![Raking the Dust by [Biscello, John]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/418TDprsp7L.jpg)
Title: Raking the Dust
Author: John Biscello
Genre: Literary Fiction
Author's Website: johnbiscello.com
Purchase on Amazon
Review by Ashleigh Grycner. Originally appeared on Amazon (five stars), and to be part of a review scheduled to be published in Riot Material.
Raking the Dust is a deeply felt and yet understated paen to the deepest human aches, hopes, and longings; a testament to second chances.
It is a grand, shameless, and nonetheless subtle exposition of the human spirit, of addiction, obsession, and ultimately, salvation. Of the fact that “all roads lead to Heaven”, and that sometimes you need to get lost in order to get found. That sometimes things need to get crazy, (pubic) hairy, and utterly confused so that we can come face to face with what we most fear. That ultimately it is in the grip of our own terror that we find the courage to say the brave No that is a Yes to our own Innocence.
I found this novel utterly gripping, and in Alex I found many pieces of myself. This work is one of existential mystery, and with Alex I pondered the dark unknown at the center of my own being. With him I descended and meandered through the twisted corridors of my own psyche. I found myself breathless in fascinated wonder, water-eyed in wistful tenderness, full-hearted with hope. This novel is not just a story. It is an experience. A moving and enriching journey into the heart of another that brought me into deeper communion with my own.
It is refreshing to find this level of profundity, honesty, and artistic restraint in a modern author. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a complex, full-bodied, and deeply moving reading experience, and one that speaks eloquently to the silent, spiritual tragedy of contemporary American life.
It is a grand, shameless, and nonetheless subtle exposition of the human spirit, of addiction, obsession, and ultimately, salvation. Of the fact that “all roads lead to Heaven”, and that sometimes you need to get lost in order to get found. That sometimes things need to get crazy, (pubic) hairy, and utterly confused so that we can come face to face with what we most fear. That ultimately it is in the grip of our own terror that we find the courage to say the brave No that is a Yes to our own Innocence.
I found this novel utterly gripping, and in Alex I found many pieces of myself. This work is one of existential mystery, and with Alex I pondered the dark unknown at the center of my own being. With him I descended and meandered through the twisted corridors of my own psyche. I found myself breathless in fascinated wonder, water-eyed in wistful tenderness, full-hearted with hope. This novel is not just a story. It is an experience. A moving and enriching journey into the heart of another that brought me into deeper communion with my own.
It is refreshing to find this level of profundity, honesty, and artistic restraint in a modern author. I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a complex, full-bodied, and deeply moving reading experience, and one that speaks eloquently to the silent, spiritual tragedy of contemporary American life.
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