The Beauregarde Affair, by Brian M. Talgo

It was "The Seventies".  And this was his story.  Not the psychedelic, sex laden hard rock freak fest you would expect.  Sure there were drugs, and girls.  And there was  Zepplin.  But there was also construction work with rednecks, his art, his psedo communist roomates, and of course, the menagerie that could be found in Neil's room.  And it all started with the snake we come to know as Beauregarde.

I have to say, I found this book hypnotic and entertaining.  The Seventies was an era that I did not get to live through, and no one would ever really talk to me about.  Most of my information about this time is what I can gather from pop cultural references, so I appreciated such an honest, frank memoir about what everyday joes experienced.  Set in Atlanta, Brian and his roommates lived somewhat of the hippie lifestyle, but still had steady jobs and responsibilities, so it is as if the straddled two different cultural groups, not fully fitting into either.  I think we see that at work a lot within the narrative voice, which gives it an honest and raw quality I find so unique.

I like that the book is set up as a present day reflection of the memories of the past.  It gives it a nice movie quality to it.  There are a lot of characters that wander in and out of the story, which I am guessing was pretty characteristic of the life and times of the Seventies, so the reader does need to stay on their toes to keep things straight.  I absolutely love the use of several dialects within the book, meaning a couple of characters have their dialog written phonetically, in the dialect which he or she speaks.  To me, that makes the dialog really come alive in the mind of the reader.

I am very honored to have been given the opportunity to read and review Brian's manuscript before it has been published.  I would like to take the opportunity to thank Brian for this opportunity, and to encourage everyone who is interested in the book to take a look at the blog he has set up for The Beauregarde Affair.

Brian is working on getting the book published, so keep your eyes open!