BOOKLIST

Flynn continues the saga of his battle with the demons he inherited from his
mother, who committed suicide, and his alcoholic, ex-con, sometimes homeless
father, the focus of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (2004). In this finely
crafted mosaic of edgy beauty, ambushing drama, and unsparing reflections,
Flynn wrestles with the questions of how and why we hurt each other and
ourselves, and what pain does to us. Flynn examines his struggles with
addiction, his problematic relationships with women, his father’s last days, his
experiences as an “itinerant poet” in New York City’s public schools, and the
impending arrival of his first child within the maelstrom of horrors, grotesquely
documented, rising out of Abu Ghraib. When he travels to Istanbul to help collect
testimonies of the Iraqi men detained for dubious reasons, tortured, and
photographed, he is forced to confront the mystery of brutality. Haunted,
compassionate, fearful of failing as a parent, Flynn pursues the deeply disturbing
subject of torture into unexpected spheres, seeking understanding of our
obsession with power, acceptance of suffering, and transcendent resilience.
—Donna Seaman