Title – Tamara Hunney – Author – Kendrew Lascelles – Book Review
A genre of her own, “Tamara Hunney,” sarcastically subtitled, “Soon to be a great nonfiction,” Kendrew Lascelles takes the reader on a dark journey of evolution, demise, and destruction. The lucky ones left quickly; the rest succumbed to the violence of the id creatures that lurk within humanity. The grid instantly disappeared with an electromagnetic burst of energy, as did the layers of society built on our reliance on electricity.
The grid flickered in a pulse removing all the trinkets of modern life. Humanity’s new goal, its sole reason for being, was survival. Life instantly turned to gangs and mafia chaos prevailed. Survivors camped on top of garbage dumps, covered in filth, disease, and stench, searching for useful scraps of food. Clean water and a firearm were worth more than gold. Knowing how to share the water and use the weapon meant the difference between life and death.
Sam had those items and knew how to use them. Tamara needed them. With her innate sensuality, she could seduce any man and get what she needed, but if she wasn’t careful, she would become a victim of rape, abuse, and abuse. Sam and Tamara’s world orbited each other like a moth around a fire; too close and it’s over, but at a sustainable distance.
Heavy on dialogue and unforgettable in detail, Kendrew Lascelles intellectually engages the reader and ties the story around one’s mind. He cannot escape the crude and unsightly images created by a post-apocalyptic world. From Los Angeles and across the West nothing but poisoned water, devoid of food, inhabited by survivors similar to those Mad Max brought to our visionary senses.
A bond of trust evolved as Sam and Tamara traveled where the journey, not the destination, defined their individuality. From the darkness of a Dante purgatory, a kind of goodness ignited hope and faith as Kendrew Lascelles reveals his genius in weaving philosophy through his strange story. His writing skills are phenomenal as I am in awe of how 26 letters of the alphabet can be arranged in just 311 pages to immerse the reader in a book that possibly foreshadows our own fragile existence.
Visionary, humanist and lover of life, Kendrew Lascelles’ characters in “Tamara Hunney” will never leave the minds of those who receive them reading this extraordinary work of literary art.