While Bonazzi’s poetry has been characterized by critic Paul Christensen as taking “poetry to its limits of subtlety, where sense nearly but does not quite give out into silence and awe,” these fictional takes are entirely opposite. They ripple with sarcasm, satire, puns, and plays on clichés, pondering headlong into the paradoxical realities of society, philosophy and art, illuminated by his heroes—Kierkegaard, Kafka, Beckett, seditious commas, and a pianist who plays only the first nine notes of "Für Elise" (but to perfection).
Order from any bookstore, local or online. This title is also available from Fleur Fine Books of Galveston, Texas.
Robert Bonazzi has completed a biography of Black Like Me author John Howard Griffin called Reluctant Activist, a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Man in the Mirror (Orbis, 1997). His most recent books are Outside the Margins: Literary Commentaries (Wings, 2015) and The Scribbling Cure: Poems & Prose Poems (Pecan Grove, 2012). He writes reviews for World Literature Today and The San Antonio Express-News. Awakened by Surprise is his first work of fiction.