Two readers offer their perspective on the new novel by XU’s Dr. Conner Bassett

Gad’s Book is a Sad Book

By Kyra Hudson, Staff Writer

Gad’s Book, written and published by Xavier’s own Dr. Conner Dylan Bassett, details the occurrences of a nameless narrator who is an aspiring author and encounters an eclectic group of passionate yet performative activists while living in modern-day Berkeley, California. 

Having access to the narrator’s constant inner thoughts and feelings when interacting with his aggressively confident and ambitious friends, Bassett carefully captures the nuance of the human experience and the awkwardness that accompanies constantly being stuck in our own heads. 

Additionally, he highlights the reality that many people never attempt to better themselves or hold themselves accountable for the mistakes they make through the character’s actions in this book. However, my suspicion with this novel is that there is no real purpose, lesson to be learned, or general statement that Bassett is trying to convey to his readers. 

I had the opportunity to meet with Bassett to ask him about what he wanted his audience to gain from reading his novel, to which he responded, “I want them to have an experience.” This was not a great experience.

While Gad’s Book fits the qualities of the absurdist fiction genre, I found the intolerable characters, their pointless journeys and an overall lack of narrative direction throughout the entire book to be more unfortunate rather than an interesting experimental choice. 

There are people who do enjoy this genre of novels. I am not one of them. I like narrative direction with my books, but to each their own. 

Gad Cooks in Gad’s Book

By Marty Dubecky, Multimedia Managing Editor

Sex. Poop. Antifa. California. Bassett’s debut novel Gad’s Book covers it all, and I didn’t enjoy reading any of it. It wasn’t the cozy, autumn book I was looking for, but it wasn’t supposed to be a peaceful and enjoyable book. Gad’s Book paints a scathing satire about a young person’s life in the modern world — particularly the Bay Area. 

Good satire is supposed to make you feel uneasy. It is supposed to depict an uncanny portrait filled with anxiety. Reading Gad’s Book was like one big panic attack. The book wasn’t a fun read because it wasn’t meant to be. 

Of course, this isn’t the kind of book everyone wants to read all the time, but it is one of those books that is important to read at some point, and Bassett helps the reader out with his prose and style.

While reading like a panic attack, the novel is also like a never-ending punch to the face. Bassett uses quick, punchy sentences to drive home his continual satire. Bassett’s unique voice and narration make Gad’s Book challenging but continually interesting and immersive. If you haven’t been to the Bay Area before reading, you will feel as if you have after you’re done. 

As always with satire, sometimes the messages and views from the author can become muddled. Many readers might come away from the novel convinced they don’t like the main character or Bassett himself. But satires and novels aren’t always supposed to be clear, concise or agreeable. Gad’s Book will challenge you because a good read is supposed to bring up hard emotions. Gad’s Book does exactly that.