Waiting in the Weeds An American metaphor
"...I don't know when I realized the dream was overWell, there was no particular hour, no given dayYou know it didn't go down in flameThere was no final scene, no frozen frameI just watched it slowly fade away..."
Music by the Eagles
Song by S. Smith and D.Henley
YouTube Click to listen
Book launch Saturday January 25 at Books&Books Coral Gables 5PM
Books&Books Click here for info
My review sent to WW Norton:
My
Darling Boy by John Dufresne
John
Dufresne’s latest novel tells a story of love and loss, a father trying to find
and rehabilitate his opioid-addicted son when the son does not want to be found
or rehabilitated. Olney, the father, has been straight his whole life, never
addicted or incarcerated or homeless. His son Cully becomes addicted to pain
medications young and soon becomes all those things and begins lying to his
parents and stealing from their home to support his habit. He morphs into a
stranger his parents can’t understand or reach out to in their desperation to
bring back the darling boy they raised. Reminiscent of American Pastoral
by Phillip Roth, My Darling Boy deals with the terrible estrangement
that shocks so many families around the world: the good life sometimes is not
good enough. Junky love is not the same as family love, Olney learns the hard
way. His wife leaves him, not able to handle the stress of Cully’s
metamorphosis into a strange young man without feelings for those who care the
most for his well-being. He finds his son and loses him time after time. Olney’s
search leads him to extraordinary and decent people pushed to the edge of our white
bread world, each with their own story of loss and survival.
Told
through Olney’s point of view, we learn through the fascinating characters he
encounters that love is indeed hard to find and hard to keep for most
good-hearted people. The happy past Olney remembers with Cully is denied by the
young man as an illusion. The addicted Cully can remember his supply chain but
not his own childhood. Olney’s heartbreak is the reader’s heartbreak. Having
love turned away is an undercurrent in the lives of every single character in
the story, just as it is in real life. That is what makes Olney’s hope and
courage stand out to the reader: there is hope. There is love. There is the
chance of a better future despite all the despair, but only if he continues his
quest and does not give up. Olney is a hero for our times.
Neil
Crabtree
Author
of Smuggler’s Return
From page 183: "To focus on the inner life today--to read books, to imaging with no ulterior agenda, to reflect on painful or confusing experiences--is to defy the clamoring edicts of our age, the buy messages, the endless pleas for followers and likes.
Writers have to find a different way of being in the world. The making of literature is the manner by which we come to understand our inner lives, by which we travel in difficult truth toward elusive mercy, and thereby reaffirm the bonds of human kindness.
I am speaking here of something that goes beyond the fate of our work, or the brief span of our lives. I am speaking of the man, or the woman, who stands in silence at the top of the stairs, just a few seconds longer, feeling the ghost of his beloved mother in his arms, rocking her back and forth, back and forth."
Relief update:
Now that we're moving into the Winter of our Discontent, I find that what will be needed in the coming months is not hurricane relief, though that is a major concern for me and all my friends and family. The various agencies helping are getting support and help from millions around the country. But what I see is the danger of an anti-Woke government encouraging prejudice against Art and Artists. You know the new Administration is going to be trying to defund the arts, public broadcasting, libraries, subversive literature as they will define it, and the teaching of classic liberal values. Banning books has already demonstrated that Freedom of Expression is now under fire. Why keep kids from reading the world's greatest literature?
I'm such a sucker for good causes. I do want to Save the World. I want to feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, clothe the naked, rebuild all the broken homes and businesses. I still buy Biggie Bags from Wendy's for the bums on US 1. That's a personal thing.
Dedicating a website is a different story. I'm a writer, not a millionaire. I'm a reader, not a politician. What I've learned over these last years is that there is a community of writers and readers who sincerely want to help. Now I see that community is about to be attacked. There will be closings of Liberal Arts programs in every university in America. There will be dedicated teachers and professors fired for teaching the vision of America they grew up with. The networks will be loaded with MAGA propaganda as anyone who opposes that dark vision is prosecuted and harassed. Free elections will cease as we know them, replaced by restricted voting for friends of the Man Who Would Be King. Public health will be at risk for millions of Americans as Anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists take charge of agencies once meant to help. The rich will get richer. By the time the middle class figure out their 401Ks are about to collapse, it will be too late. The people who brought our grandparents the first Great Depression will bring the next. War will be seen as a financial decision, good for the Economy. But will we have any allies?
Of course, I could be wrong. We might be heading into the next Golden Era. America will be great again.
We'll see. Meanwhile, I will build a website for writers to share with readers, students, teachers and all the artists, all the musicians, all the people who care. Writers4Relief just WOKE up.
And you know what? There was no Protest Against Books organized by those who prefer Banning Books to reading them. They would have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for literacy over ignorance. You don't see Ugly People standing outside Beauty Pageants complaining. Same here.
The Street Fair should enjoy wonderful weather, cool and sunny and comfortable for walking around.
See you there!
