"Powerful commentary on loneliness and rejection"

Richard Perez's first novel, THE LOSERS' CLUB , is a poignant depiction of the life of an author suffering endlessly from the rejection of publishers, as well as members of the opposite sex.

Set in the '90s in East Village New York, Perez's novel is a powerful commentary concerning the constant struggle faced by artists, writers, and musicians. Constantly spinning their wheels, stumbling from one listless adventure to the next, without very little to show for their efforts. In order to survive, many have to accept dead end jobs leading nowhere.

Martin Sierra, the principal protagonist, confides to his bi-sexual friend, Nikki, that as he is a total masochist, he wanted a life full of perpetual failure and disappointment, and so he chose the art life.

Adding to his woes, Martin can't seem to "score" with the opposite sex. He becomes addicted to the personal columns of newspapers, where he meets off- the- wall characters. A bi-sexual, who seems only to be interested in a platonic relationship, another, who is a schoolteacher and into vampires, and does not think too much of having sexual relations with her students. Then there is the woman who lives at home and is convinced her mother is out to kill her.

Readers are exposed to a good dose of pathetic characters, living in their own self-chosen, largely re-imagined eras, lost in their own private little time warps. The decadent bars and clubs scenes of the East Village during the mid '90s are expertly evoked through the eyes and ears of Martin and his female companions. The result is an engaging jolting observation of lonely individuals who, for the most part, are not so much losers, but lost souls.

Perez's gift is that he can clearly write with a great deal of emotion and passion, and perhaps leaving his readers with the question, is THE LOSERS' CLUB autobiographical?

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures
Posted August 19, 2003