{"id":1669,"date":"2025-01-20T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1669"},"modified":"2025-01-20T15:09:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:09:00","slug":"book-review-i-have-never-felt-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=1669","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: I Have Never Felt Alive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I Have Never Felt Alive<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Christian Gilman Whitney<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Literary Fiction<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798891325166<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 184 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Atmosphere Press<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by John M. Murray<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>A frantic slice-of-life drama about a young man struggling with a dying mother and the ramifications of living too much in the past<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ryan left his small hometown just after college, but news of his mother\u2019s failing health drags him back. She\u2019s been transferred to an assisted living facility with the clear indication that she doesn\u2019t have much time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their strained relationship muddies his feelings, and instead of visiting her, he reconnects with his high school friends. Except that the once quiet town sags under the weight of abandoned businesses, contaminated land, and increasing violence. Ryan distracts himself from his dying mother\u2019s last days by diving too deep into drugs, alcohol, and sex.<\/p>\n

The story spans a few days of Ryan arriving in town and doing everything he can to avoid confronting his mother and their uncomfortable relationship\u2014one defined by verbal sparring and one-sided affection. He reconnects with AJ, a high school friend whose life has devolved into violence and drugs just to feel alive. Ryan realizes that even though AJ\u2019s life is a train wreck, Ryan has never felt as alive as AJ. It\u2019s a painful realization to watch Ryan work through as he compares his decent job in the city to AJ\u2019s chaotic existence.<\/p>\n

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Ryan spends little time doing nothing which gives the story a fantastic sense of momentum. He\u2019s always moving and overthinking\u2014often leading to stream of consciousness narrations about his fantastical desires to incite violence before accepting his milquetoast ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His attempts to reconnect with Sierra, his old girlfriend, are clearly one-sided as she uses him for sex even as he tries to build an emotional bond neither of them wants. All of which results in a realistic depiction of a complicated young man adrift in life trying to find meaning at the bottom of a bottle, at the end of a blunt, or between the sheets with any willing woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The writing is evocative with an engaging sense of cadence, often switching between short and long sentences to build an almost lyrical rhythm. He describes the evening sky as \u201cone of those late May cotton candy sunsets.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Ryan isn\u2019t that lyrical or poetic in his everyday speech, but his thoughts are deeper than he realizes. The stream of consciousness narrations that bubble to the surface whenever Ryan is overwhelmed or disinhibited are fascinating paradoxes. He wildly veers from describing how he\u2019d brutally attack Sierra\u2019s new romance before breaking down his thoughts and realizing he\u2019s spiraling.<\/p>\n

I Have Never Felt Alive<\/em> spans a few days of an adrift young man\u2019s life coming to grips with grief and an uncertain future. It is an uncomfortable but captivating story filled with explosive action and erotic encounters\u2014a vivid character study overflowing with emotional revelations about the vagaries of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading John M. Murray\u2019s book review of I Have Never Felt Alive <\/em>by Christian Gilman Whitney! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: I Have Never Felt Alive<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Have Never Felt Alive by Christian Gilman Whitney Genre: Literary Fiction ISBN: 9798891325166 Print Length: 184 pages Publisher: Atmosphere Press Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by John M. Murray A frantic slice-of-life drama about a young man struggling with a dying mother and the ramifications of living too much in the past Ryan left his small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}