Joram Piatigorsky once again delivers on a promise made in his past work, offering both depth and astounding insight into human nature. Where his previous work focused more on love and yearning, Notes Going Underground takes us into much darker alleyways, those that meander through the vast shadowy landscape between life and death. While this may seem frightening, we are never on the journey alone. Rather, Piatigorsky serves as our chaperone, probing characters to their existential core with a blend of first-person narration that searches out not only what is truly at stake for the soul of each character – but for the soul of each story. The writing is elegantly conceived and reminds us that fiction can – and should – take us out of ourselves and put us squarely, directly into harm’s way. A remarkable storyteller, Piatigorsky’s beautifully blends the often-remote nature of dying with what he calls the ‘privilege of life’ – with humor, poignancy and even a certain romantic fantasy. Notes Going Underground is one of those books that other writers will secretly wish they wrote themselves.
James Mathews, author of Last Known Position
