Heart of Junk

Starred review from October 28, 2019
Geddes’s rambunctious, oddly touching debut homes in on the denizens of a massive Kansas antique mall. The small-scale purveyors of what the less sensitive would call junk are pinning their hopes on the arrival of the production crew for the TV show Pickin’ Fortunes. Unfortunately, the hosts of the show are leery to come to a town where a little girl, beauty pageant star Lindy Bobo, has disappeared, possibly kidnapped. So mall owner Keith, on the brink of bankruptcy, enlists the rest of the troupe to find her, unaware that one of his sellers knows more than he’s saying about Lindy’s whereabouts. Geddes assembles an irresistible cast of self-deluded characters. This includes uptight Margaret, a stickler for the rules and desperate to repress her attraction to a fellow seller; hapless Ronald, too friendly for his own good; high-strung Delores, “dizzied by all the voices” of the Barbies who keep her company; and Seymour, a big-city vinyl album aficionado hauled to the sticks by his partner Lee. Geddes walks an edgy tightrope with some of the material, particularly the Lindy story, but his antic comic touch saves the novel from sinking into darkness, and he offers even his most misguided characters the opportunity to bumble towards redemption. This one’s a quirky treat for fans of flyover state humor.

November 15, 2019
A collection of wonderfully warped characters is on display in this dark, entertaining comedy. At the Heart of America, the largest year-round antiques mall in Kansas, the tacky postcards, decorative sugar bowls, and vinyl copies of Whipped Cream & Other Delights might be in fine condition, but the dealers are all slightly damaged, or worse. There's uptight and very white Margaret, who disdainfully judges new dealers by their stock ("There were artifacts and then there were knickknacks. There were knickknacks and then there was junk"). Delores, whose Barbies are wayyyyy closer to her than anybody realizes. Desperately hopeful mall owner Keith, who's struggling with his eBay-addicted wife, Stacey, and hilariously bitter college-age daughter, Ellie. Seymour and Lee, whose relationship might not survive their recent move from Cambridge, Massachusetts. And Ronald, the awkward widower who's got something extremely unusual hidden in storage. These eccentric losers may not always be likable, but they are delightfully readable. Geddes (I Am a Magical Teenage Princess, 2012) dissects their obsessions while acerbically, and knowingly, eviscerating collectors in general and Wichita in particular. ("In truth, Seymour felt more a victim of discrimination here as someone who preferred to walk or take public transportation than as a gay man. Which was not to say he and Lee didn't get ugly looks on occasion. But he soon realized that here everyone got that look.") The barbs can be cruel, and things wrap up in a way that could generously be considered perfunctory. By that point, fans of snarky, bizarre humor will have laughed enough that most won't complain. Readers who've gasped at a record-bin discovery or elbowed someone out of the way at an estate sale will enjoy this find.

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January 17, 2020

DEBUT The Heart of America Antique Mall in Wichita, KS, is on the verge of bankruptcy. Its last hope is the imminent visit of Mark and Grant, hosts of the reality antiques TV show Pickin' Fortunes. However, the recent disappearance of local child beauty pageant star Lindy Bobo threatens to overshadow the planned filming. The mall's co-owner, Keith Stoller, desperate for coverage, joins the search for Lindy spearheaded by mall vendor Veronica Samples. But Heart of America and the case of the missing contestant are more entwined than anyone realizes. Geddes's debut novel (after short-story collection I Am a Magical Teenage Princess) goes behind the scenes of the retail antique/collectible business. Unfortunately, it isn't a very favorable look. VERDICT Readers hoping for a Carl Hiaasen-esque view of the antiquing world will be disappointed. The characters are drawn with too heavy a hand; most of them are borderline hoarders who are more interested in their stuff than they are in forming or maintaining basic human connections.--Elisabeth Clark, West Florida P.L., Pensacola

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2019
Wichita's Heart of America Antique Mall isn't doing well. Customers are few, booths are empty, bankruptcy looms, and an MC Hammer doll makes its way to Memory Lane, an area reserved for earlier finery. The mall's last hope is a visit from Pickin' Fortunes TV hosts Mark and Grant, who have tentatively cancelled their visit until missing child pageant queen Lindy Bobo is found. The vendors join the search effort in hopes of saving both the girl and their own livelihoods. Geddes (I Am a Magical Teenage Princess, 2012) has successfully woven a slightly dark comic mystery into the heart of a novel comprised of extended third-person character sketches. A middle-aged man grapples with whether to continue collecting vintage records. The teenage daughter of the mall's proprietor stews over being stuck in Wichita. Margaret, the mall's senior-most vendor, is haunted by that MC Hammer doll. Their lives intertwine as they search for Lindy in the city, and for themselves in their obsessions. The writing here is hilarious and poignant, inviting belly laughs and thoughtful, genuinely moving introspection on how what we collect comes to define us.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)