Beyond the Leash reviewed by a man who hates to write reviews.

A few words about Rose Romano’s new novel Beyond the Leash.
As I said, I cannot for the life of me or enough money write a book review.
Ever read a writer and feel close? I feel so close to Rose Romano’s prose work that they are the part of me that I can never have. Riotous, wise voice of a sister prosest who I meet only on her pages. Who has gone places I could not. To move to Italy from Brooklyn without a net. The bar is higher with Ms Romano.
I mean, I’m supposed to be a funny writer and practically nothing makes me laugh. Especially with Rose Romano’s latest, Beyond the Leash, I’m laughing all the time. Sometimes belly-laughing which exacerbates my arthritic condition. A smile of enjoyment and appreciation.
W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Abbot and Costello and Richard Pryor had nothing on Rose Romano!
The protagonist Alice’s kitty wants to go beyond her leash. In her last two novels, Ms. Romano has gone beyond the leash of subject matter, language, edginess of the Italian-American writers before her. Her new address, her new country carry with them her own singular, powerful, unsafe, universal voice.
In this work, Rose Romano is simultaneously on and beyond the leash.
I recall a book by Andy Warhol titled “A,” a long, tedious book about the humdrum of daily life. Downtime. Alice shares a modest apartment with housemates. Separate rooms, common kitchen. Their interactions are hysterical.
You find practical every device a writer can employ. Alice writes letters to her dead husband. The epistolary switches to omniscient Third Person. To First Person. A rich universe of angles.
The great comics often make mediocre films. Jackie Gleason, Richard Pryor come to mind. Rose Romano can do a great stand-up comic routine of two hundred pages.
But how can a diagnosis of cancer like Alice gets make you laugh? That’s the genius of genius. That’s what Beyond the Leash does.
As in her previous novel You can’t have me like you want me, the Virgin Mary is a character. She is Alice’s companion, confidante, her consigliere. Here’s a bit from the book:
The Virgin Mary was waiting on Alice’s bed waiting for her.
“Where have you been? You didn’t come to visit me once while I was in the hospital,” Alice said…
“We’ve already had this conversation. In fact, over the years, we’ve done different versions of this conversation 576 times. It’s not my fault if you didn’t see me.”
“But that’s when I need you most! When I don’t see you!”
In this novel, the Virgin Mary has more of a presence, a larger part, more lines, than in her previous appearance in Rose Romano’s previous novel. At this rate, god only knows, maybe one day the Virgin Mary will have her own book.
On second thought, that may not work. The Virgin Mary would be lost without Rose Romano.
I recall when teaching the review form--inform readers why they should see the film, the show, buy the book.
Here’s the link to this wonderful book:

Here’s the link to this wonderful book:

Beyond the Leash

The arsenic in the drinking water in the entire province of Viterbo is over the level permitted by the European Union, enough to cause serious health problems, including lymphoma, a type of cancer. There are about 1,000 different kinds of…

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