Nick Earls has begun an ambitious project with his new writing. Gotham is the first story of five linked novellas, being released in May 2016. The other four will follow with one each month.
It introduces Jeff Foster, an Australian journalist who has come to the US to interview the over-indulged and newly famous rapper, nineteen year-old Na$ti Boi. To get his interview, he must spend time at Bloomingdales with the rapper and his keeper Smokey. He is then forced to accompany them around town while Na$ti feeds his ego with sex, drugs and name-dropping, as he builds ‘the present to write over the past’.
The story is half way through before we learn that the reason Jeff needs this interview to succeed, is so the money he’s paid, can cover his sick daughter’s treatment. It is as if two stories converge, to prepare for another direction. This no doubt, sets up the following novella, titled, Venice.
This brilliant piece of work has prose that is sharp, clever and precise. It showcases the price of fame, how it can destroy not only the very young and famous, but also their minders. The character Smokey’s role is highly significant to the story. Through him we see what he sacrifices of his family life to keep his job. We witness his personal ethics compromised to satisfy the selfish and pampered whims of the superficial Na$ti, who while having everything wants more, but is never satisfied.
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis
Title: Gotham: Wisdom Tree – Novella #1
Author: Nick Earls
Publisher: Inkerman Blunt
Publication Date: May 2016 $19.95RRP
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780992498580
Type: Contemporary Fiction
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