Views and Mechanics Publisher's Note Editor's Note Review of Paint It Black Review of The i Tetralogy Poetry Zoology By Patricia Murphy Framed Gift By Sheila McLaughlin Sikorski Friends 'n' 'at or Ode to Pittsburghatory By Betta Risa In My Father's Shoes By Richard Fein Freedom By Skip Shea Fiction Quitting Time By Barbara Archer Tumbleweed By Thom Brennan Maternal Instincts By Diane Kimbrell You Should Write People Dead By T. M. Warfield Spring Fling By Patricia Murphy About the Contributors © 2007, River Walk Journal and respective authors and artists. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. River Walk Journal, Inc. Board of Directors Chairman - Elizabeth Ross Vice Chairman - Joseph Koch Secretary/Treasurer - Geri Stock-Ross Editorial Director - Patti Kurtz, DA Literacy Director - Vacant Policy Director - PA State Rep. Jess Stairs Advisory Board Chairman - Patti Kurtz, DA Asst. Chairman - Dan Lachenman, PhD Samuel Hazo Christopher Leland Edwin Yoder Joseph Bathanti Journal Staff Publisher - Elizabeth Ross Editor-In-Chief - Joseph Koch Sen. Fiction Editor - Patti Kurtz Sen. Poetry Editor - Neeldhara Misra Sen. Creative Nonfiction Editor - Brenda Coxe Copyeditor - Kathy Skaggs Contributing Editor - Robert Dittman Blog Contributing Editor - Maggie Koster Publicity Director (PA) - Geri Stock-Ross For information about submissions, visit http://www.riverwalkjournal.org/subs.html. Questions about promotions, subscribers' services, and advertising should be sent to publisher@riverwalkjournal.org. River Walk Journal, Inc. is a non-profit corporation run entirely by volunteers. For information about volunteer opportunities and internships, visit VolunteerMatch. |
Review of Paint It Black By Janet Fitch ISBN-10: 0-316-18274-5 Paint It Black is more like a debut than a second novel, proving Janet Fitch’s ability to draw readers into whatever world she chooses. Eighties punk underground of L.A. comes to life in the pages, as readers are drawn into the world of Josie Tyrell. Josie is the unlikely girlfriend of well-to-do-trying-to-play-starving-artist Michael Faraday. Her world is turned upside-down when she is called to identify his body after his suicide in a lonely motel. Josie – a runaway and art model – sits precariously on the brink of the abyss of drug and alcohol addiction as she slowly learns that her lover wasn’t what she thought he was. Various revelations about his childhood she gathers from his parents send her tumbling out of control. From learning that Michael had been shivering in the shadow of his father Calvin Faraday’s accomplishments, to basking too much in the glow of his mother Meredith Loewy’s love and fame, Josie discovers she knew very little about the man she loved. Calvin – an accomplished author – tries to show her a little about his son. Meredith – a world-renowned concert pianist – blatantly shows her the world Michael really came from. In the classroom, this novel will be useful on the topics of psychology of addiction, history of the eighties particularly underground culture, and psychology of death particularly exploring stages of acceptance of the death of a loved one. |