Bøger af Donald O'Donovan

Orgasmo is author Donald O'Donovan's autobiographical account of a long ignored writer's vow to never write again. But, alas, the vow is as destined to failure as O'Donovan's puckish alter-ego is to literary obscurity.A love letter (of sorts) to LA, O'Donovan is in rare form as we watch his calliope of characters, hustlers and hopefuls alike, whirl past to chronicle the writer's long and perilous journey from penny-a-word hack writer for a pulp fiction mill to an underground literary beacon.

Highway is author Donald O'Donovan's third novel in which we find his quintessential hero, Jerzy Mulvaney, portrayed in early life as an over-the-road truck driver-a bedbug hauler, as the industry labels those who move furniture rather than commercial goods. But Mulvaney is anything but a typical road warrior; he is an aspiring author consorting with the underbelly of American society, a bohemian artist in search of stimulating experiences and colorful characters.Typical of O'Donovan's novels, not only the characters are colorful, but the situations in which they find themselves are equally vibrant. And then there is Jerzy Mulvaney himself, rough on the outside but thoughtful and sensitive on the inside. As he navigates his course from coast to coast over eighteen wheels, he is introspective and provocative. The miles grind away underneath the rubber, but the real story is inside Jerzy's mind as he searches for balance and expression.Highway is the road trip you always imagined but never took; mile after mile is marked with candid observations, outlandish circumstances and insights that define the American experience.

Located across the U.S.-Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, Mariscal Street (otherwise known as the Boulevard of Broken Dreams) harbors Donald O'Donovan's quintessential character, Jerzy Mulvaney, as he unsuccessfully courts the Tarantula Woman-a prostitute named Ysela with a tattoo of a tarantula on her left shoulder blade. She is just one of many women in one man's unapologetic and aimless existence in Mexico where each day brings another round of whorehouses, drunken stupors, odd jobs, eruptions of violence and encounters with equally directionless individuals.Not since Charles Bukowski's Factotum has a transgressive autobiographical novel touched upon with such rawness the everyday realities of a modern-day American desperado. Yet somewhere in the midst of all the strident nihilism, O'Donovan's alter ego, Jerzy Mulvaney, manages to stumble upon an ambition of sorts: to become a real Mexican. "I wanted to destroy whatever remained of my identity, my American identity; to melt down into a primal being, because the greatest thing is to be unknown, anonymous, and truly free."Rather than a work of fiction, Tarantula Woman is a refreshingly honest document that subtly addresses such essential subjects as life, love, death and the challenge of simply being.

Jerzy Mulvaney, jack of all trades and master of none, lives by wits and nerve, alone and broke on the streets of LA, bumming booze and meals where he can, befriending the friendless, bolstering the downtrodden and hoping, finally, for a miracle that will justify a life lived on the fringe for the sake of art never accomplished. But will such a miracle present itself? Will his memories of the mysterious Tarantula Woman somehow materialize on the printed page? Will his stories of the road somehow yield the depth and wisdom he has sought through an unorthodox and adventurous lifetime? Will the illusive Night Train, its whistle ever distant yet beckoning like a siren, arrive in time to carry him to a better life and the fulfillment of a lost dream? If indeed it does, it will be just in time for Jerzy Mulvaney.