Brookline Books/Lumen Editions

The Joy Of Being Awake 

Nominated for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Prize, 1998. 

Saint or sinner? The reader must decide as he follows the ruminations of Hector Abad's aging protagonist, Gaspar. Gaspar's memoirs meld the ostensible seriousness of St. Augustine's Confessions with the bawdy atmosphere of Fanny Hill. This is the counter-story to Voltaire's Candide, told with a matter-of-factness that Abad accomplishes with an earthy yet cerebral flair.