The Frogs
The Frogs is a novel that portrays rural America at a crucial turning point in history. Not since the Civil War were the roots of the American ideology so deeply divided. This story is a metaphor of the transition that invariably changed a nation. The brutal slaying of a popular President, the involvement in the unpopular conflict of Viet Nam, South East Asia, a drug and music culture which would rise up against the establishment, only to prove that nothing really changes. The little town of Liberty represents the tarnished grandiose dreams of the past, a doomed edifice that must be drowned in a baptism. Yet, destined also to a less than perfect resurrection. Like a ship sunk with all hands, it re-emerges a derelict flushed of past generations to ensnare a new host of dwellers. There are several stories within stories, and many savory characters apparitional in nature, each caught in a shadowy purgatory of his or her past, adding an ephemeral quality to the unfolding of events. The greatest shadow of all being the inevitability of death. Only Westbaily exist in the present. He alone walks by faith, only he sees and is guided by light. Yet, in the eyes of the world, Westbaily is the monster they all fear. Just as the surviving characters at the end of the story are waiting, so do we all. We are all frogs waiting for Westbaily to come. He comes sooner than we think.
The Frogs is a novel that portrays rural America at a crucial turning point in history. Not since the Civil War were the roots of the American ideology so deeply divided. This story is a metaphor of the transition that invariably changed a nation. The brutal slaying of a popular President, the involvement in the unpopular conflict of Viet Nam, South East Asia, a drug and music culture which would rise up against the establishment, only to prove that nothing really changes. The little town of Liberty represents the tarnished grandiose dreams of the past, a doomed edifice that must be drowned in a baptism. Yet, destined also to a less than perfect resurrection. Like a ship sunk with all hands, it re-emerges a derelict flushed of past generations to ensnare a new host of dwellers. There are several stories within stories, and many savory characters apparitional in nature, each caught in a shadowy purgatory of his or her past, adding an ephemeral quality to the unfolding of events. The greatest shadow of all being the inevitability of death. Only Westbaily exist in the present. He alone walks by faith, only he sees and is guided by light. Yet, in the eyes of the world, Westbaily is the monster they all fear. Just as the surviving characters at the end of the story are waiting, so do we all. We are all frogs waiting for Westbaily to come. He comes sooner than we think.