Customer Reviews

P.O.W.

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P.O.W. is the story of Sam Wilcox a youmg man from New England growing up in the mid-seventies. It takes him from teen angst and rebellion, to struggling for survival as he finds himself homeless. Flashing between our heroes incarceration, his journey, deeds and the unjust system that put him behind bars. Tales of prison hierarchy are mixed with descriptions of his discovery of psychedelics, drug running sorties and his constant hassling from "The Man". P.O.W.'s writer Ezra Martin combines Ian Fleming action (most prevalent when Wilcox goes south) with Abby Hoffman-style wit and irreverence.

Martin also describes Wilcox's employment at a ship yard building Nuclear subs. He drives home the irony of workers building the source of their own oppression. The image of thousands of workers banding together as one big angry beast making management buckle is also strong.

The climax of the story is Wilcox's bout with the Federal Courts. Having been jailed on drug charges he files suit trying to be recognized as a P.O.W. (Prisoner of War). Make no mistake Martin has a message, he warns that the freedoms given up to local, state and federal government in hopes of gaining some false sense of security and absolving oneself from all personal responsibility will cost society more than it can afford. He still finds a way to deliver that message with humor and a surprise ending that becomes more and more plausible everyday.

Martin brings to light the hypocrisy and corrupt nature of the US's war on drugs an our ill-fated attempts to legislate morality. Unfortunately, in the 15 years since, Martin's P.O.W. concludes things have only gotten worse.

I enjoyed Martin's ability to keep the story moving by his use of flashbacks. I also enjoyed the many quotes that accompanied the story. Of the five or six books I have lying around half read, this is the one I kept picking back up and found hard to put back down. Unfortunately, P.O.W. is so politically incorrect, Oprah would sooner get married without a prenuptial than put this book on her Book Club List.

Looking up Ezra Martin returned no other titles and the publish date on P.O.W. is very recent, therefore I don't know when it was written or if Ezra has any plans for any other novels. I sure hope he does because I look forward to reading more of his work.

Prisoner of War is a story which is very Kafka-esque, but with a rich sarcastic humor. It follows the story of a young man from adolescence to early manhood who is trapped in an incomprehensible system of justice.

The book opens with the hero on trial for drug dealing (LSD specifically) and on the recommendation of his public defender, he plea bargains. But, at his sentencing, he launches into a tirade about the American Justice system and why it has chosen to persecute individuals who only want to expand their consciousness. Result 25 years, instead of one.

From this point, the book combines a series of flashbacks and his experience in prison and his attempt to expose the hypocrisy of his imprisonment. For the most part this stylistic tool works well. Though one finds oneself wishing for more details of our hero's past, as various life threads are at times left hanging. Martin also never quite brings the past and the present together in a seamless way. Instead the flashbacks halt and we simply finish the story.

On the other hand this literary trick does provide great insight into how our hero manages to get into the situation he is facing and why he is fighting the system. This is where Martin has captured the subtlety of the Kafka experience. From the innocent first tokes on the sailboat to the more complex and enriching experiences with peyote, mescaline and LSD, our hero's worldview forms. More importantly, he begins to see the insidious erosion of our civil rights in the name of public safety.

Here is the true and frightening message of the novel. Martin pushes the reader past the accepted and normal views of the rules of society and democracy. For those of you who slept through the "Raygun" years, this is a stark wake up call to how American's civil rights have been attacked in the name of a faceless enemy, drugs.

The hero's side splitting tirades about freedom and democracy would be even more amusing if it weren't for the very uncomfortable fact they have a real ring of truth to them. So while the reader is laughing, he/she is looking over his/her shoulder.

All in all, Martin's first work (as I have not been able to find any others) is a fine piece of writing. Throwing humor in the face of a very serious issue, the meaning of freedom and democracy. Although Martin brings this all into focus through America's drug policy, it should cause all of us to give much more serious thought to the founding principles of our country. We take for granted our freedoms and the Constitution, but have lost much more than we know.

It is a great book that outlines what must be done.

Prisoner of War is a story which is very Kafka-esque, but with a rich sarcastic humor. It follows the story of a young man from adolescence to early manhood who is trapped in an incomprehensible system of justice.

The book opens with the hero on trial for drug dealing (LSD specifically) and on the recommendation of his public defender, he plea bargains. But, at his sentencing, he launches into a tirade about the American Justice system and why it has chosen to persecute individuals who only want to expand their consciousness. Result 25 years, instead of one.

From this point, the book combines a series of flashbacks and his experience in prison and his attempt to expose the hypocrisy of his imprisonment. For the most part this stylistic tool works well. Though one finds oneself wishing for more details of our hero's past, as various life threads are at times left hanging. Martin also never quite brings the past and the present together in a seamless way. Instead the flashbacks halt and we simply finish the story.

On the other hand this literary trick does provide great insight into how our hero manages to get into the situation he is facing and why he is fighting the system. This is where Martin has captured the subtlety of the Kafka experience. From the innocent first tokes on the sailboat to the more complex and enriching experiences with peyote, mescaline and LSD, our hero's worldview forms. More importantly, he begins to see the insidious erosion of our civil rights in the name of public safety.

Here is the true and frightening message of the novel. Martin pushes the reader past the accepted and normal views of the rules of society and democracy. For those of you who slept through the "Raygun" years, this is a stark wake up call to how American's civil rights have been attacked in the name of a faceless enemy, drugs.

The hero's side splitting tirades about freedom and democracy would be even more amusing if it weren't for the very uncomfortable fact they have a real ring of truth to them. So while the reader is laughing, he/she is looking over his/her shoulder.

All in all, Martin's first work (as I have not been able to find any others) is a fine piece of writing. Throwing humor in the face of a very serious issue, the meaning of freedom and democracy. Although Martin brings this all into focus through America's drug policy, it should cause all of us to give much more serious thought to the founding principles of our country. We take for granted our freedoms and the Constitution, but have lost much more than we know.