This fanciful first novel by Portland author Vere McCarty posits the unlikely survival of Elvis’s twin brother, Jesse, who rescues his aging and bloated sibling from a life of excess and soul-death and restores him to a path of ordinary happiness.
Written in a flavorful lingo that mixes regional sass with phonetic readings from the classic songbook, the fast-moving story arrives at a surprising sweetness that touches the heart as it tickles the funny-bone.
The author comments:
All right, but which Elvis? The eager youngster? The musician? The star, the lover, the addict, the King, the complete wreck? Yes, but mostly the man we still spot occasionally, maybe flipping burgers, maybe somewhere down in our hearts. The Elvis who may have actually made it. Oh, and about Jesse, the twin brother who reportedly died at birth…
In 1955 I was nine, starting to tune my ear to music and to people’s various ways of talking. I went to college, bummed around, wound up in Alaska, started writing, came back to Oregon, worked on farms, got married and had a child and some good years. At forty, in Ireland, it dawned on me that I still didn’t know how to write a decent sentence. Even so, an addiction to writing has kept me home all day. So I teach night school. My new play, ‘The Leper,’ is coming along. I sing my songs at the corner coffeehouse here in Portland. I hope you enjoy this crazy little novel!
Jesse & Elvis is available from your favorite bookstore or online book seller or direct from the publisher; please add $5 for first book, plus $4 for each additional book, for packaging and postage.
