PRAYING NOT TO FALL

A young New Orleanian looks forward to his upcoming marriage while fighting off the temptations of the party scene in this novella.

Jo Santos always finds time to hit the bars. As he lives in New Orleans, the ever present lure of the French Quarter’s venues is a constant enticement, so much so that he even celebrates his quarter-birthdays. (“My half birthdays get wilder. My actual birthday, in August, is like fucking Mardi Gras.”) Blessed with a Mexican family that loves to cook for him and a group of friends who know how to keep the drinks coming, Jo easily falls into gluttonous behavior. He works in retail management, and the boring days give way to boozy nights. But then there is Hope,Jo’s fiancee. She’s a lawyer and often works late. If the party scene is just for Jo and his friends, then Hope is good for comfortable nights at home together watching movies. Planning the wedding keeps them busy, but after Jo goes on one more crazy binge, the relationship is threatened, with Hope feeling unsure that he will ever be able to change his ways. Rosas’ fast-paced tale is a brief one, and a bit short for a novella, but it does dive right into the heart of the protagonist’s intriguing struggle between a workaday life and the hazy club scene. It is a fun, sometimes humorous jaunt into a world of muffulettas and mai tais, with plenty of hangovers and regrets afterward. While some characters are clearly drawn (one uncle looks like Don Quixote), others are among a string of guys with alcohol and weed on their minds. This story could be built into something bigger, but if Jo’s choice is between drinking with friends and settling down, then Hope needs to be in more scenes.

A compact, boisterous tale that succeeds in describing the struggle to regain control in life.