{"product_id":"apocrypha-scripta-michael-oleary-9798224846474","title":"Apocrypha Scripta: A Surrealist Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eDuring the writing of his autobiography, Die Bibel (published in 2016 by Steele\/Roberts), Michael O'Leary began a parallel fictional autobiography which he conceived as an 'apocrypha' of additional aspects to his intellectual \u0026amp; emotional life, combining myriad intertwingings of previous works to form a synthesis, a kind of Rainbows End of the Mind, as its characters \u0026amp; events ride a rollercoaster of the psyche, a tipi haere helter-skelter on what might be called the Stratosfear or WindstarZ encompassing a spiritual weltanschauung of history \u0026amp; life. It reads not unlike the earliest Dadaist writings \u0026amp; therefore has the sub-title: a Surrealist Novel. Perhaps it's about dislocation in society: perhaps it isn't. Maybe it's about a suburban man becoming unsettled in real life \u0026amp; entering the 'other' world of the imagination: maybe it isn't. Apocrypha Scripta is about identity \u0026amp; belonging. It looks at the Sixties generation of 'peace \u0026amp; love' \u0026amp; anti-materialism which morphed \u0026amp; degenerated into the 'I, me, mine' of the reforms (a much abused and maligned word) of the mid-eighties \u0026amp; nineties which created the 21st Century Schizoid Person, fuelled by technology \u0026amp; greed, love \u0026amp; dreams, war \u0026amp; peace, culminating in the 'stop the world, I wanna get off' motif, as the earth cries from Cloud 9: wiith 2020 Vision \u0026amp; Reality of Covid-19 \u0026amp; the 'Existential Crisis' of realising that we need to not want so much, as well as finally understanding that the word 'Existential' might really have a meaning. Amen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"O'Leary's wonderful novel spans the global, local, and personal. Intensely beautiful and deeply dark material is consistently tempered with superior mad-cap word-play (in various languages, te reo Maori, German, Irish, Samoan etc), because O'Leary is a poet and a trickster. The writing is constantly deft and energetic, pulling the reader on and on through places, people, and extraordinary scenarios. O'Leary uses many vehicles literally and figuratively; among which are poetry, art, music, dreams, and trains. He keeps this ride careening along the tracks. Time is fluid; we can segue from the Scottish clearances to Covid seamlessly in one sentence. It is an enormously satisfying and mind-blowing novel and requires total commitment from the reader. A culmination of a life's work so far from a fine mind with a five-dimensional view of life.\" Unity Books, Wellington\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNote: This is a parallel fictional biography to the autobiography Die Bibel (Steel Roberts 2016).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael O'Leary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798224846474\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael O'Leary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/15\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 212\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.64lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.45d","brand":"Michael O'Leary","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49166493679871,"sku":"9798224846474","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/apocrypha-scripta-michael-oleary-9798224846474","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}