(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“What was I waiting for, it would be so freeing to slide so gently from the pain of this place, into the quiet comfort of the unknown, just like him. With every passing moment my grip grew weaker, my eyes shut with the latest gust of wind.”
New York writer Mike Venier is contemplating suicide. His father took his own life (the “him” referred to in the above quote), and Mike tragically witnessed the act. Since then he has been unable to develop meaningful relationships and has been spending his days drowning in bourbon and Percocet.
His depression becomes intensified during the week leading up to his younger sister’s wedding. His family offers him help, though they are unaware as to the extent of his misery and what he has experienced. Though he loves his family, he has become disgusted with the “fraudulent” people that he surrounds himself with.
Exile on Second Avenue provides an intimate portrait of a young man on a downward spiral of despair. You would think that a story like this would be too depressing, but it isn’t. Instead the author keeps us glued to every page as we try to figure out how Mike got to where he is today. Though the story is from Mike’s perspective, we still try to get in his head.
“Faces, thoughts, and memories filled my head with a swirling vortex of rage and anguish. Every move I made became an attempt to drive away the bad thoughts, and in a matter of moments I was lost, all of my senses blurred together and left me completely disconnected from my surrounding.”
This well-written novella will will keep you thinking until the very end.
