Winkie: A

Winkie is a book that can be taken as and/or all of the following: spiritual sequel to The Velveteen Rabbit, prose poem, satire, memoir, utter nonsense. Clifford Chase's debut novel is about a teddy bear that eats, thinks, and poops. After years of neglect the teddy bear, Winkie, jumps off of his shelf and goes to the forest where he is eventually mis-identified as a terrorist. To call this book "the book about the teddy bear who is accused of terrorism" is to miss the point almost completely, it's a lyrical meditation on the nature of memory and love but it's also more. To say nothing of Chase's prose which is both cold and poetic, the characters ranging from a philosopher-spouting "Baby Winkie" to a stuttering and sarcastic defense attorney who communicates with his client almost entirely in half-poetic nonsense to a Muslim cleaning lady are brilliantly realized creations. Winkie himself/herself (p.s. Winkie is a girl as well...the plot really isn't the point) is probably one of the most endearing protagonists of the past few years. The courtroom scenes of Winkie's trial are so wildly satirical (after the prosecution has presented its case -which include "witnessess" from the trials of Socrates, Oscar Wilde, and the witches of Salem - they move to end the trial. A motion that is scarily close to things we hear on the news today) that it comes on alittle too strongly but the interwoven scenes of Winkie's previous life break things up a bit. Winkie is not for everyone, Winkie is very flawed, Winkie is crazily surreal, Winkie is by far one of the most ambitious books of the year, and Winkie is very dificult to describe and categorize but it is also scathingly intelligent and hilarious. Amidst everything that Winkie is, it manages to become absolutely one thing most definitely: a masterpiece.