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Damascus

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"[Mohr] has a generous understanding of his characters, whom he describes with an intelligence and sensitivity that pulls you in."—The New York Times Book Review (editors' choice) on Termite Parade

It's 2003 and the country is divided evenly for and against the Iraq War. Damascus, a dive bar in San Francisco's Mission District, becomes the unlikely setting for a showdown between the opposing sides.

Tensions come to a boil when Owen, the bar's proprietor who has recently taken to wearing a Santa suit full-time, agrees to host the joint's first (and only) art show by Sylvia Suture, an ambitious young artist who longs to take her act to the dramatic precipice of the high-wire by nailing live fish to the walls as a political statement.

An incredibly creative and fully rendered cast of characters orbit the bar. There's No Eyebrows, a cancer patient who has come to the Mission to die anonymously; Shambles, the patron saint of the hand job; Revv, a lead singer who acts too much like a lead singer; and Owen, donning his Santa costume to mask the most unfortunate birthmark imaginable.

Damascus is the place where confusion and frustration run out of room to hide. By gracefully tackling such complicated topics as cancer, Iraq, and issues of self-esteem, Joshua Mohr has painted his most accomplished novel yet.

Joshua Mohr is the San Francisco Chronicle best-selling author of Some Things That Meant the World to Me and Termite Parade, a New York Times Book Review editors' choice selection.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 15, 2011
      Browbeaten characters belly up to a San Francisco saloon in Mohr’s third novel, rife with themes of humanity, passion, and determined resilience. Damascus, a seedy Mission District dive bar (where “every interchange was a con, every night, a pitiful costume party”), is the home away from home for a ragtag troupe of oddballs headlined by cancer patient “No Eyebrows”; hand-job hooker Irene, aka “Shambles”; the numbingly insecure bar owner, Owen, of an unfortunate birth mark who dresses as Santa; and local artist Syl, best friend to Owen’s lesbian niece, Daphne. Syl is debuting her controversial painting installation of 12 dead soldiers at Damascus, much to the furyof injured Iraq war veteran Byron Settles, who, over the course of the story, conspires to destroy both the artwork and the bar. More impressive, however, is the coupling of Shambles and No Eyebrows. Her growing affection for the rapidly deteriorating cancer victim makes for an unlikely yet intense pairing that Mohr (Termite Parade) lovingly develops with unfettered affection. It’s the story line that carries the rest of the book. Not all the circumstances gel; a street scene confrontation with Owen and the father of a little girl who comments that Owen looks like Adolf Hitler feels contrived as does the overwritten hostage scene and firestorm at Damascus, but this accom-plished effort demonstrates Mohr’s rich, resonant prose, authentically rendered settings, and deft characterization.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from October 1, 2011

      Mohr's new novel (after Termite Parade), set in San Francisco's Mission District, tells two related stories. One is of Owen, the 60-year-old owner of the Damascus bar, and the other is about No Eyebrows, named for his distinctive facial trait, who meets a woman named Shambles in Owen's bar. No Eyebrows, who has fled his wife and child to spare them the trauma of his impending death from lung cancer, escapes from his problems by drinking and paying Shambles for hand jobs. Unexpectedly, their relationship morphs into real understanding. Meanwhile, Owen fights the good fight for freedom of expression, is betrayed by a seeming friend, and loses the bar in a frightening way. Has this reviewer mentioned that Owen spends most of the story in a Santa suit? VERDICT Improbable though it sounds, the novel has real impact. Reading like a cross between Harry Crews and Armistead Maupin, it has a wacky authenticity and demonstrates the preciousness of life. For immediate consumption by fans of gritty reality; an outstanding achievement.--Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos P.L., CA

      Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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