Mooney's Manifesto

by Gregory Gibson

Most survivors of gun violence must bear the burden of uninvited fantasies of revenge. First against the perpetrator, then as the nightmare leaks into the waking world, against them – the cynical, morally deprived, depraved system that let it happen, that keeps letting it happen. Explored and "downloaded" by the author – himself a victim of American gun violence – a version of such a nightmare into Mooney’s Manifesto. Against Sisyphusian odds, Greg Gibson keeps his balance, and excellent dialog with himself, strengthened by irony and love of the world, throughout this tragic book depicting a person’s Ultimate Struggle with losing an utterly loved son to “random” gun violence. The shocking conclusion of the book will force any reader to come to terms with what really needs to occur to “knock some sense” into a great nation now weighed down with violence, gun-buttery, and very unnecessary tragedies. Ed Sanders When somebody tells you a terrible story, calmly, in measured tones, you will never forget where it happened. The only survival technique is to move the action into the landscape, as framed in the screen of a car. I thought when Greg Gibson spoke, both of us looking straight ahead, that writing a book might be the first step towards surviving whatever else was coming in a changed life. Mooney's Manifesto is not that story, but it is a spare fiction authenticated and driven by the madness of reality in a country where these things happen. A country that is soon to be everywhere. This is a powerful counterweight to that madness, written out of the sanity of loss and pain, into justified anger. Ian Sinclair

258 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2023

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the author’s voice. I suggest you read Gone Boy first, a factual account of the author losing his son to gun violence. It sounds like this, presented as fiction, may be expressing Gibson’s thoughts and feelings about the tragedy. Highly recommend.