William Gadfly wakes up one December morning in his New York City brownstone, knowing it will be his last day in the only city he has ever called home. Burdened by years of disappointment and prompted by a violent and unforgivable act, Gadfly has decided to flee town. But before he can leave, he trudges through rainy Manhattan, armed with a list of errands that includes a showdown with his spiteful mother and a heartbreaking encounter with a 13-year-old girl he considers his only remaining friend. Gadfly is a mesmerizing novel that shines a light on the most terrifying corners of the human condition, where nothing can be presumed, and the fears we choose to ignore can destroy us. Bolstered by Danny Lanzetta’s alternately spare and torrential prose, it is a searing account of one man's journey to reclaim his soul.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Danny Lanzetta is a novelist and spoken word artist. His first novel, Drunken Angel, was released in 2002. He has released two albums—The Story of a Minute in America (2005) and Declaration of Us (2010)—and performs with a rock and roll band throughout New York City. In a previous life, he appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, as well as on the CBS primetime television series Brooklyn Bridge. He is a diehard Knicks fan and lives in Queens.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Andrew Cotto
Gadfly by Danny Lanzetta is one of those unique novels where the reader is instantly faced with a paradox. As in Lolita or The Stranger or even Being There, the protagonist is as maddening as he is intriguing, an amalgam of the human condition from tenderness to brutality and so many things in between. And therein lies the magic of Lanzetta's character and the novel itself, the day's journey of William Gadfly is as complex as it is compelling, both Gothic and poetic, leaving the reader wrestling with ambivalence as Gadfly trudges through his farewell tour of New York in search of some form of redemption. Ultimately, the validation for the reader comes via the accomplished narrative, which pulses throughout with a feverish torpor that defines the paradox of the novel and the conflict of its unforgettable character.
By RyanD
I had no idea what to expect when I started in, but found myself shocked, charmed, saddened, awe-struck, and deeply satisfied. Lanzetta's antihero is pathetic in a painfully human way, desperately (and often violently) grasping for something to hold onto. Through the odyssey of his day, Gadfly meets up with a variety of characters from his life who, through their interaction with him, act as mirrors, each reflecting some particular quality of his personality. Notably poignant, and used brilliantly for structural effect, are the sad bowler and the little girl Nell: the latter a vision of the free spirit Gadfly wishes he could be; the former a premonition of the shell he is becoming.
Gadfly is not a good man, although we're led to believe that he'd like to be one. Lanzetta shows his true skill as a writer in creating a character who, though despicable, is someone we can't help but find compassion for. His selfishness and self-loathing are gross magnifications of the things we think and feel every day, and Lanzetta takes care to illuminate the path that leads precipitously to such distortions. We can imagine ourselves sliding down the same dark hole, which is what makes Gadfly's story so incredibly compelling.
This is a fantastic, beautifully crafted book, and one that I hope earns the readership it deserves.
Gadfly is not a good man, although we're led to believe that he'd like to be one. Lanzetta shows his true skill as a writer in creating a character who, though despicable, is someone we can't help but find compassion for. His selfishness and self-loathing are gross magnifications of the things we think and feel every day, and Lanzetta takes care to illuminate the path that leads precipitously to such distortions. We can imagine ourselves sliding down the same dark hole, which is what makes Gadfly's story so incredibly compelling.
This is a fantastic, beautifully crafted book, and one that I hope earns the readership it deserves.
By DCsinger
I didn't know what to expect when I picked this up, but it is a page turner from start to finish! The writing is both poetic and fast-paced. Even the most detailed descriptions read like a movie script. And the psychological journey of the main character, Gadfly, was exhausting and exhilarating to read. His commitment to choosing the perfect words to describe emotions and sounds in particular, kept me engaged in the descriptive parts of the book. The plot was also carefully laid out, and paced in a way that kept me wanting more. Lanzetta is truly talented. I was prompted to check out his spoken word material and was equally inspired by the way words are strung together so intricately.
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