Born Slippy

Tom Lutz’s Born Slippy is the story of an amoral manipulator and  the kind-hearted workingman who probably comes closest to being his friend.

Frank Baltimore is a handyman in rural New England, in the particularly depressed and depressing areas where the mills have left, but nothing much has taken their place. Teenage Dmitry, the nephew of some friends, ends up with a summer job “working” for Frank, despite being an unskilled builder and a truly apathetic worker.

Dmitry is constantly testing boundaries, cheerfully self-serving in every way. The book blurb describes Dmitry as a “charming sociopath” and, over the years, he stops seeming like a hedonistic child and more like a cleverly calculating personification of greed. This makes for a fascinating read, especially as good-natured, often plodding Frank is such an odd confidant for Dmitry. Frank begins the book somehow supporting an ex-girlfriend’s children from a previous relationship, and somehow accepting the worst ends of work deals. And when things improve for him, the novel seems to ask us how much of his later successes are due to Dmitry’s habits rubbing off on him? How much greed and manipulation are just part of life and capitalism?

After honing his manipulation and money-making skills, Dmitry lands in Asia, in the financial expat circles, where the standards for decency are even lower. Here, he really lets his greed for money, women, and power run free, and it’s impossible to look away from this absolute madness.

I enjoyed the travelogue a great deal. There are a few standout descriptions, one of Turner’s Falls, MA, another of traveling through Damshui, Taiwan, and a short bit about seeing LA sunshine after living in New England, that were really spot-on, amazing depictions. But I found many of the minor characters and most of the women slightly flat. The scenes with expat finance bros, trophy taitai or disaffected Massholes were perfectly fine, but there’s a liveliness in Frank and Dmitry that just isn’t found in any of the secondary characters.

I don’t want to reveal too much, because seeing exactly how Frank and Dmitry develop is the real enjoyment in this book, but there were a few moments where I was both mentally screaming at Frank not to go forth and be an idiot, and also fully knowing that he was going to be a well-meaning chump, again and again.

Most of the secondary characters question their friendship, explicitly asking or just quietly wondering what Frank sees in Dmitry. That’s really the core of the novel. At times, Frank enjoys seeing himself as a Dmitry’s teacher or moral compass, but could that be the only thing that draws and holds them together? Does Dmitry get something out of telling his wild stories to a working stiff?  Does he somehow enjoy his excess more in telling Frank about it? What makes this sociopath character tick?