Don Dimaio of La Plata

May 15, 2004
A former student of Robert Coover, Arellano (Fast Eddie: King of the Bees) has created a brilliant novel of political satire based on an actual mayoral stint in Providence, RI. In the imaginary city of La Plata, Mayor Don Dimaio runs himself ragged at the expense of taxpayers and campaign contributors. Related in the first person, his profanity, drug abuse, and corruption manage not to alienate the reader; somehow, his over-the-top debauchery is both comical and charming. The tension and plot follow the Shakespearean tragedy model: the mayor's self-stylized spiral into lunacy and subsequent fall from power are both gripping and absurd. This is the author's second entry in Akashic's "Urban Surreal" series, and though its surreal nature may not be evident at first, it picks up near the middle and never lets the reader down. Short prose pieces interspersed throughout the novel, divulging information in a fashion similar to a Greek chorus, use pornographic neologisms to help create the sense of disorientation and slipping sanity. Recommended for all fiction collections.-Lyle Rosdahl, San Antonio P.L., TX

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.