STICK MAN: A BOOK REVIEW (AP - New York)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New YORK ,New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 21, 2011 -- As an atheist, I never thought I'd write a review admitting a novel was a profoundly spiritual experience, but that's in a nutshell what I experienced reading Richard Rossi's first book Stick Man. The topics covered in this coming-of-age story are issues many face that have been covered countless times before: first love, mental illness, domestic and sexual abuse, facing the past, finding identity, and philosophical questions about the nature and existence of God, but they are faced in this fictional work with such cathartic clarity in a labor of love by the writer.

Like the quintessiential coming-of-age novel Catcher In The Rye, Rossi writes Stick Man in the first person and takes us into the heart and head of his protagonist, a courageous and creative boy named Jeremiah Young growing up in Pittsburgh. The name was carefully chosen by Rossi, blending the character's mix of prophetic and childlike qualities.

The title refers to a nightmare manifestation, a man made out of the sticks of the crucifix who haunts Jeremiah in his night terrors. The archetypal demon leaves temporarily when Jeremiah falls in love for the first time, but returns when Jeremiah's sweetheart is away from him.

The monstrous Stick Man frightens and resonates on a subconsious level and the interpretation of who he is is multi-layered. The literal answer is discovered in a haunting scene between Jeremiah and his mother that is startling in the power of the prose, but the deeper philosophical and religious meanings are fleshed out in a letter from Jeremiah to his first love that ends the novel.

Though Rossi is tight-lipped about what percetage of the novel is semi-autobiographical, it's clearly a roman à clef novel in the tradition of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, written by one who knows firsthand the descent into mental illness, bi-polar disorder, and depression. Rossi, a former fundamentalist minister, is clearly exorcising his demons in his fiction, particularly when Jeremiah confronts Reverend Mordecai Rawlings, a Falwell-like preacher who suppresses the boy with legalism and guilt.

The novel has quickly been burned and banned by some fundamentalist Christian groups who consider it subversive to their dogma, but Rossi's response has been "they haven't read my book all the way through and they haven't read the bible all the way through. If they had, they'd understand."

The novel has a broad appeal beyond the most obvious college-age market who relate to Jeremiah's change as he turns twenty-one. Anyone who has struggled to find their soulmate, and fallen in love with a partner who vanishes, will find comfort and lessons on love that are profound but not preachy.

The story appeals to religious believers and unbelievers all along the continuum, because of it's unflinching honesty (rare in my experience from a writer with an evangelical background) and it's razorlike insights into what the various characters believe and how that effects their lives. Jeremiah's journey from religion to a more authentic spirituality is captured so poetically, that I find myself wanting to believe in Jeremiah's universal love that can save all souls.
Tony King, New York
Stick Man by Richard Rossi is available at amazon.com

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