The story is conveyed in the first person through the eyes of Ishmael O’Donnell, an observant young man who wrestles with familial dysfunction, possession by the spirit of his long-dead twin brother, and a quest for purification from both.

The book chronicles the events that lead up to his seeking out seminary as a means of attaining this purification. Upon his arrival at seminary and his three-year journey through the curriculum, he finds himself engulfed in an unending torrent of duplicity, impertinence, and societal abnormalities within a communal setting of characters so driven, tenacious, over-the-top, and supercilious, it hurts.

The mocking inner voice of Ishmael’s twin reverberates louder and louder as he desperately tries to come to grips with what is taking place about him, while discovering who he is within the confines of a cloistered setting he finds to be inundated with its own unique form of madness.

And when he finally does obtain the key to his purification… but such things are not revealed second hand.

REVIEW

Growing up in the turbulent 1960’s, [Ishmael’s] mother is but a doormat to his bully of a father, whose military brand of abuse rivals that of The Great Santini.

Reviewed by: Kelly Davis, reviewer from Book Ideas
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