First Aide Medicine by Nicholaus Patnaude is a rather astonishing trip into the mind. Patnaude was raised in Vermont, attended Bard College, and did social work before moving to Istanbul where he works as a teacher.

Jack works at a surf, well sort of a surf shop. It sells boogie boards, suntan lotion, and cheap sunglasses; but not surfboards. Karen is a lifeguard and the two of them have great time together until Karen takes her life. From there things get really weird. It is hard to let go of someone, even harder when its suicide. Jack can't let go and there begins a Burroughesque type of dream/nightmare/bad trip. Jack has dreams of Karen. Not dreams of a happy past but disturbing dreams and visions. This, combined with a life of death metal and living with his parents, blurs with the nightmare.

I liked the book, but like a vivid dream it is hard to describe to some one. Everything makes perfect sense to you, but loses something when trying to tell someone else. I can understand the story, perhaps, even relate to it, to the extent I had a good friend take her own life six years ago. I can see where the nightmare can come from, and luckily I escaped most of that. It is a haunting story,and like other reviewers suggest like a bad acid trip... yeah, but add in being trapped in a Lovecraft story. Despite my lack of words it is worth a read. ( )

I can see why so many reviews on this book, both here and on other sites, are relatively vague. It's a vague book. It's a hard one to pin down. It's metaphor, it's nonsense and it's poetry all in one. It is an interesting concept, and in places reminded me of Amelia Grey's "Threats" because it encapsulates a person going into insanity... either that or he ate some questionable mushrooms. Can't really tell. Unlike "Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" where the images carry you through a story, these rather simplistic drawings don't, in my opinion, do much for the story itself, but they are interesting at points. The cave drawings of a mad man, perhaps. I keep wanting to compare it to other books, but I can't think of a single book that can share its place in either genre or message. Worth the short time it took to read it. Not sure it will go down as a favorite, however. ( )

I found this book difficult to read. I started it several times before I actually suck with it and read it through to the end. It is a strange story about a guy Jack, who works in a surf shop, and his girlfriend Karen, a lifeguard who is dead. Jack has a difficult time getting over her death, and this book delves into the myriad of reasons why. At times, I was not sure whether I was reading the thoughts of a man who had deep mental problems or was tripping out. The author obviously admires horror, as he inserts several character and episodes of horror throughout. However, though I got a feel for the characters, I never felt they were really fleshed out in the story. In fact, the story was also never really fleshed out. I could sort of feel the angst of Jack as I read, but I never got any feelings from the rest of the characters. It was interesting the way the author wove rape and its aftermath into the story, but could have been done more smoothly. Finally, I think the story is god, though there are some arts I would change or eliminate, but the book would probably have been better served if it was longer, so it would read more like a spooky, horror tale rather than just a barely expanded rough draft. I received this from Library Thing to read and review. ( )

Take Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat" drop it a bowl of maggots with some sorrow and you'll have "First Aide Medicine"

"Once upon a time Old Man Manson gouged his kitty's eye out when it killed his arctic fox."

A tale about the dead that follows behind you and reminisces about the past of how it use to be. Before the funeral. The suicide that threw it all away, revenge must be taken.

Karen the beautiful life guard, her boyfriend who works at the surfboard shop reunite to seek revenge on Old Man Manson, who brought on the suicide.

If you read "Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe, you will remember the cat with the missing eye who comes back to life, Nick gives that concept a great twist and turns it into a great bizarro read. Fill with an interesting cast of characters ( )

published-2013, boo-scary, currently-reading, librarything-giveaway, summer-2013, shortstory-shortstories-novellas, young-adult, recreational-drugs, ghosties-ghoulies, suicide, noir, poetry, next
Recommended to Bettie by: Librarything
Read from August 26 to 29, 2013

Hmm, I thought this was going to be straight forward BOO!, yet reading through the premise it looks a little too out there for my usual taste. Nevertheless, I have been happily surprised on many an occasion.

for Johnny & Cabera

“Infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.” William Shakespeare

Opening: I want to burn down his house. I will. He used Karen. I can’t stomach that. He was older than piss and uglier than a worm. He lived just down the street with his lights on until late at night. He had an artic fox that turned blue in the summer. But then he had to gouge his kitty’s eye out when it killed his pretty blue Alopex lagopus one dreary midnight.

National Geographic photo of Artic Fox alopex lagopus

LATER: An extended prose poem featuring Jack, the narrator:'I have a decade on most of the high school kids who work here. They live with their parents too, but for them it’s more natural.'

...who is mourning Karen's suicide, even though she was hardly his girlfriend:'Karen would never understand if I told her all about those dates I’d arranged on the beach only to break and sabotage them ten minutes before they were to begin. I am not in a good enough place to commit.

...because she had an sexual relationship with an older man:'What do you see in her, old man? Why do all these antediluvian douche bags want to rip off her panties with their dentures?'

Interspersed with macabre doodles and vomit-inducing passages this Romeo and Juliet story is not something for me, yet I can see in it a great appeal to mid-teen hipster/ goth types, and that seems to be the niche Patnaude is aiming for. And my distaste is an endorsement to the good for this genre. ( )