Mr. Eric James Rowell

The Manifested Melancholy Magnificent Mr. Eric James Rowell

While watching his childhood friend put on makeup My Boy notices something different about her face. There is a bruise, perhaps placed there by her boyfriend. Impulsively he asks her to marry him. She says yes. The Manifested Melancholy Magnificent is the first-person telling of the life of a young man known to all as "My Boy." Through the eyes of family and friends over the course of a week's time his impulsive, inebriated, and yet often courageous life is on display for all to bare witness. Characters of his life include a mother and best friend who adore him, a father and aunt who loathe him, a self-conscious new bride, and additional madcaps and sages who offer hilarity, wisdom, and their own personal perspectives on life?s tragedies and triumphs. This fictional tale of recklessness, psychosis, desperation, and opportunity is rolled into a darkly humorous account of Chicago?s South Side in an almost ancient and unforgettable era. For many - nocturnal street urchins, clubbing dance hall kings and queens, and the proletarian populace - the 1980s were fraught with the pain and neglect of the unrealized dream of becoming a Huxtable numbed by alcohol, drugs, and the grinding, bass-thumping pulse of a new melodic sound known as House Music. Each chapter is intricately linked creating a seamless tale between characters picking up from where the previous leaves off. Each character speaks directly to the reader without scene set-up or author interruption as if the character and the reader are in the same room. The Manifested Melancholy Magnificent contributes both historical and sociological perspectives of the oft-viewed superficial and fast-paced decade that at its heart was harsh, rhythmic, and beautifully somber.