It Happened in Boston? by Russell H. Greenan (1968)

A brilliant if anachronistic artist begins to lose touch with this reality and determines to confront God.

Book Review: It Happened in Boston? embodies the beauty and necessity of used-book shops. This is the kind of book that will never make the best seller lists, will not stay long in print even when revived as here, but when accidentally discovered on a dusty shelf will make someone's day and may change their life. Originally published in 1968, this edition is part of the Modern Library's 20th Century Rediscovery series, with an introduction by novelist Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn). He calls it a "magic spell of a book," among other gushing, and how right he is. At times I forgot I was reading a book, and felt I was in Boston with the characters, standing in a room, watching and listening to them talk. It sucked me in, took over my mind, bewitching. The plot is not the main point here. A struggling artist, a troubled marriage, friends with troubles, odd characters, betrayal, murder, art and more art, even more art, a troubled mind, and a need to confront God ("now I would like to ask Him some questions"). The artist goes through his daily routine, persecuted by pigeons, doubting his sanity ("well, maybe I am hopelessly mad"), wondering if others are mad, while entering other times and places. Betrayed, exploited, he stops painting, and becomes obsessed with getting to the bottom, or the Top, of all of life. Of course, "whom the gods would destroy, they first ... ." There is humor in It Happened in Boston? There's dark comedy, along with alternate realities and only a tenuous connection to this reality, but also human warmth and friendship. This is a lost masterpiece; Lethem calls It Happened in Boston? "a little masterpiece on the subject of the world's neglect of masterpieces!" If you're willing to enter the mind of madman, and go on a journey unlike any other, read this singular work, this unique and unusual book. Oddly, the only other novel I could even think of comparing it with is another unknown book like no other, also published in 1968, titled The Universal Baseball Association by Robert Coover. Both are sui generis and address God, reality, and its tangents. Check your library, scour used-book shops, do what you have to for this reading experience like no other. [5 Stars].