Intimacy Idiot

In one of the latter stories in "Intimacy Idiot," Isaac Oliver goes on a writer's retreat in the woods of New Hampshire. Being a dyed-in-the-wool city boy, he is not accustomed to rural New England. Nature's splendor surrounds him; he has removed all outlets to social media from his phone; he wants to focus solely on work; yet all he can think about is getting laid.

Almost anyone will do, but the pickings are slim.

The very trees speak in this hallowed forest where many a literary legend has tread, and they say, "The world can be horrible. You cannot make sense of it; you can only absorb it... But if you try like we do, your exhale can be cleaner than your inhale."

In this debut collection of scattered stories, poems, diary entries, lists, scenes and at least one recipe, the author hungers for a man to complete and fulfill him, and in the process he absorbs and exhales the world around him.

If you're looking for intricately woven plots, fascinating character development, suspense, thrills or literary insight, you're not going to get it here. But if you're looking to laugh your ass off in spite of yourself, you've come to the right place. And in the process, you may encounter some thought provoking imagery and pause-inspiring observation of life in New York.

An award-winning, playwright, author and performer whose stories have appeared in the "How I Learned Series," the "Soundtrack Series," "Showgasms," "Dead Darlings," "Real Characters," "On this Island" and "Naked Radio," Oliver is best at talking about himself - which gives this collection an exaggerated memoir quality.

Oliver addresses his reader in vignettes that are brief, quippy and tailored for instant social media endorsement. For instance in "People's Parties," the author talks about trying to hook-up in the city: "If the attractive person is indeed talking to you and seems interested, genuine, or even flirtatious, you're probably going to get murdered. You could do worse; an ax in the back is still penetration."

One of the most sincere, thoughtful and genuinely funny moments of the book is a collection of photographs of the author as a child, posing as various movie heroines and Disney princesses for his parents' camera. Oliver's contemplations on his own character are never sharper than with hindsight and photographic records. We also get snippets of some of his early writing (circa nine years-old).

Like the rest of the book it is relentless in its need for attention, but the overall picture is of a man who came from loving parents and now wants to be loved as an adult. All the while he is desperately looking for a way to stand out in a world where millions of others are trying to do the same.

"Intimacy Idiot"
By Isaac Oliver
Hardback with jacket
274 pages
SimonandSchuster.com