Self-Portrait of Someone Else [Paperback]

Vincent Eaton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 10, 2009

Vincent Eaton's dark, angry and intense first novel uses police documents, psychological evaluations, interviews, straight narration and interior monologues to chronicle the self-destruction of Tim Buckles. At 28, Buckles appears at first to be leading a normal life. He has a steady job as a lifeguard, a bungalow in Los Angeles and a loving girlfriend named Alisa. The problem is, he feels as if he's living someone else's life. When Alisa becomes pregnant, she encourages him to take a job in her father's business. Tim's feelings of alienation escalates. A drowning and then a disastrous visit to his elderly parents, who have become more miserable with the years, push Tim over the edge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The anti-hero of Eaton's striking first novel, 28-year-old Californian Tim Buckles Jr., has dropped his graduate studies in psychology to work as a lifeguard at a public pool. While proclaiming this job a sounder way of helping people, he also admits he fears the madness increasingly conquering his mind. When, in separate but questionable incidents, two swimmers drown while he is on duty, Tim's precarious mental balance gives way and he feels himself "slipping slowly inward to the gray recesses of brain . . . perhaps to . . . disappear completely within a fold, sucked in, never to return." The narrative, in the form of Tim's diary entries spliced with psychologist, police and employer reports and with interviews with his girlfriend Alisa, forces the reader into the violently alienated inner world of a man whose radically distorted, loveless childhood has left him prey to increasingly vivid and destructive hallucinations. The adoring, pregnant Alisa strains to reach Tim, and her father arranges a prestigious job for him. But the devastating consequences of Tim's traumatic family dynamics, captured powerfully in dialogue and brief vignettes, provide a powerfully destructive counterforce, with devastating consequences. Eaton's harsh, unsparing tale jolts the reader, holding us uncomfortably close to Tim's commingled criminal insanity and humanity.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...Mr. Eaton concocts a puzzle out of a depraved childhood, a retarded twin brother, multiple murder mysteries, flashback, hallucinations, a love story and self-analysis. The pieces all come together in a brave literary debut. See: nyti.ms/YkxRK --The New York Timers Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: HIDDEN PEOPLE LIMITED (December 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0956120814
• ISBN-13: 978-0956120816
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,447,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Vincent Eaton was born in Hollywood, settled in Europe, used to be a surfer, had a cheerleader as a girlfriend & broke the 50 yard freestyle while on the Oceanside swim team, owned a station wagon, then worked in television as an operations engineer, acted on stage, film, European TV, and directed and wrote, then wrote some more. He's been published online and off, his play "Max Dix, Zero to Six" won international and national prizes in 2008 & 2009. He has 18 books in different genres that will be published steadily over the coming years. Writing and breathing go together. He makes short videos.
Personal: http://www.vincenteaton.com
Publishing: http://www.hidden-people.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vincent.eaton
Twitter: @VincentStories
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/VincentEatonStories

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An original and distinctive voice, October 19, 2010

By 

Eduardo "edua" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Self-Portrait of Someone Else (Paperback)

Although disguised as a "horror story" (labels are more than misleading in some cases), the real attraction of this book is the voice of the main character, the stream of his thoughts and they are so compelling, so real that you end up believing you actually know him. I was much more fascinated by the self-description of the main character than by the plot itself, meticulously crafted though it is. These are not the kind of thoughts "anyone" could have when feeling a little off balance. They are distinctive in that they are constantly exposing the limits of our supposed "knowledge" of ourselves by means of psychology, learning, introspection, selfhelp etc., or simply when dealing with those we think 'close' to us (the look at parents, parenting and family life in general is harrowing), but also as applied to marketing (one of the subplots is a corrosive satire of the corporate world as seen through the eyes of someone who just can't fool himself anymore). Eaton asks the right questions and forces us to ask it of ourselves. This dark tale is a perfect companion for another book by the same author called "How to Find Yorself" where I think he's asking the same questions, but this time under the guise of a "humour" book. After reading both I thought there should be a third to make a trilogy.

5.0 out of 5 stars How can I fix people, when I am broken., October 24, 2001

By 

William Barnhart (Jersey Shore PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Self-Portrait of Someone Else (Hardcover)

This book has influenced me for better or worse over the last eight years. Self-Portrait of Someone else is about an individual who discovers that he is broken. He desires to help the world, yet how can he actually help anyone when he is mentally ill. Although there are many twist and turns to this story, it is psycologically accurate. I still read this book 3 times a year.