Firmin
Poor Firmin, he never caught a break. The thirteenth child to a mother with only 12 tits, Firmin from a young age had to rely on his head more the average rat, and supplements his meager share of food with shredded and masticated pages of 'Finnegan's Wake'.
Born in the basement of a bookstore, he soon expands his literary appetite to other fare, and somehow absorbs the ability to read.
A tragic outsider figure, to none moreso than himself, Firmin is caught up in a world of books, and in the "Lovelies" he sees in the films playing in the seedy movie house.
I liked this book ,and Boston's Scollay Square, and it's imminent demolition was the perfect setting for the story. I've grown to like the modernist/brutalist/whatever architecture of the current Government Center but I think it came at too high a cost.
Funny, bleak, insightful, and inventive, Sam Savage has created a brilliant character in Firmin and hope to find something new from him in my own Pembroke Books soon.
