Apocalypse Then Book

“However similar the existential suffering of his characters, DeMarinis expertly probes the contours of their condition. You simply can’t move your eyes from the page.”â??Mark Smirnoff, The New York Times Book ReviewApocalypse Then asks what remains, when life goes on long enough for the explanations of youthâ??sex, ambition, immortalityâ??to lose expedience. In delightfully wry, agile prose, DeMarinis taps stores of novelty and freshness in close-at-hand themes. His characters are cursed with a bleak awareness of time’s passage, yet are unable to embrace the changes and the challenges that might offer escape. They try alcohol, they try travel, and (most of all) they try off-limits love. They find themselves in harm’s way, or put themselves thereâ??but in life, as the title story states, “sometimes the worst doesn’t happen.” Despite the world’s insecurities, the most common drama of all is not of apocalypse now, but of apocalypse deferred; the pain of living is having to wait it out.Stories in Apocalypse Then sound notes of redemption, as in “Birds of the Mountain West,” when a man who goes to comfort his friend, a suicidal drunk, recalls seeing birds intoxicated on fermented berries. “Then, at sunset, the mob of wasted waxwings settled in a single tree and faced the setting sun, trilling long plaintive notes for the dying of the lightâ??a fine feathered choir of happily pious drunks. . . ”Apocalypse Then is an unforgettable contribution to the literature of real life, with a meaning close to home.Rick DeMarinis is the author of six novels. The Year of the Zinc Penny was a 1989 New York Times Notable Book. Borrowed Hearts, his definitive short story collection, includes stories from his three previous collections, together with his new work prior to this volume.Read More