cover image My Sweet Saga

My Sweet Saga

Brett Sills. Admiral J Press (www.admiraljpress.com), $16 trade paper (462p) ISBN 978-0-615-53213-4

In Sills%E2%80%99s novel, 30-year-old Brandon is unfulfilled and stuck in both a dead-end job and a dead-end relationship with Clarissa, whom he seems to hate. Clarissa may have a %E2%80%9Chot rack,%E2%80%9D a successful career, and a tendency to put up with Brandon%E2%80%99s worst behavior, but she is also, the reader is told, a moron: she lets her Prius run out of gas, doesn%E2%80%99t know who Anton Chekhov is, and doesn%E2%80%99t understand Mad Men. Readers will find it difficult to empathize with%E2%80%94or even like%E2%80%94Brandon, particularly when he consents to marry Clarissa only after she agrees (finally!) to have anal sex with him. Despite these shortcomings, the novel is occasionally funny, with some bad taste, offensive language, and many pairs of pert breasts thrown in for good measure. In the end, though, it%E2%80%99s the narrator%E2%80%99s way with words that is sure to stay with the reader, e.g.,%C2%A0%E2%80%9Cthe girl seemed icy cold and I figured she%E2%80%99d be hard to handle, like an Otter Pop on a cool summer night.%E2%80%9D