This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Donald Mengay grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in a factory for a time and managed a bookstore. He began writing fiction in his early twenties while pursuing a degree in Psychology at Metropolitan State University in Denver. He earned a Masters in English Lit at the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in Comparative Lit from NYU. He taught Queer and Post-Humanist Lit at the City University of New York for over thirty years, as well as English at the University of Paris, Nanterre. During his years teaching he published several articles of queer criticism in academic journals that include among others Genders, Genre, and Minnesota University Press. He also co-published a book entitled Dis/Inheritance: New Croatian Photography, from Ikon Press. The Lede to Our Undoing is his debut novel, the first in a trilogy. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Narrated by a deceased family dog, Molly, The Lede to our Undoing by Donald Mengay, provides insight into the lives of Jake and Wren, twins in 1970s rust-belt America. Molly's observations reveal their experiences as they navigate a changing society against a backdrop of civil, women's, and gay rights movements. Molly was adopted into the family when Jake and Wren were tots, and in a homogeneous white Midwest suburb, she is witness to their lives, their growth, and the challenges they face in their relationships, intimate struggles intertwined with societal norms and taboos, and attitudes toward differences. Through Molly's lens, the novel captures the intricacies of their emotional journeys and broader cultural shifts, reflecting on a time when relationships defied convention amidst the tensions of the Cold War era.
The Lede to our Undoing by Donald Mengay has all the hallmarks of exceptional literary fiction. The use of Molly's perspective is incredibly creative and also surprisingly effective, and through her, Mengay is able to craft a story that overflows with well-developed characters, evocative settings, subtle foreshadowing, authentic dialogue, and meaningful symbolism. It is the symbolism that pushes Mengay's work from mainstream historical fiction into literary, and prose that embodies elements like the motif of the decaying amusement park to serve as a powerful symbol for feelings of neglect and abandonment. The evolution of the twins, and Wren in particular, feels organic and in tune with the pace of the story. Thematically Mengay does not reinvent the wheel, but he does push it back to a time and place where that wheel destroys anything that strays from the socially conventional “morals” in its path, and it is a beautiful journey as a reader to experience it starting to crumble. Very highly recommended.
