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Reviewed by: Sister Jean Marie, Immaculate Sisters of Mercy
He scrolled down the list of other reviewers from months past, names that held an almost magical power for him. These were the names of kind souls from across the country who had reviewed his book–and not only reviewed it but praised it to heaven! Barnaby Q.
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He navigated to the description of a controversial new best seller, whose author claimed that Moses was homosexual. As a result the book had received hundreds of passionate reviews in only a few days. Roughly half the readers gave the book five stars and praised its scholarly research and courageous honesty; the other half savaged it with one star and claimed that it was an evil and subversive book. Michael stopped at one review, written by a Peter Balsamo of Springfield, Massachusetts:
Another mention! It was almost too much.
And yet, why shouldn’t people like the book? It was a great story, timeless really, about the most timeless subject of all: love! Oh, go ahead and laugh, you bitter hipsters and blind fools! The Streets of My Sadness (Third Expanded Extreme Edition) was the story of a young man named Miguel, very much like Michael himself in many ways, who also lived in the shadow of Manhattan in the great aluminum suburb of Astoria, Queens. He, too, worked as a shipping clerk for an auto-parts supply company. Like Michael, Miguel had been in love once, with a beautiful but unstable young woman who had broken his heart, leaving Michael/Miguel to the comfort of sweet dreams of future glory washed down by cheap, sour beer. They both dreamed that one day they might meet their old love again, and when they did she would be an old and unloved thing, broken by life. Michael/Miguel would raise a bejeweled, manicured hand and dismiss her one last time as she wailed in agony at the final defeat of her ruined life.
When he got home that afternoon, carrying a six-pack and a chicken sandwich from the corner deli, Michael had earned and lost several fortunes, made love to dozens of Hollywood’s most beautiful starlets, and won or rejected every major literary prize. Time to celebrate! He sat at the computer and cracked the first beer as he said a quiet toast to his success.
