Last Bongo Sunset - Paperback

by Les Plesko (Author)

Step into the dark and mysterious underworld of the crime-ridden streets of California as Les Plesko's striking and hip debut novel follows a young drug addict through the streets of Venice.Stuck in the daunting and mindless routine of drug use, a young addict finds himself lost in the criminal chaos of Venice. Living among the company of junkies, dealers, pimps, prostitutes, painful memories, and a young runaway force him to face his fears as he tries to save them both. The Last Bongo plunges readers into the depth of addiction, evaluating the narcotics it requires and the memories it resurfaces as Plesko tells a story about inventing an identity in a world where all systems have failed. "A lyrical tour de force...brutally intense, hallucinatory, and visionary." -- Kate Braverman

Back Jacket

In this stunning first novel about passage and exile, from the Old World to the New, from awkward and tentative safety to the brutality of the Golden State's final beachhead, Les Plesko plumbs the depths of addiction, to narcotics and to memory. The Last Bongo Sunset is about inventing an identity in a world where all systems have failed, and a region where geography and the psyche are both being dismembered. The Last Bongo Sunset is a hip, hallucinatory journey of self-discovery set in the romantic underside of the American Dream: Venice, California, the last outpost of the sixties. It is what happens after Burroughs and the Beats. Plesko's vision is striking, bold, and indelible, a lyrical elegy to a recent but remote era.

Author Biography

Les Plesko was a critically acclaimed author of numerous novels. His debut novel, The Last Bongo Sunset, was translated into Dutch and German. His writing has appeared in Zyzzyva, Pear Noir!, Columbia Review, and The Newer York. He was the recipient of the UCLA Extension Outstanding Instructor Award in Creative Writing where he taught for nearly twenty years.