Getting Past Z: A Memoir of Things to Come (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781956864946)

A Memoir of Things to Come . . .

We are several years into the future. Jerome Myer is turning 90. He is a retired advertising executive and lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Two recent deaths have troubled him. First, his daughter-in-law died of Covid in 2020. Then his wife of over 50 years died of pancreatic cancer three years later. He is alone, save a devoted aide, Caroline. Despite these setbacks, he is determined to live out the rest of his life on his terms in an old colonial-type house at the end of an isolated cul-de-sac. He has both a grandson and a granddaughter from his one remaining offspring, a son, who is a math teacher. (A daughter died from a bike/car accident when she was 10.)

The good news is that his granddaughter has met a very successful wealthy lawyer. They are planning to get married in the summer of 2028-in the large back yard of the Montclair estate. The lawyer not-so-subtly wants the property for himself and his new wife, who it turns out, is pregnant with his child. The problem in all of this is Jerry's grandson. Because of some on-line mistakes he made in California, he now legally carries a pistol. Jerry, his granddaughter and her husband-to-be want no weapons, concealed or otherwise, at their wedding. A very recent mass murder at a wedding in Madison, Wisconsin is the reason why.

Getting Past Z is the growing divide the Z generation is going through over issues like guns, mental health, growing wealth disparity, AI-as well as extreme politics. Spoiler alert: The grandson manages to bring his pistol onto the premises and the narrator of the book, Jerry, is hit in the knee just prior to the start of the wedding. And so, as part of his recovery, Jerry begins a memoir. He starts in 2024 and takes us through the years leading up to the wedding in the summer of 2028 and even somewhat beyond. The reader is exposed to a sensitive mind, a clever writer and an explosive era which is already proving to be among the most traumatic in our history.

G.F. Gravenson is the author of The Sweetmeat Saga (1971, Dutton) which was celebrated with a 50th Anniversary Edition in 2022 (Tough Poets Press). He currently resides in Mexico with an ever-growing population of cats and ex-pats.