Still Lifeless

by Russa Jari

Accustomed to isolation, reckless teenager Cade Caybul copes with misery through self-destruction. But when tragedy strikes, he must adapt to being in a new house with the Heltons, a family of five who have problems of their own and a drunken teenager isn't helping anything. Living amid new standards of life while navigating a haze of daily drinking, hallucinogens, and bewildering nightmares has increased Cade's chances for failure and turmoil. Maintaining control of his destiny beside personal demons and trying to flourish in a conventional society is harder than it seems.
Set in Buffalo, New York, darkly comical Still Lifeless encompasses juvenescent aimlessness, addiction, relationships, police corruption, racism, sexual abuse, malevolent spirits, and waking each day wondering who you are.

376 pages, Paperback

Published May 14, 2021

Reviews

[Jonathan LaPoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this brought me back to those hazy post-high-school years where I was desperately seeking love, meaning, and acceptance in dive bars and broken down road trips and paths to nowhere. Jari pulls no punches as he describes that universal feeling most young people have when they realize that they truly are on their own—a realization that breaks far more people than it inspires to clean up their act and face their suffering. With language that alters between poetic and matter-of-fact, Jari takes us along a profound journey where we, the reader, are able to observe the protagonist’s coming-of-age journey, and either try to make the changes he can’t seem to make himself or remember those life-altering experiences where we were able to save our own lives. Check it out if you’re not averse to reading stories that show life how it actually is rather than how we’d like it to be.