AND THE SOFT WIND BLOWS.

AND THE SOFT WIND BLOWS by LANCE UMENHOFER.

Timmy Enosh
is a peculiar, small man:
fivethree,
onehundredandfifteen pounds,
and is a pharmacist
in Ashton City, Tennessee.

He finds himself at fortythreeyearsold
as his life starts to fall apart:
his threehundred pound wife disappears,
his romantic interest has lost interest and has gained
hatred toward him,
his coworkers harass him,
customers verbally assault him,
and he has the strange urge to adopt his foulmouthed,
eighteenyearold coworker,
Alex.

When things start to pile up,
Timmy must find a way to deal:
he turns to Alex to supply him with marijuana,
starts sewing an elaborate Mr. Mistoffelees costume,
finds solace in the wild, etc., etc., etc.

And the soft, constant wind of change blows him
on, on, and on.
..... Outer back cover. (May contain spoilers. Hi-light above text to view the whole synopsis if you so wish)

FIRST SENTENCE (Introduction: Tuesday): "How was your day?" Timmy asked.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 123): Timmy used to think her eyes were embodiments of the ocean, but now he thought of them as raging floodwaters, devouring all in their path.

MY THOUGHTS: Described by the author as a piece of 'poetic fiction' which combines elements of poetry into a prose narrative I really didn't know what to expect of this novella and admit to feeling deeply concerned that it was not going to be a style of writing to my taste but never one to shy away from something new I agreed to reading and reviewing it anyway.

And, possibly the surprise read of 2013, I'm glad I did as though there was undoubtedly a poetic flow to the narrative and and some of the phrases did run into each other this wasn't the horrendously 'flowery', pretentious read I had feared but a joy.

Amazing the amount that can be conveyed in such a small book of only 138 'pocket sized' pages, I found myself totally immersed in the life of Timmy Enosh, a rather quiet, unassuming man who at forty three is arguably going through some sort of mid-life crisis.

Beautifully and powerfully descriptive, I found it fascinating to read of Timmy's/Tim's/Timbo's relationships with the other characters and in particular that of his 'friendship' with eighteen year old co-newspaper deliverer Alex with whom he seemingly reverts to his much younger self.

An original, quirky read, funny and yet incredibly moving, I think this young author is worth keeping an eye out for.

Disclaimer: Read and reviewed on behalf of the author and April Gloaming Publishing, I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given
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