Senseless
ISBN-10 1463701756
ISBN-13 978-1463701758
Senseless by Damien Galeone is a gritty read that takes its audience down a third-person view of Phineas and his struggle to find a sense of purpose.
Shortly after the news of his grandmother’s death, a psychosomatic loss of his sense of smell begins. It is noted by the main character Phineas, but not altogether believed to be anything other than a temporary bother, at first.
You follow Phineas down the Pennsylvania turnpike to attend his grandmother’s funeral, and this is where the author’s talent begins to shine through the somewhat difficult beginning.
A lot of books I read are like trying on a pair of shoes. Will these fit? I don’t know. My toes are kind of pinched. And then after a bit of walking around in them, they feel good. This book was like that. Uncomfortable throughout the first fifty pages or so of several descriptive references to feces and the author’s tendency to over-describe, I found myself putting it down only to come back to it. I wanted to know where Mr. Galeone was going with this. What was he trying to convey?
There are moments of pure joy, as a reader, when passages such as this, crawl into the brain:
‘He was reminded of late summer nights when he was young and would sneak out to walk around their old neighborhood in the lonely darkness. He recalled the absolute quiet of those nights, at times terrifying, but the world, in those long lost moments, belonged to him.’
Galeone is obviously very adept at observing people, his descriptions of the characters painting a picture for the reader and leaving no question as to their appearance. I felt as if I were in a writer’s workshop watching as the author turned me from an editor with a critical eye into a reader that was really rooting for Phineas in the canal.
By the end of this book, I was hooked. It all made sense and then I laughed. I felt senseless myself throughout a lot of this book and then, just as the protagonist Phineas: I got it. I finally understood.
Worth the read, but know that you have to be the sort that just has to finish a book. I look forward to more from Mr. Galeone. His talent is undeniable and will surely blossom to something incredible as the ending to this book will attest.
It can be purchased here: Senseless by Damien Galeone
