A novel by R.M. Dolin
The Book of Issac – SYNOPSIS
“Sometimes you must break the boy to build a man.”
Unlike Uncle Darwin, who’s hyper-responsible and compelled to atone for every mistake he’s ever made, ISSAC isn’t responsible to anyone for anything. His life has not been hard, but it has been tragic. He’s ten when his dad dies in a plane crash and is nearly done with his third year at Northwestern as a successful software engineering student when his mom passes. Growing up privileged does not prepare Issac for the rigors, discipline, or responsibilities of adulthood and he soon descends into a frivolous ne’er-do-well trust-fund life.
To stave off boredom, Issac fills his days working for free at Murphy’s Northshore Bar and his nights hanging out with GABRIELLA and other ne’er-do-well friends. Life is good until after months of irresponsible financial mismanagement, Issac’s credit and ATM cards are frozen. ANTHONY, his trust fund manager, informs Issac of his cash flow crisis. Anthony coldly offers Issac no relief and tells him he must take responsibility for his life and figure things out on his own.
Issac’s solution is to convince MURPHY to hire him full-time at his bar. On his first night, through a series of wagers and counter wagers, Issac bets Murphy that Gabriella’s love is real, and she will stand by him even though he’s broke and working. As their wager expands to the bar’s faithful, Lenny, who went to school with Darwin, is the only one to bet that Gabriella won’t dump Issac. Lenny reveals the reason Darwin disappeared from Issac’s life, which causes Issac to angrily react because the news conflicts with his mom’s bitter version. Angry at Lenny’s news and sad Gabriella breaks up with him, Issac does not have a good first night.
Working full time not only comes with challenges Issac’s never faced, but it also profoundly changes how he looks at life and how he feels about his purpose and self-esteem. It’s just by chance he meets SARA one afternoon on an L-platform on his way to work. She’s a new chef-in-training at the Four Seasons Chicago and they start spending time together even though their out of sync schedules make it hard. When Issac learns Murphy’s faithful have once again wagered on his love life, he and Sara plot to teach them a lesson. The wager is whether Issac’s new girl likes him enough to come to Murphy’s and if she does, if she’ll kiss him in front of everyone. Again, odds are once again not in Issac’s favor.
After Gabriella’s breakup on the heels of his cash flow crisis, Sara’s become a bright spot in an otherwise dark existence. While he’s come to embrace his co-workers as family, he can’t escape feeling alone in the world and that causes him to continue to act irresponsible. After blowing up at Lenny for suggesting Uncle Darwin’s estrangement was his mom’s fault, Issac replays old memories and realizes Lenny could be right. He’s not ready to forgive his uncle but is warming up to the notion of having family back in his life.
Because troubles come in bunches, Issac’s life hits rock bottom Darwin dies, and Sara gets transferred to Paris. As Issac teeters, his life can go one of two ways; he can put in the work to rebuild himself once more toward being more purposeful or descend back to his old ne’er-do-well ways. Overcome with revised feelings of abandonment, betrayal and loneliness, the scales seem to tip toward old ways. To console Issac, Murphy tells yarns about the pain of losing family, Patrick and Santi make food that somehow becomes metaphors for love, and future possibilities Sara and Issac will reunite, and Lenny insists he go to New Mexico to settle Darwin’s affairs.
This takes you through the first 40% of the novel, which is all I’ve written so far. I have a general idea how the rest of the story goes, but to be honest, it’s not mine to tell anymore; I’m just a guy transcribing Issac’s journey so how the story ends is on him. Below is my best guess as to how things will unfold – the conclusion, however, is still very much in flux.
Issac arrives in Santa Fe and is greeted by ANNA, Darwin’s grieving girlfriend, and VICTOR, Darwins dear friend. They drive Issac past Taos to the Marquez Mountain Wilderness where Issac is introduced to Darwin’s off-grid self-sustaining life through a series of journals Darwin prepared before his death. Initially Issac’s unaware of Darwin’s collaboration with former Silicon Valley entrepreneurs engaged in clandestine efforts to save humanity from technology’s existential threat; particularly threats from the growing influence of Information Oligarch’s, the coming AI revolution, and society’s willingness to trade freedom for convenience. Since the command center Darwin built on Marquez Mountain Issac isn’t in the dark for long.
TIEN, Darwin’s former protégé, bring Issac up to speed and invites him to join their clandestine campaign, which is when he meets CAMILLE, a French idealist who’s also a member of the Parisian ‘l’Alliance Pour la Préservation de l’Humanité’. Camille’s uncompromising determination along with her unyielding idealism awakens Issac to the realization his ne’er-do-well life is unsustainable.
AN UNSUSTAINABLE LIFE is one story told from two perspectives. THE BOOK OF DARWIN is a journey of redemption as Darwin atones for his role in humanity’s demise while THE BOOK OF ISSAC is a journey of awakening as Issac reluctantly picks up his uncle’s mantel and discovers the burdens and obligations associated with leading a purpose-driven life.
Dr. Dolin previously worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where his research was in the areas of Truth and Trust; primarily as it relates to information and digitally controlled processes. In addition to publishing over 100 technical papers, Dr. Dolin has written five novels, two nonfiction books, one cookbook, and a plethora of poems. Dr. Dolin’s novel writing method is to use poetry for character development and as a springboard for storytelling, as such, it is possible to enjoy his stories in both novel and poetry form.
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