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Allegory, Eastern wisdom, and a gritty fictive reality converge in this rollicking, humorous, yet thought-provoking novel set in the seedier side of Southern California. Landon Briggs is aware of Buddhist philosophy, living as he does amongst a large Asian population, but the Iraq War vet is thoroughly distracted by his propensity for partying, gambling, and the petty crime that often lands him in some exceedingly compromising situations. Divorced, Landon’s wife has taken up with a con artist who also moves in Landon’s world, and his eldest son has perished from a heart condition at just fifteen. Landon struggles to maintain a relationship with his innocent but aware youngest son. The wisdom in the tale ultimately is dispensed not by highborn Tibetan tulkus or Chinese or Japanese sages but from the mouths of ordinary folk like Landon’s wife, his son, his father, his wacky, unreliable friends, and the notorious criminals he sometimes rubs elbows with.
The author’s lengthy sentences are a perfect complement to the inner workings of Landon’s mind and the complexities of the plot, which rambles this way and that in what may seem like a philosophical jumble yet makes total sense to anyone who grasps Tibetan Buddhism or another Asian spiritual discipline. There are multiple dimensions to this story. It reads like the offspring of a classic LA noir crime tale transformed by some twenty-first-century sensibilities. However, it is acted out by characters who will resonate with contemporary readers. The novel is as much about Landon’s vibrant though confused inner world and his personal aspirations to reunite his family as it is about the darker side of human nature, and so Carp delivers many tales within the tale that make the reading magnetically appealing.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review