Jon Morgan Davies is a native of California currently residing in Athens, Georgia. His work has appeared in such publications as The Adirondack Review, CutBank, and Southern Indiana Review.
The main character in the story is “Everyone”. They decided to write a novel about the meaning of life. “Everyone” tried to find the meaning of life after their spouse left them. “Everyone’s” novel was published online in a weekly posting to the Internet. “Everyone” was interested in having people read their book and discover the meaning of life in the process. The character was focused on marketing, social presence, and topics that could be discussed.
The other major character was the Internet. This entity persuaded “Everyone” in matters to approach life, write the blog novel, and find love. In some cases, the Internet was no more than a search tool. The Internet seemed comparable to and intelligent IM chat bot. Most characters mentioned in the story had some connection with the Internet. At one point, the Internet made a statement that I think best sums up both “Everyone’s” novel and Davies’ novel.
“We write the stories as we read them. The very choice to ignore this part of the story telling process is itself to an artifice with meta fictional underpinnings – erasing the author so that the author must be found, or creating an author so that the real author is obfuscated…”
The people at “Everyone’s” job was obsessed over a co-worker named J.D. who fell out of the 12th floor of their office space. In fact many people along the work space gawk over the window. It causes the demise of several others. “Everyone” seems to have a crush on their co-worker named Sam. After many attempts, the two characters interact with each other as potential lovers. With “Everyone” being uncomfortable, they don’t excel much farther.
“Everyone” constantly thought of $5092. That was the amount of money that was needed to get a new car. With life there are unexpected events. “Everyone” had their fair share of events and bills. They dealt with their kid eating from a huge amount of chocolate and going to the hospital. There are several oddities about this book that stick out. The way the book is written is tiresome to read and doesn’t make sense in other parts. Though the name of the character is “Everyone” the only time that it is capitalized is at the start of the sentence. Davies uses both pronouns when referring to “Everyone” but switches back and forth between them. In some cases he uses, his or her. And at other times, she or he. Either way, it adds a difficulty and shroud to the book.
If you’re a reader that is interested in abstract themes and storytelling, give this book a try.
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