Richard Beckham II

Frog in the Pot Richard Beckham II

If life is not a test, then what is it? That's what Alvin Taylor, a 27-year-old alcoholic janitor, tries to figure out over his winter vacation with help from a mocking, yet conscientious, "voice," but after a belligerent night in Canada with his friend, Alvin decides to sober up and give back to society-by becoming a crossing guard at an elementary school. "Somewhere along the line, between the idealisms of youth and the realities of adulthood, we become pacified by our jobs; we tolerate how we hurt the world so that we can sustain our lives. At some point, blurred in the past, we traded the greater good for ourselves." -From "Frog in the Pot" "Frog in the Pot" is a meditation on loneliness, its desperation, loss, and rejection. The narrative is a mixture of introspection, opinion, and drunken nonsense; but there is a larger theme that underscores this prose, something reticent in those of us caught between generations, or a quarter-life crisis. This novel is an entertaining blend of cynicism, sarcasm, and desolation, though at its heart is a thread of hope.