Joseph Hirsch

Mr Hirsch presents us with a recovering addict discovering how boring his new and safe life is. Working in a telesales centre he discovers that despite being good at this odd occupation it does nothing for his sense of fulfilment which has been tied to his drug habit and the accompanying precarious lifestyle that he has become accustomed to. His long suffering mother supports him unconditionally but his addict girlfriend and part time sex worker leaves him for a more interesting life just as he has plunged himself into a feud with a recalcitrant telesales customer. His life begins to spiral down into a chaos and he relishes the spiral that momentarily puts his life back in the interesting but self-destructive lane.

Hirsch handles his characters deftly and shows us the existential emptiness of the recovering addict's life in normal society. With some skill he gets us to follow along and still to sympathise with difficult people and that is no mean feat.… (mehr)

Michael, at 16 an inveterate drug-abuser, street-wise beyond his years and taken hostage by his pubescent body, has to move in for a couple of weeks with his elderly uncle, a punch-drunk boxing champion, who, however, under a mysterious novel treatment is gradually getting his mental faculties back. It is here that Michael, seemingly for the first time ever, connects with people that are _not_ just out for what they can get: Cliff, uncle Jimmy’s old cut man, Dr. Parks, even Luna, the caretaker, with her hidden agenda, seems to be genuinely fond of her charge. And there is, of course, Uncle Jimmy himself: a young man at heart, suddenly waking up in an old body and not liking it one bit.

The story is told in 1st person perspective, from Michael’s point of view. His running commentary on and interpretation of his surroundings and the occurrences are funny, witty, insightful and show his being, despite his world-weary and cynical stance and deprecating views of himself, a kind soul, ultimately not buying into the general greed on display all around him. At some point we learn that Michael knows “The Catcher in the Rye” “like the back of my hand”, which seems very fitting.

A quick read and a gripping and original story. If you are not afraid the odd swear-word, depictions of violent death and explicit descriptions of male, pubescent fantasies, I’d say it’s fit from a mature YA audience upwards.… (mehr)

The book is good, until about two/third of the book.
I have learned a lot more about adolescent boys, and I commisserate with Michael.
His lust for Luna is described well, and his knowledge it cannot be is sad.
Yes, he says mean things to his mother, but sometimes he is a bit too good to be true.

I was quite surprised when halfway the book one of the main characters died.
After that, the book went down. Too many unexpected things happened.
A pity.

I had chosen the book because of the Sci-Fi elements. They did not appear very much.
And the horror it promised? No, not the sort of horror I expected although there was horror in everything what happened.
Because I liked most of the book well, I give the book three stars.… (mehr)