Orlando Sentinal
Another Masterpiece
by V. DeSormier
February 7, 2005
Reviewer: "vickid" (Sanford, FL USA)
Robert Maniscalco is already well known as a portrait
artist, a fine art gallery owner, an actor, a Detroit-area
television host, a spokesman for the arts and a musician.
What more can this man do?
Apparently, he can write as well. And his writing
is every bit as masterful as his paintings.
Maniscalco's first novel, The Fishfly, is another
masterpiece by a renaissance man who seems to be great
at whatever he endeavors to accomplish.
At first glance, one might mistake The Fishfly for
a tired mystery novel, but it's not as predicable
as you might think. And once you've spun wildly through
the chapters, catching glimpses of the past, snipets
of the present and maybe a look into the future out
of the corner of your eye, you arrive at the end -
breathless.
Anyone who has seen any of Maniscalco's paintings
knows that he captures the soul of his subjects with
subtle strokes that appear simple yet look past the
mere surface to the core of the person. In The Fishfly,
he has captured his characters with the same simplicity.
Words aren't wasted, yet the characters come to life
with an eeire intensity. If you don't know these characters
when you first settle in with the novel, you can see,
smell, taste, touch and hear them by the end.
The book races, sometimes at Warp Speed, through
the universe of Don Spinelli - a portrait artist who
is struggling to free himself from the demons of his
past and ready to take action. He takes you along
for the ride, sometimes pulling you around corners
or through rooms you just might not want to be in.
But that's part of the beauty of the book. You see
and hear everything Spinelli is seeing and hearing
and thinking. Quirkly, random, wild thoughts splat
in your face from these pages...the same kinds of
thoughts that race through all our minds, making us
question our sanity. Captured on the pages of The
Fishfly, they not only create a more vivid picture,
but also assure us that, maybe we're not as crazy
as we might have thought.
The semi-autobiographical book of the artist as a
middle aged man is an adventure you'll not soon forget.
List
of Essays