Eva Pasco

5.0 out of 5 stars

Anatomy of a Jilted, Middle-Aged Man

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2023

Verified Purchase

Without probable cause or the slightest provocation, forty-six-year-old Eamo Kennedy is jilted by Liz, the love of his life. What ensues is Eamo’s self-deprecating, first-person narrative of spiraling downward into depression to the point of contemplating suicide.

Rating Eamo by his own “Imaginary Creatures Weirdness Scale,” this reader gives him a ten. Why? Grappling with despondency, he relies upon advice from Ed Berry, his alter-ego avatar in The Chateau at Second Life, a fetish dating website, he and Liz had established.
Oftentimes, rebelling against Ed’s words of wisdom, Eamo jumps from frying pan to conflagration when it comes to dating several women to numb the pain of his loss.

But, then, he meets likeminded June, and everything falls into place for him. That said, I didn’t foresee the ending. Although, given my rating for Eamo’s weirdness, perhaps I should have.

Marian Wilder’s well-written narrative infused with clever turns of phrase and on-point commentaries, courtesy of Eamo, are testament to her writing prowess for whipping a story into shape a wee bit kinky. Well worth reading.