Dazed and Confused: Surviving Life in the Game.

Dazed and Confused: Surviving Life in the Game

by Troy Martin Trojan Works Publishing, January 2000 $14.00, ISBN 0-967-43700-8

Troy Martin's independently published novel is the story of young man from Houston stumbling through life after college. It is a time in life rich with dramatic experience from which to draw; unfortunately, this story is still green. The book lacks the focus necessary for a novel and large portions of the work are muddled and overly written. Throughout the book I wanted the narrator to stay on point especially since many of the detours are deadends. True, Martin has an eye for contemporary fads, celebrities, music and turns of phrase, all pluses for popular fiction.

But after spending a few chapters with the misguided, uninformed narrator, readers may begin to look for someone in the story who is not completely clueless. Surely the narrator would eventually meet a thoughtful and insightful person, say an old professor, a grandparent, even just a guy on the street. If none happened along, he should be smart enough to seek one out.

Even at the close of the final chapters there were still many lessons not learned; and those that were learned leave doubt about whether the narrator could appreciate them. Whether the fact of yet another half-sketched character in the leading role exposes the limits of the author or the story are unclear. In the end the reader may not care.

Equally disturbing are rampant classist, sexist, intraracial and homosexual issues insensitively bantered about for humorous effect. Dazed and Confused does bring to light some issues it did not intend to, including the split personalities within our culture. In one breath we pay homage to Tupac Shakur and glorify gangster rap; in the next breath we point out "hood landmarks" and make jokes about people who have not been to college. This narrator does not seem aware that life has more to offer than a college degree, an SUV, and a woman with a "pedigree."

I found myself wishing that the narrator would spend even half as much time considering the ebb and flow of his life as he does pondering Italian fashion. Perhaps then many of his questions as to why he can't date nice women, socialize with responsible friends and grow spiritually would be answered and neither he, nor his audience, would need be dazed or confused any longer.

D. T. Lee a freelance writer based in Washington, DC.