Matt Geiger
Middleton Times Tribune
Tue, 06/16/2015
Longtime Middleton resident Nick Chiarkas’ debut novel, “Weepers,” is a gritty tale of crime, revenge and redemption on the streets of New York City where the author spent his formative years.
The air was thick with pesticides and the shouts of children. Adult voices hurdled down from apartment windows. Gang members, merchants, cops, priests and mothers lived side by side, playing out their individual dramas on concrete stages of streets and stoops.
“If I close my eyes and imagine it, there is always a hint of DDT in the air,” recalls Nick Chiarkas, smiling tenderly as he envisions the housing project where he grew up on New York City’s lower east side. “As kids, we would chase the trucks that drove through the city spraying it. Elsewhere people were shouting from windows. Men would urinate in the street, between parked cars, and that was considered okay.”
Ansley M. Dauenhauer’s first novel, “Cancer Slam” is a must-read for anyone involved with a breast cancer diagnosis. As a teenager, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and I had no idea what that meant for me and my family. “Cancer Slam” follow the Bennett Family through the initial diagnosis and mastectomy, to the chemotherapy treatments and subsequent hair loss. Through their journey, everyone stays extremely positive and open with one another. As a kid or young adult, it can be scary to think your whole life is going to change, especially when you are not even sure why. When Liz Bennett is diagnosed with breast cancer, she explains in the perfect way exactly what is going on in her body and how the rest of the family will be affected. Dauenhauer creates characters that are not only relatable, but who you root for and sympathize with. As a kid who has a sick parent, it’s easy to feel guilty for longing for normalcy. Hannah’s range of emotion, from anger to scared to sad to an adult-like acceptance, keep the story true to life. I laughed. I cried. But most of all I stayed positive because I think that’s what the Bennett Family would have wanted. I loved this book and believe it is an important read for anyone, not just young adults,dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
