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Mark Brooks as the Amazon Man (Paperback)
345 Pages It's sophisticated, funny, rude and crude. It is deep and dirty, bad and sad. It's the dry season on the Amazon River: filled with dust and lust. A true story, you ask? From limos to lepers this incredible tale couldn't be just made up. A young professional man confronted with a bitter divorce decides to throw caution to the wind and jumpstart his new single life with a jungle adventure down the remote Brazilian Amazon River. He is searching for something. But what, you ask: culture, fish, fun, relaxation, resolution, understanding or even women, "Quem sabe?" (Who knows?). Perhaps he will experience a renaissance and a taste of them all. His friends would say that he was crazy to want to go to that God forsaken place. Their idea of adventure encompassed something much closer to home. The rigors of his family life, responsibility, business duties and standard setting in his prior role as a "family man" are now, like Mark Brooks' marriage, up in smoke. In contrast (or perhaps rebellion) with America's societal pressures found in today's politically correct, ethics-less, seemingly vapid culture, he plans to "kick back," throw off some old habits and enjoy some fishing, meet new people and test his new hobby of learning a foreign language. What better way is there than to go yourself, meet the locals and see it all firsthand. Not on a cruise ship full of "gringos," but rather by booking a passage on a local supply boat. The twelve hundred mile Amazon River journey from Manaus, Amazonas, to Belem, Para, in the nation of Brazil is erotic and quixotic. Mark's tale has more personal twists and turns than that of the mighty river itself. In the end, he discovers that the Amazon is not only a place full of excitement and danger, but it is also a state of mind: magnetic, beautiful, brutal, simple and incomprehensible. Like a narcotic, the only salvation is to succumb to its powers and return again and again. The novel is written in the first person and it's filled with ample diversions, humor, and run-on sentences. It ventures into philosophical truths, even the occasional stream of (un)consciousness style of writing, promulgated primarily by bad habits, alcohol induced flashbacks and hot tub antics. Otherwise, it's just "one hell of a read." The names have been changed to protect the guilty. The innocent have nothing to fear. Brooks has no "survivor" safety nets, camera re-takes or director's edits�this story is the real deal. So hold on to your seats. The Amazon Man and his newfound friends are going to take the ride of their lives and you are invited. Facts, fancy and the truth govern this jungle adventure tale. The next Amazon traveler may be you...and if you plan to go, you'll want to read this story first. |
