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Self-Help: A Novel - ABNA 2013 Entry
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Entry - this eBook is a sample of the first 3,000-5,000 words; it is not the full book. The ABNA contest is operated on Amazon.com only. Visit this entry on Amazon.com to leave customer feedback. To vote for the Grand Prize winner starting May 21, visit www.amazon.com/ABNA.
Jim Pensadesso is your typical twenty-something loser, disillusioned and stuck in the dull rut of post-college life. His unremarkable days revolve around a minimum wage '9 to 5' data job that he hates, and end in sullen nights alone, drinking and smoking pot.He's clever and sarcastic, mopey but good-natured, and drifts aimlessly in the unending neurotic bowels of a quarter-life crisis. Jim Pensadesso considers mailing back a Netflix DVD as a major pressing accomplishment. Jim Pensadesso swears he's on the brink of snapping.But this dark, comedic, 'new-adult' novel isn't about the Jim Pensadesso in the present, it's about the Jim Pensadesso later... three decades later. And it's about the two Jims together at the same time.While on an annual siblings' vacation to their deceased parents' timeshare, Jim meets his future self, slumming in a Caribbean dive bar. A reeking and raving drunk, crazy Older Jim (or "Older Me" as he's called) desperately kidnaps the reluctant younger hero for a debauched tropical journey to investigate what causes a life to go so wrong. What lies at the heart of a person's regret? When existence is so short and precious, what will matter too late in the game? Success, money and fame? Or self-esteem, happiness and honesty?Blending humor, existentialism, eastern attitudes and a tiny trace of both science-fiction and action, this first-person, stream of consciousness narrative mixes laughter, hard truths and heartbreaking life lessons. It's intended for anyone who has ever stood on brink of "real" adulthood and its routine monotony, and wondered "Well, what next?" Because past our self-loathing, self-doubt, and self-deception, there is " A Novel" for anyone brave enough to take a look inwards.
Jim Pensadesso is your typical twenty-something loser, disillusioned and stuck in the dull rut of post-college life. His unremarkable days revolve around a minimum wage '9 to 5' data job that he hates, and end in sullen nights alone, drinking and smoking pot.He's clever and sarcastic, mopey but good-natured, and drifts aimlessly in the unending neurotic bowels of a quarter-life crisis. Jim Pensadesso considers mailing back a Netflix DVD as a major pressing accomplishment. Jim Pensadesso swears he's on the brink of snapping.But this dark, comedic, 'new-adult' novel isn't about the Jim Pensadesso in the present, it's about the Jim Pensadesso later... three decades later. And it's about the two Jims together at the same time.While on an annual siblings' vacation to their deceased parents' timeshare, Jim meets his future self, slumming in a Caribbean dive bar. A reeking and raving drunk, crazy Older Jim (or "Older Me" as he's called) desperately kidnaps the reluctant younger hero for a debauched tropical journey to investigate what causes a life to go so wrong. What lies at the heart of a person's regret? When existence is so short and precious, what will matter too late in the game? Success, money and fame? Or self-esteem, happiness and honesty?Blending humor, existentialism, eastern attitudes and a tiny trace of both science-fiction and action, this first-person, stream of consciousness narrative mixes laughter, hard truths and heartbreaking life lessons. It's intended for anyone who has ever stood on brink of "real" adulthood and its routine monotony, and wondered "Well, what next?" Because past our self-loathing, self-doubt, and self-deception, there is " A Novel" for anyone brave enough to take a look inwards.
15 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2013
About the author
Pat Boccuzzi
2 books1 followerPat Boccuzzi is a Los Angeles based writer and comedian. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, he attended Emerson College for Writing and Media Studies. In 2007, Pat was one of seven finalists in Comedy Central's nationwide stand-up competition, "Open Mic Fight." He has performed all over the nation and has been featured in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and Comedy Central.
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