Henry's Re-entry

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Pub Date 31 Jan 2014 | Archive Date 30 Jul 2014
Caelstone Press | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Members' Titles

Description

Henry’s Re-entry Status check, Saturday morning 11:45:
Skull crushing headache? Check.
Black eye? Check.
No cell phone? Check.
No wallet? Check.
One shoe? Check.
No socks, tie, or belt? Check, check, and check.
No memory of previous night? Double check!
Touchdown complete! Henry has landed!

When Henry wakes up on the floor of a dirty gas station bathroom with absolutely no idea where he is or how he ended up there, he knows this is going to be the best outing ever. This outing is going to be Epic!

Henry is a man on the run. The beast chasing him wears the face of his murdered wife. Fueled by the guilt of her death, he’s running the gauntlet of an ever hopeful, but chronically unsuccessful suicide marathon.

He’s spent the last four years fleeing from his life. During the workweek, he merely exists, performing the inevitable and necessary functions of life, moving through his world like an automaton. But when that assembly line of existence ultimately reaches its end on Friday afternoon, Henry launches into orbit on a liquor-propelled rocket. His flight begins when he straps himself into his favorite barstool late Friday afternoon, and ends with his splashdown sometime late Sunday night. And the time spent in between is a fog of chaotic memories.

During this latest flight, however, he experiences some unexpected turbulence. This time he crash-lands seven hundred miles from home, unencumbered by a car, wallet, or memory. Hungover, angry, and broke, he’s forced to hitchhike his way back home, trolling for rides along the hot, dusty backland highways of New Mexico.

However, the real story begins with the procession of characters he encounters along the way: The cowboy bartender, the lovesick preacher, the militant social worker, the escaped convict, the cynical psychic. Each of these curious people find their way past his well constructed barricades. Each one manages to make contact with him and help him find another piece of himself. Each one helps him find the strength necessary to finally bury his dead and re-enter his life. But it’s the woman with the paint-store hair and kryptonite eyes who renders his shields useless and finally guides him back to his life.

Equal parts hilarious, passionate, and emotionally intense, this is the story of a man’s unexpected rescue at the hands of an assortment of eccentric, compelling people, people he’d normally have crossed the street to avoid.

Henry’s Re-entry Status check, Saturday morning 11:45:
Skull crushing headache? Check.
Black eye? Check.
No cell phone? Check.
No wallet? Check.
One shoe? Check.
No socks, tie, or belt? Check, check, and...


A Note From the Publisher

Cover by P. N. Herendeen. Also available in hardcover and paperback.

Cover by P. N. Herendeen. Also available in hardcover and paperback.


Advance Praise

KIRKUS REVIEW

Cole’s (The Pleasure of Memory, 2013) novel is equal parts snark-filled road trip and bittersweet confrontation of past sins.

Henry wakes up in a gas station bathroom, crusty with vomit and missing both a shoe and his wallet. Exiting, he finds himself in New Mexico, his car nowhere in sight and his memory lost to a weekend of boozing. This is his re-entry into a miserable life spent guilt-ridden over how he treated Zoe, his wife, who’s been dead for four years. Naturally, his first stop is a bar just steps away. Clarence, the philosophically inclined bartender, insists that he drink some water. During the ensuing back and forth, Clarence calls Henry out on carrying needless emotional baggage. Eventually, Henry leaves and begins hitchhiking; he meets a string of fascinating people, including Rev. Joshua White, a social worker named Mrs. Pena, and the stunning Alice—a dangerously perfect companion who’s on a yearly pilgrimage with her siblings. Henry joins Alice and company in their van, hoping to reach California while reluctantly cleansing himself of the idea that he’s no good for people. Has Zoe’s ghost trapped him, or can Henry be salvaged from this self-destructive epic outing? Cole’s tale of impossible redemption is, sentence for sentence, a textural feast. Fabulous lines like, “He collected friends the way a lumberjack collected trees...[they] only complicated his plans,” pop on every page. Equally marvelous is his dialogue; Clarence tells Henry, “You like the drama because it makes you feel important, gives you a sense of purpose, a reason for not being dead.” Readers will savor Cole’s narrative as it unfolds across a series of conversations that are by turns probing, poignant and hilarious. From his time with Rev. White, readers learn that Henry is a relentless cynic; from Mrs. Pena, that he’s softer than he appears. Alice, with eyes like bright green kryptonite, threatens all of his bourbon-drenched defenses. By the end, readers will wish these terrific characters could stick around longer.

Cole maps out a propulsive emotional journey.


KIRKUS REVIEW

Cole’s (The Pleasure of Memory, 2013) novel is equal parts snark-filled road trip and bittersweet confrontation of past sins.

Henry wakes up in a gas station bathroom, crusty with vomit...

Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9780989424950
PRICE $9.99 (USD)

Average rating from 14 members


Featured Reviews

At times this book seems to be a difficult to define, is it: road trip; something 'other-worldly' or supernatural, a 'finding yourself' almost 'coming of age' book; or a simple 'boy meets girl' love story? Even though it is difficult to define and occasionally frustrating as you feel there are points where you feel it has twists that don't fully come to fruition the main question I ask about a book is "Did you enjoy it?" and the answer is a very definite YES! Henry wakes in a bathroom in a very unkempt state, covered in vomit and with big gaps in his recent memory. He then begins a 'journey' home but where is that? ... what is the big mystery and why does he feel so guilty about 'her' death? ... how did he get there? On the way he meets people who seem to have an ability to 'get him' and have a 'sense about him' but is that a pointer to some special abilities or are they just very perceptive.
The main body of the book is centred on his encounters with Alice and her extended family but although this is a very transformative time I would have liked to explore his relationships with others he met on the road in more depth.
There is humour, there is emotion and there are intriguing characters who you become attached to; I definitely feel Cole is an exciting new writer and I look forward to more books by this author.

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