The Combover by Adrián N. Bravi

The Combover Reviews

• 
  Aaron (Typographical Era)

  Arduino Gherarducci, university professor of bibliographic data exchange formats (formats developed to help reduce duplication of effort when transferring bibliographic information between libraries) believes that “every man in the world has a bald patch hidden within him.” That’s quite easy to proclaim when you descend from a family with a long and storied tradition of male patterned baldness, one that chooses the combover as the only respectable way to combat the flaw, and views anyone who chooses to shave their head instead as a clear “sign of our declining society.” The rest of the world at large however, might view this train of thought as being quite odd and this behavior of clinging to a long deceased tradition of grooming as rather off-putting.
  
  The “problems” start for Gherarducci as a thirteen-year old, when watching his brother Manuele revel in torturing their father by mussing up his perfectly executed combover time and again, he comes to the realization that he hopes “to become bald as quickly as possible.” He doesn’t have to wait long for this dream to come true. Returning from his military service a few short years later, his mother notices his that his hair is starting to fall out and urges him to visit a doctor. He steadfastly refuses because he wants to “cover what nature was taking away, to decorate the void, to emphasize it by the very act of covering it.”
  
  READ MORE:
  
  http://www.typographicalera.com/combo...
• 
  David Jones

  Bravi seduces the reader into a madcap adventure exploring legacy and vanity. The Combover is beyond addictive, with a like-able and overly-flawed hero launching a desperate escape from the voice of modern (and sensible) fashion. Bravo for Bravi!
• 
  M

  
  The Combover deals with a bald spot. Our hero goes to great lengths to cover the spot without resorting to a toupee. This is a family tradition. After an agonizing expose in a classroom (he's a professor in Italy) he decides to run away to Lapland. He gets on the wrong bus and ends up trying to be a hermit in the hills of Italy. I was briefly reminded of a Monty Python sketch about hermits organizing themselves into bridge clubs, but this takes a different track, though one also lacking the longed for seclusion. A delightful story.