Peeko Pacifiko

This work perhaps is best described as the quintessential Twentieth Century fin de si cle novel of Los Angeles, and possibly the only one. Particular to Los Angeles in setting and story, its occurrence of intersecting cultural, economic, political and artistic crosscurrents is not. Its narrator and gallery of characters are too willing pawns in the battle of high and low, individuality and expectations, art and commerce, survival and resignation and the liberation of hedonism versus its peril to the soul. As the Nineties dwindle down, the waning days of one era and the precipice of a new one are seen through the eyes of Donovan, his story launched by a crisis whose origin is both gratuitous and mundane. At loose ends, his is a unique passage through many a strata of the city of Los Angeles. A romp, a survival story, a sardonic political history, a literary walkabout and a portrayal of unforgettable characters richer than conventional wisdom would indicate, the novel peels back a city and a time. As abundant with insightful observation as it is dismissive of any possible meaning, the story resists categorization, while creating its own hydra-headed genre. Donovan and those surrounding him may be down, but only superficially are they at all out, as their gritty and grand adventures and day to day conundrums evocatively demonstrate. All in all it is an exuberant, episodic ride, an exploration of character, of a city and of a point in time, rendered with playful and disarming erudition, straight razor wit, and well-observed descriptive power.

Ken O’ Steen is a Los Angeles author. A chapter from his previous novel, ＂Hills and Assassins,＂ appears in the anthology, ＂The Muse in the Bottle: Great Writers on the Joys of Drinking,＂ edited by Charles Coulombe, published by Citadel.