William Jensen's dystopian novel CITIES OF MEN is a dark
and emotionally-charged tale about a mother who simply
disappears and leaves her son and husband with only a
cryptic note stating "good-bye, I've gone off on an
adventure." Cooper, her 12-year-old son is devastated after
coming home from seeing a movie with his father Percy and
discovering his mother Arden gone. Percy doesn't seem to be
bothered by it, however, assuring his son that she has done
this before and will likely return soon. Cooper then finds
his mother's high school diary in which she alludes to a
land that she grew up in being a desert in more ways than
one. This is seen by Cooper as being a possible clue to
where she may have fled to. It isn't until a week or two
goes by that Percy makes the decision to take Cooper with
him and search for his missing wife. Percy, a Vietnam vet
suffering from PTSD, is battling his own demons and these
often influence his behavior in erratic and unpredictable
ways. As the two embark on their journey to find their wife
and mother, they travel through California and Arizona
encountering many strange circumstances. The sense of
foreboding that begins to settle in on the narrative is very
ominous and one gets the feeling that the ultimate discovery
at the end of the journey will be anything but pleasant or
happy.
CITIES OF MEN was one of the most difficult books I have
ever read. By that, I don't mean that in the sense that the
writing was difficult to follow or the editing was poor, I
mean the story itself and the sadness with which the entire
narrative is saturated with makes it an incredibly tough
experience. This isn't a happy-go-lucky read and there were
times when I almost felt like I couldn't do it anymore.
This book affected my mood in such a way that often hours
after I put it down I found myself still thinking about it.
That being said, it isn't a bad book by any stretch, it is
just emotionally draining. You feel Cooper's pain as he
struggles to deal with the emotional turmoil he is feeling
concerning his mother abandoning him. You also deeply feel
Percy's PTSD and live that through the way he deals with
situations and people. As the book progresses, these things
get even more powerful and definitely affect the reader.
That's a tribute to someone who really has command of his
writing and William Jensen definitely delivers that
emotional pain with every word and scene he puts to the
page. At the climax of the book, we discover what it was
that compelled Arden to up and leave and it is at once
horrifying, mystifying, and an utter shock. Regardless of
the toughness of the journey, the ending of this book is
worth it and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for
something different in their fantasy. This is definitely not
the same old same old. Read CITIES OF MEN, you will feel
every second and will be left more than satisfied.
In 1987, twelve-year-old Cooper Balsam's mother, Arden,
disappears without a trace. Cooper's father, Percy, a
Vietnam veteran struggling with PTSD, doesn't seem too
concerned. "This isn't the first time. She's done it
before." As days pass, Cooper begins to act out and withdraw
from the world, and his growing animosity toward his
father's ambivalence begins to escalate even as Percy and
Cooper begin to actively search for the woman in their
lives. From the hills of Southern California, to the deserts
of Arizona, and down to the beaches of Mexico, the father
and son will look for someone who may not want to be found
for reasons they don't yet understand.
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