The Coney Island Book of the Dead didn’t win, but they gave it a very good commentary:
Inventive, imaginative, and with a fine set of hallucinatory-themed illustrations gracing each chapter, this book shows the mind of an eleven year old girl as she reacts to mystical tales from family and friends at Coney Island attractions. Dybbuks, molochs, the Angel of Death and visions of the afterlife parade through her consciousness as she is fed odd but affecting tales from several sources: Yiddish tales by her family, stories from friends at attractions on the Boardwalk, like the “return” of Houdini at Ripley’s Oddities; and anecdotes of life in Mississippi from a Blues singer she becomes friends with flow through her mind. She is forced to react to the reality that comes from losses of life, human and canine, while developing her own set of beliefs and values in her rich fantasy life. The setting is Brooklyn and Coney Island in 1957 and many renowned places like the Cyclone and WonderWheel surface as she undergoes many strange and dangerous experiences leading to an operation for an inter-cranial hematoma. Her relationship with strident members of her family and the story-telling singer from Mississippi give the novel a very touching element. As the boundaries of the heroine’s imagination expand with the material she takes in, her character is well delineated. The other characters march into her mind with stunning vigor. The first-person writing is fresh with color and insights, both profane and bizarre. The dialogue, filled with Yiddish words and expressions, captures life in this famous part of New York. Many soulful lyrics embellish the lively text. The cover with its eye-stirring title, coupled with a bizarrely evocative cover image, is bound to attract potential readers.
—Judge, 26th Annual Writer’s Digest Self–Published Book Awards.
