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In his debut novel, The Valley of Ashes, Eli Thorpe attempts to capture the turbulent lifestyle of two teenagers, Dave Freeman and Mike Shaunessy growing up in the 1970s. As Thorpe states in his introduction, this was an era “called the Blank Generation or the tail end of the Baby Boom, which didn't really fit the profile of boomers. It means those who were teenagers in the 70s, the real 70s, not the Hollywood remake.” It seemed as if the Boomers had it all and they were not about to share it with anyone, although they promised a better life for all.

Following the story of Dave and Mike, who live in a city built on steel, we witness how their circumstances are undeniably hopeless where they are stuck in a life of debauchery comprising drugs, sex, booze, fleeing relationships and broken friends. Both seem to be aimlessly going nowhere fast. As Mike succinctly sums it up, their lives were basically “variations on a theme where they got together, got wasted, and stuff happened, some good some bad.” Unfortunately, there was no one to turn to for help. And reading chapter after chapter about the dysfunctional lives of these two teenagers, you have to wonder how they were able to even survive the beating their brains experienced with all the different variety of drugs they swallowed or sniffed. How they never were caught and thrown in the slammer, and where did they get all the money to purchase the drugs?

I have to admit that The Valley of Ashes succeeded in maintaining my interest due to the vivid tension arising from two different personalities and their interactions with one another. On the one hand we have Dave who is portrayed as a non-conformist, an outsider, marching to his own tune, not following the crowd and being only himself. He yearns to be left alone, to be accepted without being hassled for not being what other people thought he should be. As we are to discover, this path proves to be quite difficult and sometime dangerous to pursue. Dave is also a devoted friend that will do anything to help and protect his friend Mike, as illustrated from the various difficult situations experienced by Mike where he was in absolute need of Dave's help. On the other hand, Mike is more of a follower and certainly not as reliable as Dave when called upon to help his friend in some very precarious circumstances.

Although Thorpe's effectively exudes the flavor of the 70s via the personal interchanges between Dave and Mike, I nonetheless felt that The Valley of Ashes could have been more than just an ordinary novel had there been good content editing. It seemed like a work still in progress where the two principal characters, as well as the minor ones were very much underdeveloped. We would probably care more about Dave and Mike, their passions and traumas and the obstacles they must overcome, if we had a sense of who they are, their secrets, their relationships with their female companions and how all of this played a role in their conflicts and motivations-essential ingredients for crafting a magical plot. Unfortunately, the answers never came. Nonetheless, Thorpe does show a great deal of promise and I look forward to hearing from him in the future.

According to Eli Thorpe's website, he grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and after high school wandered around the northeast in a variety of jobs. He eventually went to college and began a career in journalism, before going back to school once again and becoming a teacher. Along the way to publication, he has been a teacher, writer, photographer, newspaperman, theatre technician, cook, bartender, bouncer, roadie, and dishwasher, among other things. He has been writing short stories for many years, and hopes to put out a collection of stories in the near future. An essentially private person, he currently lives in a small New England town with his wife of 14 years, his two children, and cats. When not writing, he continues to work in theatre, photography, and to tend his rosebushes.

Click Here To Read Norm's Interview With Eli Thorpe