Another Crescent Moon - Cook, Josh

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Résumé :
The story of Cliff Emerson, a man with cerebral palsy and a big heart but no voice, and his friendship with Ayo, a new caregiver who listens differently-and takes big risks to help him feel more human. Cliff's unheard narrative, told from his perspective, traces the history of his care, from his time in the state hospital to his move into the group home where he has lived for twenty years. Though it was designed to help him grow his independence, his group home program often fails him. His staff are lazy and complacent and their superiors aloof and unobservant. It seems like Cliff's the only one who sees this-until the day that Ayo starts. Ayo is new not only to Cliff's home but to America. Where he came from and why he left are mysteries. He doesn't like to talk about it much. But his optimism, like his smile, is infectious, and Cliff soon learns to trust him. For Cliff, it is a revelation, being understood by someone without having said a word. All that was required was willingness and patience, things staff haven't given him in a long time. As Cliff begins to see himself through Ayo's caring gaze, he starts believing that he deserves and is able to live a life as full as anyone's. The challenge is convincing those in power of this truth. Reminiscent of Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, this novel is unflinching in its portrayal of disability care and also, more broadly, of life in America. It is touching and darkly comic, at times bordering on the absurd. But at its core, it is the story of a man in search of something meaningful in a time and place opposed to his whole being, and yet who, with Ayo's help, manages to maintain his sense of dignity and personhood-and, for the first time, to taste real freedom. ...

Biographie:
Josh Cook received an MA in English from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis in 2009 and an MFA in Creative Writing from Lindenwood University in 2021. While earning the former degree, he found work in the Medicaid Waiver program, where he served individuals with developmental disabilities for more than a decade, first as a support staff, then as a program manager, and finally as a case manager. His experiences in these positions inspired the writing of Another Crescent Moon, one chapter of which functioned as his MFA thesis. He has presented original scholarship on Shakespeare and F.R. Leavis at research conferences, and his short fiction has appeared in journals including Across the Margin, Fiction Kitchen Berlin, Idle Ink, Dissonance Magazine, Unlikely Stories Mark V, and Sage Cigarettes. He also teaches college-level writing. It has been his great pleasure to demystify the writing process for anxious students and to see their confidence in themselves and in their own voices grow. In August 2023, he will begin teaching at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas, where he will live with his wife and two dogs. His hobbies include reading philosophy and history, and his heroes are Kurt Vonnegut, Franz Kafka, Malala Yousufzai, and Socrates.

Sommaire:
The story of Cliff Emerson, a man with cerebral palsy and a big heart but no voice, and his friendship with Ayo, a new caregiver who listens differently-and takes big risks to help him feel more human. Cliff's unheard narrative, told from his perspective, traces the history of his care, from his time in the state hospital to his move into the group home where he has lived for twenty years. Though it was designed to help him grow his independence, his group home program often fails him. His staff are lazy and complacent and their superiors aloof and unobservant. It seems like Cliff's the only one who sees this-until the day that Ayo starts. Ayo is new not only to Cliff's home but to America. Where he came from and why he left are mysteries. He doesn't like to talk about it much. But his optimism, like his smile, is infectious, and Cliff soon learns to trust him. For Cliff, it is a revelation, being understood by someone without having said a word. All that was required was willingness and patience, things staff haven't given him in a long time. As Cliff begins to see himself through Ayo's caring gaze, he starts believing that he deserves and is able to live a life as full as anyone's. The challenge is convincing those in power of this truth. Reminiscent of Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, this novel is unflinching in its portrayal of disability care and also, more broadly, of life in America. It is touching and darkly comic, at times bordering on the absurd. But at its core, it is the story of a man in search of something meaningful in a time and place opposed to his whole being, and yet who, with Ayo's help, manages to maintain his sense of dignity and personhood-and, for the first time, to taste real freedom. ...