2/3/20 @9:00am pst - NYC writing professor David Puretz, releases his debut novel, The Escapist. He joins Janeane live on KUCI 88.9fm

KUCI: Get the Funk Out

English - February 03, 2020 16:30 - ★★★★ - 7 ratings
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Previous Episode: 1/27/20 @9:15am pst - “The Soledad Children” (Arte Público Press, Sept. 30, 2019) by attorneys Marty Glick and Maurice Jourdane, who fought against the injustice of culturally biased IQ tests largely affecting Mexican-American and African-American c

Next Episode: Leif Garrett speaks with host Janeane Bernstein about his new memoir, Idol Truth, released on November 5, 2019 via Post Hill Press

ABOUT THE BOOK
When escape becomes a first line of defense, is it possible to ever face life's harsh realities? In his debut novel, The Escapist (Global City Press, January 28, 2020), David Puretz details one young man's seemingly never-ending quest for his missing father. Weaving topics like mental health, family conflict and abuse, drug addiction, and sexuality throughout a frame narrative structure, Puretz delves into the internal and external calamities that shape the human life and mind.

The only thing protagonist Billy Chute excels in is escaping. After finding that his father has escaped his own life and disappeared, Billy quits his job and sets out to find him. But what he may really be searching for is a path to free him from his past and give him a purpose and future.

More than a story of self-discovery, The Escapist takes an intimate look into the psyche of an unlikely protagonist. Billy turns to writing as he travels the country, and uses writing, in part, as a way to heal, make sense of things, and forgive. Within the narrative, he explores the adversity of family and self, desperate to create his own identity, but drug addiction and the lasting effects of past abuse take him deeper into an escape than he ever could have imagined.