Everyone has his or her obsessions. I like pecans.
Jake Waters is the main character in Out of Patience. He wants to get out of Patience, Kansas as soon as possible. His father, Jim Waters, collects . . . well, he collects toilet plungers. Actually, the plungers are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. J. Waters, who is of course a plumber, also collects other various and sundry toilet and plumbing paraphernalia, utensils, equipment, and accoutrements. He doesn’t collect all this stuff for business purposes either; he’s planning to build the ATM, American Toilet Museum. Yes, the father in this quirky novel is “a half-bubble off plumb.”
Actually, the entire story is about a half-bubble off plumb, or as I like to say, downright quirky. Examples. You want examples?
Jake’s Pakistani friend Cricket is working on a summer project called “Kansas: 100 Freaky and Fascinating Facts.” For example, in 1908, the Kansas legislature passed a law against eating snakes in public.
The biggest and only business in Patience is Knight Soil and Fertilizer which produces fertilizers with the names such as “Dung Shui” and “Pie-Agri”.
In addition to fertilizer, Patience has a curse, the the Cass Curse of the Plunger of Destiny.
Patience also boasts in its history the first flush toilet west of the Mississippi: an original Dolphin Deluge Washdown Water Closet installed by Jeremiah Waters in 1876 at the request of his wife Regina.
So . . . yeah. If you’re intrigued, read Out of Patience. If you’re mildly amused, you might still want to pick up a copy. It’s potty humor, but it’s not really too tasteless. If you’re appalled already by the examples above of quirky humor, don’t bother.
I looked up author Brian Meehl and found out that he’s actually Barkley the Muppet dog from Sesame Street. That explains everything, I think.
He also shares this interesting fact in his bio:
BEST PIECE OF TOILET TRIVIA I COULDN’T WORK INTO OUT OF PATIENCE: My great-great-grandfather was a justice of the peace in Missouri in the late 1800s. After administering marital vows to a pair of newlyweds, he had a special way of reminding them of the domestic life they were about to share. He asked them to toast their marriage by drinking from a chamber pot filled with beer and a German sausage.
You’ll either love Out of Patience< or hate it. Me? I haven’t decided yet.
This book is another of those nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.
Your great-great-grandfather’s ritual is very similar to that many practiced all over the world across many diverse cultures. It sometimes shows up today in the Western World in the form of a BabyRuth bar dropped in Champagne.
I know that a number of anthropologists have written on this practice. But, as far as I know, it is still very much a mystery.
Not MY great-great anything. Maybe the JP was Barkley the Dog’s great-great?
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i loved this book i had to do us a book report and i couldnt have picked a better book!
It’s a quirky but very funny book. See my review of August 25, 2008, over at Booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com for a bit more on Meehl’s impressive first novel.
I’m readong Out of Patiance and I absoluly LOVE!!! It so far I can’t wate to read the rest 😮 :-0 :-0 🙂 🙂 :-)!!!!!!!!!!!
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