cover image The Dryden Arms

The Dryden Arms

Johnny Allina. CreateSpace, $12 trade paper (198p) ISBN 978-1-5194-6343-2

A self-absorbed, germophobic, paranoid building manager with an overactive imagination barely survives an eclectic mix of equally self-absorbed and destructive tenants in Allina’s lackluster comedy. Fired copywriter and rookie novelist Rupert flees Hollywood for quieter Glendale, Calif., and the promise of free rent to manage the Dryden Arms apartment building. He considers starting a prostitution ring in the building to generate material for his book, an idea he abandons once he meets the idiosyncratic tenants: racist kleptomaniac Brenda, allergic-to-everything Marie, lawn-obsessed Hat Guy, literary agent Judy, elderly Don, and Astrid, who may be two people. Rupert’s nonexistent writing regimen is interrupted with calls to repairmen and finding Brenda’s lost cat. As he charts every expense, the milquetoast Rupert is manipulated by the tenants while he fantasizes about offing them. The book is a steady stream of bizarre antics without an engaging plot. Though the novel is a commentary on the futility of change and the spitefulness of others, it descends into a disappointing farce. [em](BookLife) [/em]