JOSHUA MOHR / Damascus
After being refused by every reputable gallery in town, artist Sylvia Suture has conned her way into an exhibit in a dive bar in the Mission called Damascus. “For years the place’s floor, walls, and ceiling had been painted entirely black, but that afternoon the owner added a new element, smashing twenty mirrors and gluing the shards to the ceiling so the pieces shimmered like stars, transforming Damascus into a planetarium for drunkards, dejected men and women stargazing from barstools.”
Sylvia nails live fish upon portraits of deceased soldiers as a political statement against the Iraq War. In the polarized climate of 2003, her action serves as a rallying cry for locals in the anti-war movement, and a line in the sand that should never be crossed for the supporters of the cause…
Mohr has been said to possess a “generous understanding of his charters,” and in Damascus he has crafted some of his most memorable: No Eyebrows, who has come to the Mission to die anonymously; Owen, who wears a Santa suit fulltime to mask the most unfortunate birthmark imaginable; Byron Settles, an ex-marine who had the shortest tour in Iraq; and Shambles, the patron saint of the handjob, seeking, according to her ex-husband, “a variety of ordinariness.”
Damascus, refuge for society’s outcasts, becomes the place where fear and confusion must be confronted.
"...this accomplished effort demonstrates Mohr's rich, resonant prose, authentically rendered settings, and deft characterization " -- Publishers Weekly, starred review
Joshua Mohr is the author of the bestselling novel Some Things That Meant the World to Me, and Termite Parade, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. He teaches creative writing at The Writing Salon and at USF. We’re delighted to welcome him back to The Booksmith.
- Street:
- 1644 Haight St.
- City:
- San Francisco ,
- Province:
- California
- Postal Code:
- 94117-2816
- Country:
- United States
