Come As You Are

Everyone will eventually experience loss. The circle of life is as cruel and irrational as it is prosperous and giving.  We will one day find ourselves saying goodbye to our mothers, our cousins, our children and our friends.  The majority of us will wrap ourselves up in the comfort of our lives and eventually learn to live with the hand that fate has dealt us, but what happens to the fraction of us that remain broken… scared…searching for missing pieces? What happens when a piece of you, your better half, your compadre in all things living, your TWIN is the one to welcome humanities cruelest joke?

Jonathan is one half of a whole.  He is Robin without Batman, Telemachus without Odysseus , Nirvana without Cobain.  Jonathan is the poet we all want to be, and the damage person we hope we never are.  Jonathan is beautifully broken.

After the sudden death of his brother Telly, Jonathan is forced to face the reality of life without his sidekick, but things like school and the future are hard to see when his mind, (which works in jagged monologues and conversations with Whitman,) would rather dwell in self actualization and pity.  After 1 very sobering evening, (involving a bridge and a 20ft jump,) his friends and mentors start to take notice of his self-destructive behavior and devise a plan. 1. Go to school 2. Write a book 3. Play your guitar 4. Embrace your life.  Can life really be as simple as freeing your inhibitions? Can a group of hopeful people change the course of the hopeless? And does moving on mean you have to let go?

I wish I could use the words I normally flock to when I am stunned by a book. Eloquence, brilliant, artfully crafted, but none of these seem fitting enough for what I just experienced.  “Adios, Nirvana” is a novel that read like a flawless string of poetry.  It captured the realities that swirl around us and put it into a language that rivals its poetic influences.  The physical story was of little meaning (a boy trying to deal with loss) the underlying complexities are what was important.  It was about capturing your life, seeing both sides of the fence, understanding that life is just a particle of dust to be twisted and blown in the direction of which you choose.

Unfortunately, (at the moment) this book is unavailable, still in its publishers cubby and waiting to be sent to the masses, but I urge you to make note of it.  Scribble it’s name on a wish list, type it into your PDA, or pre-order it.  (whatever is your equivalent to a trusty string around your finger) because to miss it would be a shame.

This was (with out a doubt) the BEST book I have read in a year, and if I could give it 6 stars I would.

Get it, live it, love it… pass it on.

Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: “These moments can be wonderful opportunities, but they’re not always apparent to us.”

For a complete book description click image. (scheduled release October 2010)