Eating Glass / Jocko Weyland

Eating Glass might be either seen as a collection of short texts and stories, or, in aggregate, a full novel. Weyland describes adventures and incidents, some of profound import, some seemingly trivial, that can be interpreted as semi-factual, clear-eyed, on-the-ground reports of instants of his life and the world we have made for ourselves. From a childhood in the mountains of northern Colorado to his young years in California, his fledgling and evolving adulthood in New York, with occasional forays into unglamorous European precincts, the urgent and succinct writing reflects a thirst for experience and even excessive excellence. Through thick and thin, frequently down and out, periodically intoxicated and drug-addled, the sensibility is one of constant watching. These brief separate but interconnected tales are redolent of a quest for joy and seeing and describing existence with a singular, rare viewpoint and a distinct, trenchant sense of humor.

“Nobody asked what you did back at those parties because you all knew the answer so you could concentrate on drinking, falling down, getting high, flirting, laughing and then driving home because it was California and you didn’t get anywhere without a car.”