel is an American comedian, rapper, record producer, songwriter, and author. He became popular online through his satirical social media posts. Daniel began rapping under the name Lil Phag in late 2017.
Kayleigh McEnany is an American conservative political commentator and author who served the administration of Donald Trump as the 33rd White House press secretary from April 2020 to January 2021.
Before being elected President of the United States, Donald Trump had produced and hosted reality TV shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice from 2004 to 2015. He also made dozens of cameo appearances in films, television series, and advertisements since the 1980s. He has won the Worst Supporting Actor award at the 11th Golden Raspberry Awards for Ghosts Can't Do It in 1990. As well as awards for Worst Actor and Worst screen Combo at the 39th Golden Raspberry Awards for his roles in the documentary films Death of a Nation and Fahrenheit 11/9 in 2019.
The Beat with Ari Melber is an American news and politics program hosted by Ari Melber, who is the chief legal correspondent for the network MSNBC. It airs weekdays at 6 PM ET.