The Drummer's Wife

Rating:
Summary: The Drummer's Wife: A search for the missing magic
Review: A surrealistic quest for the soul of the boomer generation, The Drummer's Wife is a symbol of the missing magic since the assassination of JFK.

James S. Gibons explores the very nature of reality as his protagonist, Edward MacDonough, attempts to capture the lost love of his youth. His novel is a modern version of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, combined with Joseph Heller's Something Happened and Saul Bellow's Herzog.

Edward MacDonough is a writer who has personified freedom and joy in his characters, but has been unable to find it in his own life. After atempting suicide, he embarks upon a journey through the wasteland of postmodernism; from mental institutions to the harsh reality of River City, a place where America is stripped of pretense, he searches for a reason to go on living. He finds that reality is but a dream, and even the dream girl has multiple personalities! MacDonough comes to realize: "Fact was fiction was fact...American life had become indistinguishable from a nightmare."

The Drummer's Wife asks the question: "What is real, who is crazy, and is it American destiny to screw up even the best wet dream?" It is, finally, a condemnation of the new world order. However, it is an irreverent and humorous condemnation which makes for a fun, as well as profound, reading experience.

James S. Gibons is a strong new voice and a master of his craft. The Drummer's Wife is written with style, wit, humor, and at times, sheer brilliance. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: An exciting journey
Review: The Drummer's Wife is the story of a man's exciting journey through a period of time where neither he nor the reader knows if it is being undertaken in a dream or in reality. From the beginning of this masterfully written book until the end, I found myself reading as quickly as possible to find out what would happen next. My predictions were never accurate! The author has an extraordinary imagination, which he clearly and effortlessly projects into the reader's mind. In anticipating the conclusion, I could only dream of a couple possible scenarios, but the final pages contained the most pleasing surprise of all.

Rating:
Summary: An exciting journey
Review: The Drummer's Wife is the story of a man's exciting journey through a period of time where neither he nor the reader knows if it is being undertaken in a dream or in reality. From the beginning of this masterfully written book until the end, I found myself reading as quickly as possible to find out what would happen next. My predictions were never accurate! The author has an extraordinary imagination, which he clearly and effortlessly projects into the reader's mind. In anticipating the conclusion, I could only dream of a couple possible scenarios, but the final pages contained the most pleasing surprise of all.