Signed copy - Wallow
WARNING: Includes episodes of profanity and sexually explicit language.
"Literary irony, blazing sequences and a brave periscope into fear, loss and the demands of a brain and heart that refuse to let go. The writing began as a radar blip, and then delved into close encounters of human exploration. Raw emotion throughout made this text look effortless, when in truth- simplicity is the most difficult to achieve. The unusual compilation of prose, poetry and letters unsent worked exceptionally well. Writing should be unchained and connect with us. In a world drowning in vanilla and commercial, this writing is brilliant and brave." -- Bibiana Krall, author of the Aether Series
Wallow depicts the plight of Steve, a self-obsessed romantic in the self-induced exile of Prague's expat community. Newly divorced from both the love of his life and his yuppie-dom on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Steve finds himself broke, alone, and smack dab in the middle of his quarter-life crisis. To get through it, he is going to have to give up a few of his favorite delusions. Before he does, Steve takes a moment to bask in the cold sun of Self.
"I was moved to tears by the heart and truth on the pages." -- Linda Ostrom, 5-star review on Amazon
- The short story "Chris" captures what it was like to be living in the American expatriate community in Prague at the close of the last century.
- The poem "Paper Plates" nails just what it is about living in a transient yet sticky place like Prague that hurts so much.
- The short story "Eye of the Jackal" features (spoiler alert!) an ironical twist that exposes the victim of a theft as a thief himself.
- And finally, an Unsent Letter at the end of the book (dated to show that it was written before almost any of the rest of the book had yet to occur) shows that while the process of self-discovery is bumpy and long, often the kernel of it exists within us before we even begin.
"Emotive and trippy: you follow the narrator through all the pitfalls of being human and in your twenties. Pryll uses poetry and prose to lead you through a vivid maze of life. This book captures all of the feelings, frustration, confusion, and freedom of that time. And the imagery will never leave you. Oxblood wingtips -- that's all I have to say." -- Sarah Fitzgerald, professor, College of Charleston
This connected collection of short stories, poems, unsent letters and journal excerpts come together to describe a twenty-something man's coming to terms with his life after divorce. Set both in New York City and Prague, the book is divided into seven sections, taking the reader through a fractured landscape of loss, self-pity, self-discovery and ultimately hope.
"Wallow reads like a travelogue from the author's fractured internal landscape, exploring heartbreak and alienation." -- The Prague Post
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