User:Imnotgeorgeplimpton/Shades of Luz

Shades of Luz is John Gorman's debut novel about grad school dropout Benny Fluke who slips into a bizarre world of dart-slinging monkeys, shady businessmen, and underground salsa clubs. It's about finding love and meaning in a manic-paced world. Benny doesn't think his life is so special. He doesn't even think much of his photographic memory until he triggers a bookstore's metal detector. Meeting Mungo pushes him in a new direction, but it is Luz, who keeps boomeranging back into his life that shapes Benny into a man. "She loved watching me struggle with- everything- contributing her winning smile,all cheeks and teeth, gnawing right through my inhibition and gunnysacking my nucleus. Nobody had ever penetrated my being, but she wasn't up for reciprocity."