E Austin's EVERYONE in this ROOM WILL be DEAD-Craziness that Makes Sense

"Common sense is not so common." (Voltaire). Emily Austin's first novel takes us inside the restless and depressing mind of Gilda, a young woman, for a miraculously funny journey.  Gilda's a regular at the local emergency room where she knows something's not right with her and she's open to any suggestions they may have. The most helpful advice received comes from a friendly custodian who suggests she concentrates on making people in her life happy.  This wacky, frustrating and utterly addicting novel is like a box of candy, you don't know what you're going to get next but it's guaranteed to be nutty and deliciously awry.  We know Gilda is a gay atheist.  She struggles with depression, yet somehow manages to slip into a job as as a secretary for an elderly, Catholic Priest.  Gilda dreads the thought of anyone being sad, drawing attention to herself and consumed with notions of death.  The zany incongruence of sombre topics such as suicide and depression in a novel that is nevertheless clever and humorous is thanks to the ingenious characters and insights Austin provides.  Gilda is a Candide or Forest Gump character who floats with the flow thru life not wanting to ruffle feathers.  She differs from these fictional characters by the insight we perceive to her mind.  Her actions or comments appear disturbing to others around her but we understand she's responding out of a profound care for others.  Her irrational actions stem from rational reasoning.  While working at the Church she becomes obsessed with trying to solve for the possible murder of Grace, the elderly woman whom she replaced.  After being brought to the precinct for questioning as a suspect in Grace's death, she calls the people in her life and she offers apologies and hopes.  For Eleanore, Gilda's girlfriend she says,  "I just have to tell you how badly I feel about upsetting you.  I really feel terrible. I must be self-centered or something.  This might sound weird, but I can't face that I disappointed someone who brought me Thin Mints.  I know that sounds stupid.  Something is wrong with me.  I feel like I am a robot or something.  Does that make sense?  I can't concentrate.  I can't say this properly.  SometimesI feel like the only escape I have is becoming completely apathetic to everything or dying.  I just don't want to upset people.  I realize that's ironic because I upset you."  Gilda's message to her younger brother, "We are all just floating in space, okay?  Think about it, we're just ghosts inside skeletons, inside skin bags floating on a rock in space.  If there is anything that would make you feel happy to do, please do it."  The wisdom Gilda gleans for herself is the most valuable, "I have chosen happiness.  Out of all the emotions set out on the table, I have selected it.  It is by far the superior option.  It's insane to think I would have ever picked one of those shittier emotions before-when all the while, I could have chosen shiny, shimmering, iridescent happiness."  Everyone who chooses EVERYONE in this ROOM WILL be DEAD will come out ahead and glad they did.   

HYSTERICAL: A Memoir by Elissa Bassist-Not Funny, She Needs Psychiatric Help

Elissa Bassist believes herself outspoken and strong.  Bassist is dead wrong.  She's delusional in thinking every little malady is sure to cause a fatality.  The guise of a jocular tone falls flat.  It's not funny reading her chronic complaints, sane she ain't.  Elissa is in need of therapy and I she get's it.  If you buy her memoir, she'll be laughing all the way to the bank. 

A Emery's YOU MADE a FOOL of DEATH with YOUR BEAUTY-Phooey!

Akwaeke Emezi has received recognition for her previous fiction, Y/A and non-fiction as a NYT best-selling author and National Book Award finalist.  YOU MADE a FOOL of DEATH is a romance novel that fails to ignite sparks of passion as its soaked in sappy, insipid sentiment and silly salaciousness.  Feyi is the incredibly beautiful young widow who has put her emotions in the subzero fridge for five years after the tragic accident in which she and her beloved lock eyes just before the collision which kills her husband and leaves her egregiously scared emotionally and physically scarred, minimally.  The five years weren't completely celibate as we learn from best buddy banter with her lesbian roommate, Joy.  Oh boy, ready for more?  Their two year "romantic" fling was just a thing and they've settled into a full on, full disclosure of their sexual liaisons.  Actually, their friendship was the best thing going in this novel which is a will she or won't she sleep with the dad of the lad who brought her to the picturesque island. Feyi is ready to celebrate the end of her celibacy from men and celebrates on the bathroom sink with the delicious hunk she just met.  No strings attached Feyi makes a play for Nasir, a friend of her recent friend with benefits conquest.  Feyi's is a scoundrel and a tease.  Her justifications for finding herself back in the saddle just don't ride.   As an aspiring mixed media artist, Feyi dabblies in the macabre using blood soaked materials to drive home a point that continually kicks a dead horse without remorse.  There are added courses of sensual food and mother nature's bounty to wet one's appetite.   Amil, Nasir's dad, is a celebrity, Michelin chef who beckons Feyi to lick a frothy sauce from his fingertips.  Presto, he splays all the cutlery onto the floor and puts Feyi on top of the counter to ravish instead.  What's a grieving girl and widowed father of two to do?  Something stinks in paradise.   What dear old dad and Feyi are heedless about to do becomes muddled in anguished debate of what this will mean for Amil and his family.  Despite the tropical setting, artistic references, foodie feeding frenzy, you will not be fooled.  There are too many rank ingredients to obscure the wretched stench of a poorly cooked plot.  

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver-Orphaned Sage Amongst Serpents

Barbara Kingsolver is an America novelist, essayist, poet and non-fiction writer.  She's received nominations for a Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner Prize for fiction.  Her most recent novel, DEMON COPPERFIELD was written mirroring Dickens' novel DAVID COPPERFIELD.  Furthermore, I drew parallels with Twain's character Huck Finn.  All three heroes, Demon, David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn are orphaned young and left to fend for themselves amongst. They're free thinkers, able to maintain an irrepressible decency despite the omnipresence of vile and self-destructive people.  Demon perseveres through a saga of tribulations and grief, gratefully mitigated by the kindness and support received amidst constant turmoil.  This novel is set in modern times in the TN mountains and details the hellish fallout caused by pharmaceutical companies pushing opioids leaving a generation addicted to drugs.   Demon loses his mother and girlfriend to addiction and he too becomes addicted after being prescribed opioids after shattering his knees from football.  It's painful to follow Demon as he's shuffled from foster home to foster where he's starved and coerced to work ungodly jobs.  Demon is mostly starved for compassion.  His resilience and resourcefulness take him on a perilous journey where he manages to locate his grandmother he never met.  His grandmother unwittingly takes him in and he connects with his invalid, great uncle.  Not wanting a male relative, his grandmother places him in a foster home of the local high school's football coach who has a daughter, Angus, whom he befriends.  Living with Angus and coach finds temporary haven and with the attention of an art teacher who mentors Demon's drawing skills. He finds happiness under the nurturing he receives but Demon has learnt to expect the shoe to drop at any moment.  Despite the obstacles stacked against Demon, he's a survivor whose loyalty and earnestness make him deserving of a fortuitous life.  Demon acknowledges and appreciates the goodness he perceives in others like Tommy who shared the same horrific foster home, June, the adoptive parent of Emmy who was his first crush.  Emmy tells Demon he has the same tenacious goodness as kindhearted Hammer, "same kind of good like you are. Like there's some metal or something in you that won't melt down, no matter what."  Demon reasons, "Live long enough, and all things you ever loved can turn around to scorch you blind,  The wonder is that you could start life with nothing end with nothing, and lose so much in between,"  DEMON COPPERHEAD is a powerful coming of age story, that unfurls resplendently in its telling that's sure to become an instant classic.

Michael K Williams' SCENES from MY LIFE:A MEMOIR Left Me Wanting More

Michael K. Williams was best known for his five time Emmy nominated role on "The Wire" and for his role on "Boardwalk Empire."  I was not familiar with Williams or his work until I heard his interview with Terry Gross on NPR's "Fresh Air in Memory" (March 2023).  Williams shared his life and his struggles with drug addiction starting as a teen in Brooklyn and his fortuitous breaks into professional acting and getting his life back on track.  Williams writes with a clear and deft hand.  We learn about his early childhood centered on the outdoor public space in the apartment complex.  Everyone knew everyone and his mother kept a constant eye on him at all times.  Despite the overprotective eyes of a loving and highly respected mother in the community,  Williams succumbed to illegal drugs.  His battle with drug addiction ended in an overdose in Sept. '21.  Despite his struggles, he was committed to providing opportunities for breaking the cycles of poverty and destruction.   Williams found support and a way out of a downward spiral of self-destruction into a successful acting career.  He acknowledged that difference one caring person provides. He was fortunate in befriending Dana, a.k.a. Queen Latifah.  Williams is determined to become a guiding hand for his nephew sentenced to prison as a teen, and to young people providing safe and empowering options to avoid the prevailing pratfalls of poor and underserved communities.  Williams tells us "At the core of my work is service.  Getting a second chance at life is about service.  Wanting to use my time and platform to give back keeps me sane, keeps me balanced".  He tells us the solution is simple, "This is not rocket science.  We know what these kids need.  Just to be seen.  And loved.  And told they matter.  For some kids it takes just one adult to care about them, take an interest in them."  Williams is candid about the work he needed to do for himself.  "The work requires you to look in the mirror, and you can't do that until you put the drugs down...I got into therapy and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, reconnected with my sponsor, and addressed my trauma head-on.  I've accepted that I cannot let up. "  In Williams articulate NPR interview with Terry Gross, I was taken by his honesty, pride and enthusiasm for life and enthusiasm for being a beacon for others. I was saddened by his death from an overdose. He died  before completing his memoir.  I had hope to understand what transpired causing his life to implode.  Don't read this engaging, self-reflection hoping to obtain this answer, you'll be disappointed.  Rather, read this with an open mind and heart.  "The permission to love yourself is so important.  You don't have to get scarred up in your face and go through endless rehabs and almost die and overdose to finally understand that you're worth something."   

CA Poet Laureate Dana Gioia Shares His Poems at Reading in Healdsburg

Last night, longtime Santa Rosa resident Dana Gioia, shared poems from his latest collection "Meet Me at the Lighthouse."  The event was free and open to the public and held at the Healdsburg Community Center.  The torrential rains had stopped which encouraged an enthused, well attended audience.  Mr. Gioia's has the distinction of CA's Poet Laureate 2015-19.  He's the recipient of the Presidential Citizen's Medal and Walt Whitman Champion of Literary. Award   I was pleased by the tribute his poems directed to our state and specifically to my former home, Los Angeles.  Gioia himself born and raised in LA prefaced his first  poem saying, "It might not be favored by those here."  Hmmm....It did brace me to take umbrage but my rancor was assuaged by the melodic reading which had a jazzy flair and by Gioia's overall dynamic recitations.  Gioia shared his love for jazz and having attending clubs in the LA area while a studying at USC.  The Lighthouse refers to his favorite nightclub he often attended thanks to not being carded.  The poem exudes a youthful energy with a melancholy sheen for his glory days.  All the readings were done by rote.  He stumbled over his second reading and referred back to his book.  Gioia discussed the value for memorizing poetry and reciting aloud.  He said he "tries working in the air, not just on the page."  The second of the 10 and 1/8th poem he recited was entitled "Pity the Beautiful," an homage to LA.  A huge fan of Yeats, Gioia compared the fleetingness of beauty, "...bloated, not noticed gods anymore."  Gioia was no less flattering upon self-reflection as in "Moth" questioning the "ludicrous imposter in the mirror."   In all the poems shared an irrepressible spirit prevailed "...fragrant with memories."  Gioia shared the background and reading of "Tinsel, Frankincense and Fir" about his mother's affection for the dime store ornaments she cherished.  "Nothing too little to be loved.  Death brings gifts we can't reciprocate."  My favorite poem of the night, "Praise of LA" was prefaced by Gioia painting a picture of viewing the city from a bird's eye view of the Hollywood Hills.  "Pulsing anger of traffic in a city of Angels, silent, shimmering in the trajectories' ecstasy cohabitating with despair.  We're all immortal shinning with lies tonight.  Where else can you become a star?"   I was most touched by Gioia explaining the private, fragile language shared with his wife.  He said "a marriage of many years happens beyond words - an intimate language which will disappear with us; a tribe of two in a sovereign secrecy."    Gioia  stressed poems are meant to invite the reader in.  I was entranced throughout the evening.  The 1/8th poem:  "Here lies Dana Gioia, A poet who can say.  He didn't even have an MFA. "

Leila Mottley's NIGHTCRAWLING-Surving in Oakland, Barely Booker Prize Nominee 2023

Leila Mottley's first novel set in present day Oakland, received a Booker Prize nomination for 2023.  Mottley, Just in her early 20s, writes about 17 year old Kiara (Kia) who is struggling to pay the rent and keep groceries in the apartment she shares with her older brother Marcus and nine year old Trevor.  Trevor's mother rents in the same run down apartment complex but is more often missing as she looks to score her next hit.  There's a noxious, uncared for pool in the center of the building that draws a strong, gravitational pull that keeps Kia swimming against in trying to stay afloat.  Her father was more of a stranger having spent most of Kia's life imprisoned.  He was murdered shortly after being released.  Their mom is sentenced to rehab after their baby sister drowned while she was in a drugged stupor.  This leaves a grieving Kia and her adored brother Marcus alone and with no means to care for one another.  Marcus' plan is to make it as rap singer.  This hoop dream means the responsibilities fall on Kiara shoulders to keep them from living on the streets.  Finding no job open to her, Kia succumbs to working the mean streets at night, crawling into cars and alleys with strangers.  Stranger danger is a warning Kia is forced to ignore lest they starve.  She is swept up in a scandal that endangers her safety and threatens to bring down several officers who engaged in sexual misconduct with prostitutes and underage women.  Mottley is a skillful writer who captures the grit of a decaying community and still maintain a greater hold on loving unconditionally.  Kia's unwavering care for Trevor and her connection with her lifelong friend Ale' keep the pain sustainable and poignant.  Kia is both vulnerable and irrepressible.  She's able to read a room knowing when to safely push back and when to become invisible.  Mottley's storytelling is reminiscent of the radiance found in Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones" and Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon."  All main characters remain savvy knowing the other shoe is sure to drop but still cognizant of life being worth living for having someone you care for.   Mottley's plot is based on an Oakland newstory implicating the police officers in illicit misconduct in which the grand jury failed to indict law enforcement personnel.  NIGHTCRAWLING ripples with the good, the bad the ugly.  It fathoms the reverberations of actions taken and not taken.  The novel is a stark depiction of what it portends to be destitute and the grandeur captured of extending a lifeline.