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There are seven defining moments in a person’s life. For Morris Bliss, the difficulty is in knowing which moments are defining. At age thirty-five, Morris Bliss is clamped in the jaws of New York City inertia: he wants to travel but has no money; he needs a job but has no prospects; he still shares a walk-up apartment with his father. Enter Stefani, an eighteen-year-old girl in a catholic school uniform, and Morris’s once static life quickly unravels. Stefani’s father, oblivious to his daughter’s doings, calls on Morris to work for him; Morris’s best friend, N.J., whose only practice of economy is with the truth, is recruited by the Red Thread, an international cartel that controls global economics and local sex markets; and Morris’s father, a taciturn widower, finally reveals the truth surrounding the strange death of Morris’s mother. A body at rest will remain at rest. Unless acted upon. With the agony of his inertia finally broken, Morris Bliss fights to keep his life from careening out of control. East Fifth Bliss follows Morris as he confronts the intricate and often confusing aspects of relationships, family, and identity. He must learn to adapt if he is to survive. |
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Reviews and Accolades
"Set on New York's Lower East Side, this first novel by Light (founding editor, Epiphany) introduces Morris Bliss, 35 years old and living with his widowed father. Morris has big dreams of traveling all over the world. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a job or the means to take his aspirations beyond a collection of travel brochures and pushpins in a map on his bedroom wall. This fun read boasts a likable protagonist, other quirky and interesting
characters, and vivid and humorous descriptions of New York while also
providing some significant social commentary. The scene in which Morris
and a former high school classmate (and father of the 18-year-old girl
with whom Morris is sleeping) storm a vacant building in the middle of
the night to roust out a group of homeless squatters is both funny and
disturbing. Recommended for large public libraries with an interest in
new and unknown authors." Light's prose is careful, rhythmic, and economic; he deftly uses the
weight of one sentence as a pendulum to push forward the next. The result
is a style that mirrors, and serves to create, the transformation of Morris
Bliss…an easy read, with bouts of slapstick dangled around heavy themes…a
coming of age tale about someone who should have come of age long before.
The naïve cynicism of Bliss allows author Douglas Light to place him in
situations we might otherwise question. But by throwing him into the fray,
he is able to pull him out again, leaving a piece of his old self behind
with each encounter. |
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About the Author DOUGLAS LIGHT has published fiction in such literary magazines as Alaska Quarterly Review and Failbetter , and in the anthologies O. Henry Prize Stories 2003 and Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003. His work was selected as a Finalist for the 2002 James Jones First Novel Fellowship and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Additionally, he was a founding editor of the literary journal Epiphany. Douglas holds a B.A. from the Indiana University and a M.A. in Creative Writing from City College , New York. Web site: douglaslight.com
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Winner, 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award, Popular Fiction Category