30, 000 Mornings Book

Akmakjian's novel 30,000 Mornings is a pleasant blend of fact and fiction giving the reader a light-hearted glimpse of New York at the end of a millennium. This is an exposé of the foolishness that we are all quite capable of, captured in the microcosmic life of Inge. Inge is preoccupied with the whereabouts of her friend Karen but she is annoyed more so by the fact that she is alone in this concern for a fellow human being. While everyone else in the fashion industry continues their lives undaunted, Inge finds herself unable to function properly. She seeks solace in her shrink, her boyfriend, sex and alcohol. None can give her the answers she needs. Soon the question is not just the whereabouts of Karen, but instead a crisis of personality and direction. Unconsciously reinforcing the maxim that the US is a salad bowl rather than a melting pot, Inge's life is a very ironic and uncomfortable view of relationships between the sexes. Through her healthy appetite for Vodka, food and sex, and Hal's obsession with urinating, maybe the book tells us much more about ourselves than of the characters. 30,000 Mornings shows all the characteristics of many works from Lapland--amusing and optimistic yet deeply embedded with melancholy.--Jon SmithRead More