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GAVIN FRANKLE is the author of a dozen novels, only one of which (The First Man) he has actually finished. He has not yet won any awards nor has he been touted as one of Britain's best young novelists, most likely because he's not British. Try not to hold that against him though. Most days he can be found at home in his bathrobe hunched over his laptop. That is not an invitation to visit, but if you do, bring a salad.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
The First Man is an urban fiction novel written by Gavin Frankle. Adam's been around for a long time, since the beginning in fact, and he's seen a lot of changes during his extended tenure on the earth. He's currently living in a big city, which does not please him overmuch, as Adam still yearns for the natural beauty and solitude of the paradise he left so long ago, and, in his mind, he frequently slips back into that past. While his disheveled appearance gives many the impression that Adam's one of the legions of homeless, there is a building that he calls home. His current life is put in jeopardy when Lilith appears. She makes Adam watch as she slaughters a man with her bare hands and then casts a deadly spell on him.
Gavin Frankle's urban fiction novel, The First Man, is not for the faint of heart nor the conventional reader. It's not an easy read. That said, this novel is beautifully and artfully scripted, and polished until it shines gem-like as one reads it. The friendship of Adam and his serpentine companion, Kaliyah, sometimes gives The First Man the atmosphere of one of the old buddy movies with the two best friends enduring through the ages, no matter what, but it's really quite a bit more than that. This compelling novel is highly reminiscent of the visionary novels of George MacDonald and Hermann Broch's strangely haunting and highly introspective work, The Death of Virgil.
I was awed by the descriptive and imaginative passages found during Adam and Kaliyah's descent from Just Island after the waters recede, and it's revealed to be the top of the Tree of Knowledge. I loved the personality of Kaliyah, an innocent who struggles so hard to find the name that suits him best. In his acknowledgements, the author wryly and somewhat paternally calls The First Man his abomination, and I guess it some ways it could be seen as such, but I think it's so much more than that. The First Man is a literary fantasy that offers marvels and monstrosities to the intrepid reader whose craving for the rare and unusual makes him or her willing to work for it. It's most highly recommended.
