Brat

Smith blends autofiction and absurdity in his provocative if underwhelming first novel, which follows a 20-something writer named Gabriel who’s tasked by his mother with clearing out his childhood home and putting it up for sale after his father’s death. Life is already tough for Gabriel. He’s having trouble writing, and is heartbroken after a split from his girlfriend, also a writer, whose work is gaining popularity on the internet. Moreover, the top layer of Gabriel’s skin has been peeling off for some unknown reason. Others believe it’s only eczema, but he’s not convinced (“It looked like a glove of myself”), and he copes by drifting through his days on Xanax. His father was a writer, and after finding manuscripts written by his mother, who lives in a nursing home, Gabriel learns she was one, too. Every time he picks up his mother’s manuscripts, they seem to change. And not only that­—the characters in his mother’s stories come to life and warn him not to sell the house. Unfortunately, the intriguing plot is undercut by pedestrian prose (“I went out of my father’s study and took half of one of the pink Xanax bars and lay down on the sofa and waited for my thoughts to turn off”). This doesn’t quite match the scale of its ambition. Agent: Kristi Murray, Wylie Agency. (June)