The Light Fandango

Jacob, John

Brutality lies just under the surface of these startling stories by poet John Jacob, violence at times rising to a full crescendo, at other times smoldering with the faint stench of implied evil. From the graphic and ugly reality of the Viet Nam war in "Machete Boy" to the streetwise flippancy of "Dracula Spectacula," this is fiction that peels away layers of civilization to expose the raw nerves of human experience. Like many of the best contemporary writers, Jacob builds his work on the twin themes of alienation and dehumanization. In the title story, for example, he notes that "Somewhere in the city a woman lies dry-eyed in a man's arms, his thoughts elsewhere. Somewhere two pairs of voices interrupt one another. Somewhere there is restless sleep." Unlike his peers, however, Jacob is not content to merely examine this angst; the horror of modem life is manipulated with consummate skill to create an art that is both visceral and achingly beautiful. To say that Jacob is a master of the short-story form is an understatement; each of the works in this collection stands as a testament to the breadth and depth of his talent. The prose is spectacularly precise, the structure of the stories nearly perfect. Tension builds inexorably, so that when a character in "Lookin' Back" states, "I feel like I'm caught up in a surnmer that won't end until it does, if you know what I mean. I mean, it will end, but it hasn't yet, not for me. Something else remains and that's what I wait for," it is not only a comment on the illusion of time but also a definition of life itself. The Light Fandango is the work of a major voice in American literature. Destined to become a classic, this book should be read and reread. -- From Independent Publisher