Kindle Edition Amazon Daytona Area Writers Category:  Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Balanced Mind Press ISBN-10:  1986784967 Type: Fiction Pages: 200 Copyright: April 30, 2018 ISBN-13: 9781619844865 Price: $2.99 (eBook) Daisy is the neglected daughter of a whore who develops a philosophy of life from her walks in the woods. Daisy Perlman is the uneducated, unloved daughter of a whore. Lacking any comfort or trust in her life, she develops a philosophy of life from her walks through the woods. She makes many mistakes due to her circumstances, including murder,  but she becomes the best loved murderer and one of the most respected citizens in the town of Marmalade. It is the story from the eyes of a serial killer who regrets her actions later in life when she knows better. But it is precisely Daisy’s ignorance of the civilized world and her lust for life that will make you love her, too. Excerpt * 1985 – Age 72 * The old man sputtered and pointed a liver-spotted finger toward the door. "Get out of my room and let me die in peace." He sniffed at the air as if the sanitized smell would kill him. "You don't mean that, Old Man," his niece said, mascara running down her cheek. “I'm too old to take your crap anymore.” "Maybe it's my fault. I've always protected you from reality. I should have let you face the monsters that were always there." He mimicked a menacing animal to make her laugh. He realized she was forever lost to him. She remained stoic. "You were the only monster I faced. If it weren't for you, I wouldn’t be walking with a limp today.” She pulled a hanky from her purse and blew into it. “Stop your fucking crying. I wish you didn't react that way to every fucking little problem. I couldn’t just let you wind up a spineless faggot. You were too stupid to know how people would’ve treated you.” “How dare you?” She spat at the man and threw her tissue at his face. Then she composed herself and faced him. “This is your last chance for forgiveness. I was the only member of the family who was willing to speak with you, but even I am at wit's end. So, if there're any regrets you wish to relay to your family, tell me now.” "Yeah, my whole fucking life was regrets. None of it went the way I planned. Any satisfaction I ever got was cheap and fleeting. Your aunt was the bane of my existence. She demanded things I couldn't provide." He looked around the pleasantly furnished room as if he was in hell. His niece nervously shuffled her feet, avoiding direct eye contact with him. He strained to lift himself up in the bed, but his muscles felt paralyzed. He continued, "I'm not sorry about what I did, Anna. I was the only one who had the balls to stop you before you made a big mistake." Her face reddened, and she slapped the man hard. “You don't get to say that anymore. If I had the strength, I'd strangle you myself, right now. But it's better I just go and never think of you again. It's up to Daisy now to do the rest.” She started toward the door. "What the hell do you mean by that? And who the hell is Daisy?" His face began to sweat profusely Her silence was his answer. Then her eyes darted nervously about the room, her face full of resignation. "Listen, is there anything I can get you before I leave?" "No! It's a little late to start paying attention to my needs now. Just leave me here to die.” His hand reached out for her, but she remained by the door. His speech grew more distant, but impassioned. “I only wish to know what lies on the other side now. Either I will fade into oblivion or all the answers to life's questions will be revealed to me." He looked giddy, repressing laughter. "I'm going on life's greatest adventure, far more daring than anyone can go on in this physical life." He laughed out loud and stared right through her. "But all of us take the ultimate trip in the end. Are you even a little bit jealous? Want to come with me?" "You are a piece of work. You always manage to take me to a darker place. You never knew what love was." She fell into a chair and wept uncontrollably. “At least, I’ve found love in this world with Angela.” He snorted. "You’ll never learn. Girls shouldn’t be with girls. But you’ll just continue to sniffle and blubber your way through life. Just acknowledge what has happened and move on.” He shot her a look of disgust and then looked away. “Most of all, never lie to family.” "Sometimes people lie to you for your own protection," she cried. "The truth doesn't always take you where you need to go. Sometimes, it just leads to pain…or even death.” "You still should have told me—" She walked back to the bed and reached over to grab his hand, but he pulled it away. “There are times when you just have to let others make the important decisions for you. I learned long ago I could never trust you." "Not this place. I don't deserve this." "It's for the best, Mr. Hoffman," she said. "You should have told me—" "I forgive you." She ran from the room past Daisy Perlman who was lingering by the door, nodding her head in sympathy for the words she had overheard. Daisy, a large formidable woman with short orange curls and an innocent-looking face full of freckles that belied what lay beneath, entered the room and approached the man on the bed. A frail thin woman with short black hair accompanied her. She darted behind the man as Daisy commanded his full attention. The old man attempted to raise himself up on one arm to confront the larger woman. With nimble dexterity, the thin woman injected a small syringe into his left arm. He fell back and lay unconscious. “Now you will be more compliant,” Daisy said.

Equalizing Daisy
Drunken Angel by Charles Stoll is an adventure in language reading from the beginning of the novel. Chapter One presents the reader with a mystery. There is an old man in a senior citizen care center who is either about to die a natural death or possibly be murdered. With one close and very unhappy relative in attendance, the chapter concludes as readers meet Protagonist Daisy Pearlman. She makes the briefest of appearances in Chapter One but with Chapter Two, “Age 7,” the novel is all about Daisy and her evolution from a naturist, humanist philosopher to a sort of superhero righting wrongs and, finally, back to a philosopher.

Here is the type of language a preponderance of characters will use from Chapter Two all the way to a point 45% through the novel:

“Ya hear dat, Daisy? Would ya like ta become a woman?” her mother cooed. Daisy cowered in fear. “No, Ah hate ya. Ah don't want to be like ya. And Ah hate him, too.” (Kindle Locations 116-118).

At Chapter “Age 43,” Daisy will meet an eleven-year-old girl named Dorothy (or Dody) who will make it a mission to teach Daisy correct pronunciation, English grammar, and reading. Within a few chapters, readers will encounter standard English. This interesting side road with language frames the context of Daisy’s evolution from a primitive social person to a weapon in the battle for social justice.

Daisy grew up less than poor in a house with a prostitute mother who would just as soon include Daisy as part of a package deal in her daily business. Mom never bought anything for Daisy, to include food, so Daisy became independent early on, from the age of four. The only thing “Mutta” taught Daisy was methods for making strawberry hooch as well as how to construct a still. Unappreciated and more than resentful (thoughts of matricide) Daisy constructed a shack deep in the woods where she lived alone and plied the only trades she knew, prostitution and the production of bootleg alcohol.

Through most of her life, the same resentment Daisy felt for her mother enlarged to become a general resentment toward anyone Daisy felt looked down on her or treated her as a type of sub-human. Daisy did not passively accept ill-treatment and stew in her misery. She acted to right wrongs, first for herself and then for people important to her. She became feared by some, respected by others, and a person to be left alone and avoided unless necessary. This was her superhero phase.

But with education and the opportunity for wider reading, Daisy began to question the morality of her everyday existence and actions. The central core of her being never changed. Things in life needed to be in balance. She spent hours and days meditating on an image of a circle that contained the Yin and Yang. She felt the two forces were in constant flux and conflict. When either the Yin or Yang was dominant, there were disruptions in nature, such as weather and natural disasters, or disruptions in human nature, such as when evil triumphed through the acts of serial killers and pedophiles. Daisy believed the world would be better if balanced. When it was not, Daisy felt an obligation to act as an equalizer.

This novel is interesting in almost every way. The one drawback that makes it less than a five-star novel is the frequent moral ruminations of Daisy. Once Daisy begins to question herself and her actions, she doesn’t advance her thinking so much as repeat the same questions over and over. I still gave the novel four Amazon stars and recommend it highly to students of language.

Funny yet philosophical
I received this as a gift from a friend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's about a young woman who grows up with a different point of view on life. It's funny and interesting at the same time to see life through her eyes. The story often made me wonder about the right and wrong. I recommend this book to anyone. Although be warned, there is violence!