LeRoi

By Mel Mathews

'Le roi est mort, vive le roi ' The striking cover, 'Death of the King, ' a famous painting by the master Alvaro Cardona-Hine, along with the French title compelled me to take a look at LeRoi in a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977607607
• ISBN13: 9780977607600
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Fisher King Press
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Breakdowns and Breakups

I finished LeRoi last night and I enjoyed it--enjoyed the honesty and the hard reality and the layers of symbol and spirit. In framework it was kind of like the film Doc Hollywood meets the book The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Milman, with three of the main characters--Flo, Jimmy and Okie--all confluencing into Milman's Socrates. If you are going through a mid-life crisis, have gone through a divorce, don't know what your career path should be but you know you're unhappy in your job, this gem of a novel is for you. Malcolm Clay, the main character, is refreshingly human. He's a little bit of all of us. To me, the big measure of a book's success is two things: if the reader learned some new stuff about himself (I did) and whether or not the reader wants to read any more of the writer's works. I certainly do. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

A journey of expanded awareness.

The first in a series of seven novels by author Mel Mathews, LeRoi is a novel following the seemingly ordinary man Malcolm Clay, whose car breaks down and whose cell phone suddenly dies, stranding him by a garage and a diner. Malcolm has lived a seemingly successful life, but at what cost? An introspective allegory about the search for prosperity of the soul, a need that lingers despite fulfilling the needs of the body, LeRoi tracks its self-assured, at times sardonic, yet inwardly incomplete protagonist on a journey of expanded awareness. Also highly recommended are the sequels of Malcolm's adventures, "Menopause Man" and "SamSara".

LeRoi is Great

Mathews is superb at bringing his characters to life in this story. I was compelled to reread certain areas simply because I was so impressed by the style and diction of the story as a whole. This is definitely a great book and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good story.

Great Book!

I've read many books that take a long, very long, and winding road to make a point. Even then, the point isn't always made, leaving the reader, me, to depend on the strength of the story to entertain. It's seldom that a book effectively does both, i.e. make a point, and in the process, entertain. Mathews', LeRoi, is an exception. Written with great style, Mathews' has painted a portrait of life as it is lived, not as it is imagined, making for a realistic and compelling read.

About Mel Mathews' Novel LeRoi

Le roi est mort, vive le roi! The black cover with the French title in thick, bright red letters as if applied with a bricklayer's trowel, and the crown that looked more like a jester's cap compelled me to take a look at LeRoi in a book store in Zurich. It was neither expensive nor voluminous. 'Could most likely swallow it whole in the two hours on the train to Vevey,' I thought, so I bought it on impulse and, as it turned out, wasn't sorry. At first it read like a simple story of this rather ornery but 'successful-in-life' character stuck in the middle of nowhere in his fancy MG, which had allowed him to limp into a gas station with a diner-cum-motel on the other side of the highway. I quickly realized that the simplicity was only skin deep, the writing a sort of self-analysis, the old mechanic and gas station owner a study in laissez-faire and cool disdain that tried the patience of our hero. As a matter of fact, all members of the cast including the Queen who rules the diner, the pretty waitress and the lanky fast-order cook are highly complicated human beings, which some may consider to be 'virtual' or a projection of the storyteller. The enigmatic and moody old Chevy half ton pick-up truck he borrows is unreliable, but does give him the freedom to get away from the confines of the motel and the frustration of his broken down MG. Ol' Reliable guides him over a cattle guard, a mysterious unseen gateway into a deeply felt sanctuary. He has found the oasis of a river that cuts through this otherwise barren wasteland where he can cast a fly into adventure and misadventure, and beyond that healing waters for the soul. Could this perhaps be a modern day model of the Grail Legend's Fisherking? The depth of LeRoi is fascinating and frightening: it is full of magic, humor, but also inner suffering with terrible and seemingly perverted battles taking place that must be won to grant new life. It seems our protagonist needs this type of catharsis to free himself from the burdens of the past and restore his inner kingdom to prosperity. As I came to the end of this satisfying and easy to read tale of redemption, I wondered if the author's future novels will be equally compelling sequels or completely different to the 'tongue-in-cheek' title of the novel LeRoi?