Reviewed by Lisa Brown Gilbert
An intense portrayal of personal evolution in contemporary life, Scott Dimovitz’s The Joy Divisions, offers an immersive literary jaunt back to a time and place where drugs, angst, history, art, music, literature, blue collar woes, and consciousness cult idealism, intersect through surprising events, in 1990’s Allentown, Pennsylvania, creatively explored through the eyes, minds, and interactions of its varied characters. Purchase Here.
This insightful historical narrative is a work replete with the many facets of life, which focuses on the many aspects of the human condition. In fact, this book brings so much to the table in terms of demonstrating an intellectual expertise in a variety of cultural elements as well as history prevalent during the 1990s. Furthermore, this narrative maintains the attention with smoothly flowing narrative, vivid detailing and seamless storytelling, including an additional bent for the humorous at times. The story instantly draws you in with gritty, complex characters and situations, which dutifully pique the curiosity as to the story’s overall path. Particularly interesting is Ed Pullman the central figure. Ed is an art school dropout, who returns to his hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania, circa 1990s, he is coping with a great deal of angst; he lost his girlfriend, his mother, and his drive for life which in turn causes his overall faith in life to steadily wane. Ed, often caught up in his own emotions and thoughts, wants to connect with others but struggles.
Moreover, as other characters come into focus within the story, each helms their unique back story and cultural perspective, which leads to many intellectually posed, multifaceted moments of analysis and insight, including philosophy, art, consciousness, religion, and alternative music references, as well as many literary references.
Also, author Dimovitz does very well in illustrating the perspective of the working-class culture native to the locale of Allentown Pennsylvania in the 1990’s with brief historical accounts drawing out the economic and political template which affected the characters’ lives.
Overall, The Joy Divisions by author Scott Dimovitz, made for an intellectually stimulating read. I enjoyed the edifying nature of the story which kept me enmeshed and immersed in a world I knew nothing about but wanted to know more of. Additionally, what I found to be riveting about this book was the sharply detailed descriptions of the setting steeped in colorful specifics. It was as though I was a denizen walking down the street. As well, I enjoyed the unique characterizations; The cult leader with a plan to save the world, the beautiful transvestite and the model who bucked the standard of beauty. Altogether this was a great read that I would recommend to those seeking a uniquely posed historical fiction read that truly stimulates the intellect.