The Morning After John Lennon Was Shot

?A wickedly funny send-up of the sexual revolution and its discontents.? Kirkus Reviews In yet another attempt to piece together the puzzle of his tortured romantic life, Ray Powell joins a men?s group designed for each member to tell his ?primal story? ? the single great mythic journey of his life where all truths are revealed. Upon hearing of the suicide of an old friend, Ray realizes that one very strange pocket of time ? during the post-free love/pre-AIDs early 1980s, when the battling in the sexual revolution was perhaps at its fiercest - may hold the key to his understanding of himself as a man Ronald Reagan has just been elected and John Lennon has just been shot in what many are calling the ?unofficial? end of the revolutionary 1960s. And when Ray, a 30-year-old high school teacher, is dumped by fickle hippie goddess Lana, he seeks a fresh start, moving from the college-town Shangri-La of Crystal City to nearby Toledo, Ohio, where he is determined to continue the countercultural sensibilities of his hero, the martyred Lennon. To his chagrin, however, Ray finds himself at sea in a new ethos of emerging conservative values and rampant romantic cynicism. As he becomes tentatively involved with Judy, a 17-year-old student, Ray seeks advice from his three bachelor buddies: Scott, a Maharishi disciple and eternal student with a yen for tall, domineering women; Frank, a newly celibate ladies? man who now considers sex a ?holocaust?; and the permanently lovelorn Bert, whose idea of a smooth come-on is to surprise his date by removing his clothes and draping a towel over his face. When all else fails, the Zen bromides he gleans from watching ?Kung Fu? reruns guide his steps through the chaos of this profoundly confused time. While telling his primal story, Ray is forced to face the disturbing patterns of his love life and discovers a frightening truth about himself. But with knowledge, does salvation follow? You?d be surprised. ?Durstin writes in a wonderfully observant prose that's sardonic and sympathetic, with a perfect ear for the cultural obsessions of the early Reagan era.? Kirkus Reviews