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Giants have all the fun. And AWESOME, the titular narrator of Pendarvis’s first novel, is no exception. The giant savant’s breath stirs normal humans to unprecedented orgasms; he has a kinship with whales; he can cross the country on foot in one night; and, being a giant with an extraordinary male member, “ejaculatory release” is required 12 times a day. He even looks fantastic in his derby hat.

AWESOME aims his considerable love at his dear neighbour, Glorious Jones. She refuses him until he completes five Herculean tasks that range from tackling the meaning of life to tackling maracas. Spanning decades and continents, and with only the help of his sidekick “Jimmy, my robot ward,” the giant must prove his love to Glorious Jones before she dies of old age. And he must find his derby.

This quest may be the only thing resembling a plot. Pendarvis, a Pushcart Prize winner who has published two collections of short stories, isn’t bothered by literary convention. He dismisses whatever presumptions a reader has about the novel as a form. And his approach is as interesting as what Pendarvis will come up with next: AWESOME gets massaged by a truckload of butter substitute and a street sweeper; he befriends a hippie throat slasher; Homeland Security agents play a crucial role in regulating his anger; he zings pop culture, literature and publishing with snarky wit. “Identity has been in flux since about 1946, as nearly everyone who has published a book with a university press agrees,” the giant says.

Reading the book is like discovering the story along with Pendarvis, who says he cut AWESOME down to a trim 200 pages. Its brevity and absurdity read like an original and oddly suspenseful folktale. As for literary giants, AWESOME would kick Paul Bunyan’s ass. Robert Duffer