Ernest Langston

I received a free copy of this book from GoodReads.

I enjoyed this book, Langston is a talented writer. However there's an odd unfinished quality to the book that strikes me as intentional but I don't understand why Langston wrote it that way. I can't help feeling that another dozen or so pages would have really made the book more complete.

The main character, Jack Marshall, is a young man with potential that's just kinda drifting and has accumulated friends with a similar living pattern. Most show more of the book details a couple of days in which Jack is repeatedly shaken up, physically and mentally, by a variety of experiences while visiting his friend Charlie in San Francisco.

There's a very interesting set of characters that Jack meets during his two day escapade. For example there's a couple of transgender partiers who befriend Jack, a prostitute specializing in bondage that teases him, a mugger that takes Jack for a walk, and a homeless guy sleeping in some shrubs who is awakened by Jack. This is where Beyond Everyday Secrets shines, when Langston delves into the peculiarities of life and how seemingly random encounters can change a person's life.

I enjoyed Beyond Everyday Secrets but I must admit it left me feeling like it could have been a little more.... show less