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Abstract
Eruptions--both emotional and intellectual--occur when assembling diverse writings into a "unified" manuscript. Melville's Pierre refused to do so: life, to him, was "a bitter drug," his writings "separate draughts" to be taken individually, never to be consumed all at once. The stories and essays compiled in Come to Where the Flavor Is do, perhaps, reflect this bitter drug of life; yet through comedy and pathos, each piece attempts to transcend life's difficulties--if only for a moment's surcease from anger and alienation. In six works of fiction, characters do find ways to connect: two troubled women find comfort in unlikely brothers; a recovering alcoholic seeks the "cream" in unsatisfying unions; harried mothers discover strength in friendship; a divorced lawyer finally moves from restraint to action; and, in a satirical sketch, a lonely wife sees hope--literally--on the horizon. Six works of creative nonfiction present a diverse "How-To" book of this writer's life: How does one "detoxify" life's bitter draughts? How does one deal with life-long nicotine addiction, or with a brother's addiction to alcohol? How does one find joy as an overworked, underpaid female? How does one breathe beneath the oppressive shroud of sexual assault? How does one live with an impossible mother, and how does one live without her? Whether the draughts are tinged with broad satire or stark seriousness, each attempts to lessen bitterness, to locate comfort and remedy in the ultimate whole of life.
