by Simon Plaster ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 4, 2012
Good for a chuckle, though as its title implies, a muddle, perhaps more accurately reflecting the political system it seeks...
A satirical send-up of everyone involved in American politics—the Electoral College, journalists, Democrats, Republicans, and especially the South—poking fun at a culture that takes itself too seriously, from an author who doesn’t.
Though some familiar characters make appearances in SNAFU (including “Slick Willie” Clinton, Rachel Maddow, and “Obamacare statues”), the terrain is comic fantasy, meant to spur laughs rather than argue any particular angle, and to some success. In novelist Plaster’s alternate America, New York Times headlines read: “Court Declares Constitution Unconstitutional, Finally” and “Far Right Wing Extremist Scheme to Destroy Democracy Thwarted by Enlightened Ninth Circuit Ruling,” the latter referring to the abolishment of the Electoral College. The novel follows the distinct courses of four major characters: a Democratic campaign coordinator; a professor whose penchants include scraping roadkill and studying “entirely academic subject[s] that interest him not at all” (including the Electoral College); a pea-brained local journalist; and Virgil Carter, a door-to-door salesman who decides to run for county commissioner and ends up vice presidential candidate. Most of Plaster’s tale is set in Okmulgee County, Okla., and through a series of absurd turns, the year’s presidential contest becomes dependent on the whims of this miniscule, redneck electorate. Though the writing is fast paced and thickly settled with satirical punch lines, the jokes are easy ones and monotonously toned. True, the author doesn’t spare anyone, but he doesn’t spare any opportunity for a jab—clichés and well-worn stereotypes abound. By the end, a campaign with the slogan “Everybody Counts” has resulted in, among other ridiculous snafus, the kidnapping of eight members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The clever narrative structure results in lost focus and tension with so much point-of-view shifting and so many unnecessary details, however laughable. The jokes grow stale, even in this short book, and the caricature-riddled narrative has little to fall back on.
Good for a chuckle, though as its title implies, a muddle, perhaps more accurately reflecting the political system it seeks to satire than the author intended.Pub Date: July 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615666211
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Mossik Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by William Poe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2015
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.C. Salazar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2018
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.
A collection speaks in part to the poet’s Mexican-American heritage.
In these multifaceted poems, Mexico-born, Houston-raised Salazar (Of Dreams and Thorns, 2017) explores general human themes like love and war in addition to specific experiences as a person of color. The book begins with a sensual meditation on desire, featuring luscious descriptions of a lover, from lips “moist like youth” to the body’s “softest velvet” slopes. The poems shift to odes to cultural icons like the Tejano star Selena and Mexican-German painter Frida Kahlo as well as occasion pieces honoring his brother’s 40th birthday and a friend’s mother’s memorial service. The author hits his stride when he delves into identity. In “I Am Not Brown,” he contemplates the societal implications of skin tone and his inability to fit into the rigid category of Caucasian or Latino. “For white and black and brown alike / Are slaves to history’s brush strokes,” he writes. “Grateful for the Work,” perhaps Salazar’s loveliest poem, catalogs the day of a laborer, starting with an early morning awakening and following him as he toils in 100-degree heat, enjoys tacos from his lunch pail, buys beverages from a child’s lemonade stand, and returns home to an equally hard-working wife. The author then makes an abrupt turn toward Syria in a series of poems that condemn that country’s president, Bashar Hafez al-Assad. They serve as a rallying cry for Syrians and grieve for the murdered masses. Salazar’s closing poem, “Sons of Bitches,” is a clunky rant about a 20-year-old immigrant shot in the head by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The gratuitous violence and political theologizing are ill at ease with the intimate, personal experiences that preceded them, such as the fablelike “A Mexican is Made of This,” in which Salazar beautifully describes the “rainbows, bronze, backbone, butterflies” that his people embody.
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9991496-3-8
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Bronze Diamond Productions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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