American Purgatorio

A mesmerizing first novel about a man, a woman, and a disappearance. "I'm from Chicago originally. I went to New York, married a girl named Anne, and was in the middle of living happily ever after when something happened." So begins John Haskell's mesmerizing first novel, American Purgatorio, the story of a happily married man who discovers, as he walks out of a convenience store, that his life has suddenly vanished. In cool, precise prose, written as both a detective story and a meditation on the seven deadly sins, Haskell tells a story that is by turns tragic and comic, compassionate and gripping. From the brownstones of New York City to the sandy beaches of Southern California, American Purgatorio follows the journey of a man whose object of desire is both heartbreaking and ephemeral. It confirms John Haskell's reputation as one of our most intriguing new writers, "one of those rare authors who makes language seem limitless in its possibilities" (Susan Reynolds, Los Angeles Times).

The Purgatorio is the celestial afterworld where all people who die on Earth first immediately arrive to be purged and processed in their after-life by the Angels and Wise Prophets. The Journalist Romano as Adam & the ancient Prophet Zarathustra arrive to attend the Annual Lantern Parade in the attached Paradiso but will experience all the aspects of the Purgatorio before moving onto the Paradiso. The Café Graeco-Roman is the largest public café in the Celestial Kingdom where souls gather to discuss their personal, recreational and theological concerns amidst conspiratorial undercurrents led by the diabolical Devil and his tough-talking Three Crown Princes arriving as both undercover comedians and Garcons. The World’s main religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam and the Primitive Religions as well are explored by both the Young French Professeur and the Extraordinary School Children. The Conspiracy Theorists are introduced while Celestial Tour Announcements about Guided Trips to Earth are permitted to those who qualify are given all day. A Literary Intermezzo is offered to display the literature greats forming their Literary Collective which include souls like Chaucer, Charles Dickens, the Grimm Brothers, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Shelley, Lady Murasaki, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare, the Russian existentialists & others. Theological and Intellectual debates are also offered with the ancient Greek philosophers of Socrates & Plato & Aristotle to the modern thinkers Darwin, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Rabelais & others. Ideologies and Faiths are also explored in Chapters with the subjects of the True Authorship of the Christian New Testament & the Higher Criticism of the Bible. GOD also has approved an Interstellar Scientific Project designed to explore the Universe with celestial physicists, mathematicians, bio-chemists, bio-technologists, behavioral scientists, political economists, philosophers, existentialists, theologians etc. all assisted by Albert Einstein among others.

The Purgatorio is the celestial afterworld where all people who die on Earth first immediately arrive to be purged and processed in their after-life by the Angels and Wise Prophets. The Journalist Romano as Adam & the ancient Prophet Zarathustra arrive to attend the Annual Lantern Parade in the attached Paradiso but will experience all the aspects of the Purgatorio before moving onto the Paradiso. The Café Graeco-Roman is the largest public café in the Celestial Kingdom where souls gather to discuss their personal, recreational and theological concerns amidst conspiratorial undercurrents led by the diabolical Devil and his tough-talking Three Crown Princes arriving as both undercover comedians and Garcons. The World’s main religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity and Islam and the Primitive Religions as well are explored by both the Young French Professeur and the Extraordinary School Children. The Conspiracy Theorists are introduced while Celestial Tour Announcements about Guided Trips to Earth are permitted to those who qualify are given all day. A Literary Intermezzo is offered to display the literature greats forming their Literary Collective which include souls like Chaucer, Charles Dickens, the Grimm Brothers, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Shelley, Lady Murasaki, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare, the Russian existentialists & others. Theological and Intellectual debates are also offered with the ancient Greek philosophers of Socrates & Plato & Aristotle to the modern thinkers Darwin, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Rabelais & others. Ideologies and Faiths are also explored in Chapters with the subjects of the True Authorship of the Christian New Testament & the Higher Criticism of the Bible. GOD also has approved an Interstellar Scientific Project designed to explore the Universe with celestial physicists, mathematicians, bio-chemists, bio-technologists, behavioral scientists, political economists, philosophers, existentialists, theologians etc. all assisted by Albert Einstein among others.