It Doesn't Make Any Difference

by Edward Drobinski

Irreligious and middle-aged Isaac Leibowitz leaves his comfortable home and family in Gig Harbor, Washington in pursuit of career enhancement in NYC. His wife wants no part of the big city, and they work out a tacit agreement that he will return after establishing top notch credentials. To fill the free time now afforded, Isaac once again, picks up on a “conspiracy theory,” which he had abandoned five years prior. His revived interest is partially due to his “conspiratorial” zoftig neighbor in Brooklyn Heights. The past, researched as well as may be determined under the constricting circumstances, though not capable of passing the bar of “beyond all reasonable doubt,” seems to strongly suggest a mankind-tricked-thereby-turbulent view of history. With potentially more relevance, current events are unfolding in a pattern consistent with a slightly manipulated replay of a tragedy, now eight decades gone. Isaac becomes more or less uncomfortably certain that he has made a fundamental mistake somewhere; that error perhaps residing in both his departure from home and the consequent monotony inspired, time-filling conspiracy fiasco; a much too common form of 2022 “entertainment.” And all of that and more go on, until ................... .

1420 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2019

About the author

I have no idea why I write. I know that I like to and wish I had done it all my life. I've thought of various reasons why I started which come and go. The only one which keeps coming back, is that my beginnings coincided with when my dog, Daisy, started to slow down. I am an embarassing 65 years of age now, and I enjoy writing more than anything else, other than being with Daisy. If I could venture a purpose, which isn't easy, it would be that I like to keep doing different things. I hope readers do not want to hear the same story over and over again. They all are derivative and boring.

I intend to try to tell the sagas of various people at the most interesting time of their lives. I think that to do follow ups with the same characters is more lucrative, but would result in lesser stories for the readers and would be tedious for me. We are all entitled to have some fun. Despite the logic conveyed by those most beneficial of the sadness, aren't we entitled to live and love? The answer seems so obvious.

Reviews

[Anni · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How do we know that all the conspiracy theories on YouTube aren’t actually produced by the Illuminati? How do we know that Illuminati theory itself isn’t a government hoax, designed to convince people that it’s impossible to fight back?"

This is a tour de force of imaginative writing which defies all the usual literary conventions and is everything and more than the unsuspecting reader is likely to discover between the pages of a novel.
Fiction, non-fiction, fake news and conspiracy theories merge together in this whirlwind sweep of contemporary culture, as seen through the prism of mainstream, social, and alternative media, when the information overload is such that no-one can tell what is true anymore.

The stylistic pyrotechnics on display include the use of structural fragmentation, artful images, unorthodox configurations of type, plus narrative shifts and tangents in time, space and perspective. The resulting effect is what David Foster Wallace aimed for in his fiction and referred to as “tornadic”. If this all sounds rather enigmatic, that’s because of the difficulty of describing non-genre writing.

So five stars for creativity and highly recommended for readers who are looking for something more adventurous than the usual fare on offer.