Kindle Edition
Download to your Nook (eBook)
Download from Smashwords (eBook)
Amazon
Lasher Lane
Lasher Lane
Category:
Literary Fiction
Publisher: Patteran Press
ISBN-10: 0615767052
Type: Fiction
Pages: 165
Copyright: May 3, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780615767055
Price: $1.99 (eBook)
Henry, the haunted narrator struggles with his sanity, wondering if his friend's fatal bet was a stunt for attention or an escape through suicide, and if the towering Palisades that perpetually cover his town in shadow might also be to blame.
Set in 1968, but inspired by a 1975 New York Times article, the residents of a tiny, riverside New Jersey town are victims of "collective psychic depression" and alcohol addiction, possibly caused by living in the shadow of the 200-foot Palisades and/or the many taverns that blanket the town's mere two-block-wide, four-mile-long borders.
The coming-of-age story follows Henry the narrator and his friends, threatened by the Vietnam War Draft and their own inner demons.
When Henry loses one friend to a fatal bet, his friend's death begins to affect him in ways he doesn't welcome. As a distraction and for mere entertainment he has an encounter with an unorthodox source, a boardwalk gypsy, offering advice to cope with his strange predicament.
Excerpt
With a pint of vodka as my new daily crutch, I sat studying the corner of the boathouse, trying to forget that night. Ripped out, the barge's gaping hole created the perfect rustic picture frame for my own personal view of the seagulls, the skyline, and the little, forgotten red lighthouse obscured by the great bridge that joined two states, two very different worlds,five minutes apart.
Always cool and dark, this boathouse was my favorite place at the marina, and the spot I'd visit whenever I wanted to be alone. But as hard as I'd try, the luxury of being alone no longer seemed possible since my life had been forever changed as a result of that one fleeting moment, his one careless, inconsiderate act. For some reason, he had singled me out and wouldn't let me forget. He was there to remind me almost every day of that tragic and horrific event.
|
