I have seen comedian Steven Wright perform at least three times in person. His wry, deadpan humor and astute observations always crack me up. Since this is his first novel, I knew it would have to be unique. Unusual. Thought-provoking. Funny, in some places, at least. Silly, in even more. This novel is all of these.

The main character here is Harold. He is 7 years old and is in the third grade. (But don't be deceived: this IS a novel for adults.) Harold is immersed in his imagination. His explanation for his pinball thought process is clear:

"This is how Harold saw what was happening inside his head. He felt the way his mind worked was that there were thousands and thousands and thousands of tiny birds in his head and each bird represented a single thought. There was also a little very very small rectangle in the middle of his brain. Like an empty window frame or an empty picture frame. The birds were much smaller than the frame. They were flying all around randomly in his mind which was like an indoor sky. When one of these birds flew through the rectangle whatever thought that bird represented that's what Harold would think about. That's why it seemed like he would jump from subject to subject. It was because of the birds and the rectangle." (pp. 11-12)

(Is this an autobiographical novel? Does Steven Wright think this way? Could be.)

These birds and various topics fly through Harold's mind while he sits in a third grade classroom, under the watchful eyes of Ms. Yuka. His daydreams include wondering about his classmate Elizabeth, whom he has a crush on. Harold also launches into a longer, more detailed series of dreams in which he has landed on the moon. He discovers all kinds of landscapes, buildings and people there. In every moment, he wonders about everything. He questions everything. He also remembers good conversations and good times spent with his wise grandfather in Maine. Every so often, his focus returns to the classroom, Ms. Yuka and his classmates.

I don't often read such stream-of-consciousness books. Is that what this is? Where reality can bend like a Salvador Dali timepiece? Two other books in this "genre" that I read and liked, long ago, were Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America and John Lennon's In His Own Write. If you read and liked them, you will probably like Harold. If you like Wright's stand-up observations, then you will recognize examples of it here. And you will hear his voice coming off the printed page.

Only those readers with an open mind, a yearning for simple and/or silly philosophy, and a quirky sense of humor should pick up Harold. The rest of you can go along your less-than-merry ways.