Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick DeWitt

 

Sigh. The best thing about this book is the title, really. It promises wordplay and fun and this novel doesn't really have much of either of those, past the occasional well-turned humorous phrase. I guess there's something kinda like progression, the main character working out that if he doesn't want to be bored he needs to be interesting; but he never really makes it there in the text, and much of what happens in the story comes off mostly as incident, and it's too localized with too many fixed characters to really be picaresque even if it's at least arguably kaleidoscopic. It's plausible there's some gesturing at social inequality intended here, but the weird vagueness of the setting--something not quite like the real world, but nothing remotely like magic--just means any intention comes off as muddled and maybe misdirected. Not bad enough to put down, not good enough to really enjoy.