worth a look

Few memories are as stark and as real as a father abandoning his family. But Michael Smolij turns that memory into a surreal moment. Michael is the narrator of Dean Bakopoulos's haunting novel Please Don't Come Back from the Moon, a story of Detroit, a story of men and boys. Or maybe men who become boys and boys who become men.

Michael's father leaves town for the moon. So do the other men in the blue-collar Detroit neighborhood that the Smolij family calls home. Reaganomics has rocked the neighborhood, full of Ukranian-Americans who work(ed) in auto factories and decide to take a fanciful trip...to the moon, never to be heard from again. Bakopolous sticks to this surreal motiff throughout the novel, as Michael and his teenaged pals assume their dads' stools at the local tavern and try to come of age during the 90s.

This "they've gone to the moon" motiff gives the novel a hint of magical realism, which in turn mixes with proletariat realism and gives the story resonance. It's as fanciful as it is gritty and class-conscious.

Michael takes classes at a local community college and eventually UM-Dearborn (alright UMD!), crashes college parties out in Ann Arbor, and tries to navigate his 20s without succumbing to depression and his own dark desire to go to the moon.

At times the novel feels cold. This is one of the things I loved about it. Depression is cold. Bakopoulos allows Michael to be a guy who can't warm up for long. That is his magical, real, and surreal reality. Rarely does he get all that emotional, though he feels resentment and ennui constantly. The novel's title nicely sums up Michael's attitude, and nicely encapsulates the novel's insights about depression. Bring it on, Michael seems to be saying. Bring the pain. He says this because he's defiant and tough. But he also says it because that's how depression sustains itself.

What a powerful and gorgeous piece of work this is. A survivor's story without sentiment. A powerful declaration that ends with a question mark. A story of Detroit.