Poor Tom
Poor Julius Dickman! He has a boatload of issues, many worries and concerns. His live-with girlfriend, Naomi, regularly tongue-lashes him. He has a bad stutter and claustrophobia that often leads to uncomfortable panic attacks. He has chronic insomnia, in which he pops awake and immediately starts worrying and ruminating. He has no real profession. And now his widowed father, Herbert, the renowned classical actor, has retired from his long theater career after playing King Lear, the big role he waited all his life to do, and is behaving very strangely. Julius wants to help, to be as good a son to Herbert as Edgar, in disguise as Poor Tom, was to his father in Lear. And he’d like, too, to be a good father-figure to poor Benji, Naomi’s put-upon twelve-year old son, if he can. Julius aspires to be a mensch. But how?
Available in print and ePub at HenschelHaus Publishing.
Poor Tom Reviews
Drapkin’s portrayal of father-son relationships, erotic and platonic love, fulfilled and unfilled dreams and ambitions, is moving and thought-provoking. Will Julius, the winsome protagonist and self-proclaimed schlemiel, find peace with his shrewish partner Naomi? Will he succeed in making his father laugh and help him achieve his life-long goal of mastering the character of Lear? Will he become the father-figure that he aspires to be to Naomi’s young son, Benji? Will he give up his jobs as house-painter and photographer and fulfill his fantasies of embracing the Cordelia-like Celeste, and opening the hot-dog stand of his dreams? Tom may be poor, but this book, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, with its narrative intricacy, telling detail, emotional resonance, and laugh-out-loud humor, is immeasurably satisfying and rich.”