Keven Renken Books

Raymond Chandler - named for the writer of a book on a shelf in the room where he was born - is old and infirm and full of longing.  He is looking for something new or surprising enough to help him stand up and face another day.  After becoming separated from his middle-aged daughter - who is angry with the world and dealing with issues of her own, including a sullen teenage son - Raymond embarks on a journey to help him understand his life while also finding his way back to his loved ones.  This novel, told in the voices of Raymond and his daughter Cassie, is a brilliant and captivating homage to Homer's The Odyssey and Shakespeare's "Seven Ages of Man," while at the same time remaining an utterly original evocation of what it means to be alive.