Sky Below by Stacey E'Rasmo

Sky Below by Stacey E'Rasmo
Book Description:  At thirty-seven, Gabriel Collins works halfheartedly as an obituary writer at a fading newspaper in lower Manhattan, which, since 9/11, feels like a city of the dead. This once dreamy and appealing boy has turned from a rebellious adolescent to an adult who trades in petty crimes.His wealthy, older boyfriend is indulgent of him to a point. But after a brush with his own mortality, Gabriel must flee to Mexico in order to put himself back together. By novel's end, we know all of Gabriel's ratty little secrets, but by dint of D'Erasmo's spectacular writing, we exult in the story of an imperfect man who was tested by a world that is often too much for him and rises to meet the challenge.

Lily's Thoughts- (As published in Elle Magazine, January 2009)
Rich in details, sentences spun as expertly as an artist's brush renders a masterpiece, this novel is a tale for the connoisseur of words. We live Gabriel life along side him; the painful departure of his father and subsequent loss of the mother he remembers as being so creative and attendant, who now must fend for him and his older sister. We endure his long wait for life to begin, for his coming of age that never materializes the way he expects it will. We hold witness to the thin line between reality and fantasy, sometimes unable to distinguish the differences. Gabriel, long into adulthood, holds onto an idea of the past, a world he's created in his mind, a world he can never seem to grasp, even as his moves mindless through real life situations and relationships. To me, more than anything, this novel explores the question "If you think something is true, does that make it real?"  I give this one 4 blooms.

Disclosure:  This book was given to me by Elle Magazine in exchange for a review.