Jonathan Evison’s debut novel is sure to make readers vastly uncomfortable in all the best ways. All About Lulu focuses on William Miller, a Jello and mashed potato-eating vegetarian who lives among a family of bodybuilders. Shortly after William’s mother dies, his father marries a grief counselor, and she and her daughter Lulu move in with the Millers. William is smitten with his stepsister, and the two create a connection that most lovers would be envious of. William, however, slowly becomes obsessed with Lulu, filling countless notebooks with depictions of the conversations the two have had and humping her pillow when Lulu is at cheerleading camp. She returns from camp and immediately begins acting strange around William, which only quickens his desire for her. It also forces him to grow in ways that don’t involve Lulu.

While, sadly, the novel falls into some cliched territory (awkward boy meets erratic girl, girl’s craziness forces boy to come out of his shell), it is gorgeous on the sentence level. Evison invokes so much passion and humor into Miller that nearly every scene is touching. At one point, William and his father “Big Bill” connect as William has to oil up his father before a bodybuilding competition. He also has to watch his father falter and lose the muscle mass he treasured so deeply. Scenes where William tries to date women who aren’t Lulu are just devastating, and it’s heartbreaking to watch him wish these girls were his sister.

Evison is also careful in how he builds his characters. Even though he disagrees with the bodybuilding mantra, William has had “no pain, no gain” drilled into his head so much that he feels he has to follow Lulu and that finally owning her heart will be worth all the struggle. His brothers have to hide the fact that they’re not really into bodybuiding, but do it because it makes his father happy. Big Bill is an ex-hippie, and the dictotomy between pumping iron and wanting to play quiet acoustic guitar is just staggering. Lulu, however, remains the only character that I don’t completely buy. She’s constantly painted as tortured and troubled, but she seems to me like most teenagers and young women trying to find their way. What confused girl doesn’t drink too much and act irrationally when she’s done coke? Who won’t try Prozac to try to calm her nerves? If anything, she doesn’t know how to handle her stepbrother’s affection for her, and she has to deal with the fact that she might have feelings in return. Of course, that’s quite a struggle, but it doesn’t seem as severe as the rest of the characters treat it. To be fair, the close of the novel sheds light on that struggle, and Lulu finally suffers an intense breakdown. But until that point, I just couldn’t see it. Hopefully that’s not just some twisted part of me.

But largely, Evison’s novel is lovely. It’s difficult to deal with the complex emotions All About Lulu brings up, but it’s also quite pleasant to do so.

Say hi to Jonathan Evison. He likes bunnies!
Buy All About Lulu from Soft Skull Press.