Geoffrey Doover, a novel by Patrick Fanning, from ArtWorks Press, 2018

The hero of this novel, Geoffrey Doover, is chrononautical. He can navigate time and rewrite his life’s narrative. He starts in a mental institution, half blind, scarred, hallucinating, unsure of what is real and what is not. Through the miracle of his own unique form of narrative therapy, he gradually does over, or doovers, the various traumatic moments of his life, learning to survive in his family of origin, mourn his mother’s death, drive a car, talk to a girl, avoid the draft, and finally graduate college as a more-of-less functional, normal adult. But he doesn’t do it like you or I would. His reality-bending talents take him on a wild romp through 50s, 60s, and 70s California culture.