Arcangelo Vidi, a middle-aged man in Florence, is tormented, torn between a painting and his wife. In late-nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, Fyodor Petrov returns from the dead and can still juggle, although not very well. Gabriella Sammartini, a talented young mezzo-soprano in Venice, dreams of becoming a hatcheck girl. In medieval England, Eldred the Shoemakers Son is blessed with an unusual number of noses and multiple pairs of shoes. A Parisian woman carries seven tears with her wherever she goes. Such are the Lives of the Saints, the matically-related, centuriesspanning character studies set mostly in Europe and almost entirely on Earth. By turns poignant and funny, tragic and absurd, Lives of the Saints is at once a thought-provoking meditation on time, mortality, and love, and an entertaining compendium of sheer silliness. In this finely crafted collection of gems, Frank Arricale displays a remarkable range of expression. Whether dealing with the heartbreak of loss or the inanity of everyday life, he demonstrates a brilliant sense of timing and a keen awareness of the human condition.
The best-selling tabloid in the solar system, The Galactic Enquirer was a two-person operation comprised of the Editor-in-Chief and the Guy Who Actually Did All the Work (a position held at the time, as it almost always was, by a woman). The Enquirer had long been known as a provider of juicy, titillating, not-even-remotely-true stories. But in this particularly slow year, the biggest story the staff had managed to come up with so far was a piece about a man who had decided to try cantaloupe. "You know," the Chief said, "this hasn't been a very good year for us." "You don't have to tell me," the Guy said. "I'm the head of the Sales Division. We're going to have to come up with something better. More sensational." "More sensational than the cantaloupe story? I don't think that's possible! Like what?" What they come up with relates directly to events on Earth a thousand years later, when the paths of a host of memorable characters are curiously intertwined. Ostensibly a tale of two worlds (three if you consider New York separate from the rest of this one), Obviously Not Clairvoyant explores, with humor and sentiment, what it is to be human.
Have you ever been in love? What is it you fear? Growing up? Growing old? Death? Life? Is it too late? Youd assume that a book called The Power of Balance would, first and foremost, be about balance. A reasonable assumption. But, as you probably know by now, not all reasonable assumptions are correct, and the truth is this book has very little to do with balance. What does it have to do with? Thats what John Penatucci, onetime pop musician, one-hit literary wonder, and second-rate college English teacher, finds himself wondering as hes held hostage by an enigmatic woman who identifies herself only as the Driver. As their journey progresses and he recalls some of the central moments and relationships of his life, it appears that what its all about is for the Driver to know and for him to find out. Alternating between past and present, pathos and humor, dream and reality, The Power of Balance does turn out to have something vaguely to do with, of all things, balance. But its more about love. And going home.
The best-selling tabloid in the solar system, The Galactic Enquirer was a two-person operation comprised of the Editor-in-Chief and the Guy Who Actually Did All the Work (a position held at the time, as it almost always was, by a woman). The Enquirer had long been known as a provider of juicy, titillating, not-even-remotely-true stories. But in this particularly slow year, the biggest story the staff had managed to come up with so far was a piece about a man who had decided to try cantaloupe. "You know," the Chief said, "this hasn't been a very good year for us." "You don't have to tell me," the Guy said. "I'm the head of the Sales Division. We're going to have to come up with something better. More sensational." "More sensational than the cantaloupe story? I don't think that's possible! Like what?" What they come up with relates directly to events on Earth a thousand years later, when the paths of a host of memorable characters are curiously intertwined. Ostensibly a tale of two worlds (three if you consider New York separate from the rest of this one), Obviously Not Clairvoyant explores, with humor and sentiment, what it is to be human.
Have you ever been in love? What is it you fear? Growing up? Growing old? Death? Life? Is it too late? Youd assume that a book called The Power of Balance would, first and foremost, be about balance. A reasonable assumption. But, as you probably know by now, not all reasonable assumptions are correct, and the truth is this book has very little to do with balance. What does it have to do with? Thats what John Penatucci, onetime pop musician, one-hit literary wonder, and second-rate college English teacher, finds himself wondering as hes held hostage by an enigmatic woman who identifies herself only as the Driver. As their journey progresses and he recalls some of the central moments and relationships of his life, it appears that what its all about is for the Driver to know and for him to find out. Alternating between past and present, pathos and humor, dream and reality, The Power of Balance does turn out to have something vaguely to do with, of all things, balance. But its more about love. And going home.
Arcangelo Vidi, a middle-aged man in Florence, is tormented, torn between a painting and his wife. In late-nineteenth-century St. Petersburg, Fyodor Petrov returns from the dead and can still juggle, although not very well. Gabriella Sammartini, a talented young mezzo-soprano in Venice, dreams of becoming a hatcheck girl. In medieval England, Eldred the Shoemakers Son is blessed with an unusual number of noses and multiple pairs of shoes. A Parisian woman carries seven tears with her wherever she goes. Such are the Lives of the Saints, the matically-related, centuriesspanning character studies set mostly in Europe and almost entirely on Earth. By turns poignant and funny, tragic and absurd, Lives of the Saints is at once a thought-provoking meditation on time, mortality, and love, and an entertaining compendium of sheer silliness. In this finely crafted collection of gems, Frank Arricale displays a remarkable range of expression. Whether dealing with the heartbreak of loss or the inanity of everyday life, he demonstrates a brilliant sense of timing and a keen awareness of the human condition.
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