Skels: A Novel

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTICAL UNDERWORLD OF A WOMAN WHO'S BOTH A PARAMEDIC AND A POET When Orlie Breton shows up in June of 1979 to work as a paramedic in New York City's 911 system, she finds herself plunged into a violent and magical world, populated by medics who are not terribly different from the homeless people - the "skels" - who comprise most of their patient population. Orlie draws parallels between her experiences to the stories and feelings represented in the works of her favourite writers, which include Jack London, Walt Whitman, Rimbaud and Mark Twain. SKELS was written with the question in mind of what would happen if the ambulance world really was permeated with the works of past writers, and the skels were carrying the consciousnesses of the writers themselves. What would the protagonist have done if she had met the greatest poet of all, dirty and covered with lice, and been granted the chance to save him With SKELS Dubris shares what she saw during her own time as paramedic - not literally, but more importantly, how she felt in her soul, magical, violent, funny, filled with passion and like it contained some ancient element that was invisible from the outside.

Reviews

"A vivid rendering of the lives of New York's poorest and most invisible." - New York Post "Skels conveys the overwhelming feelings one has during epic moments of tragedy." - LA Weekly "Maggie Dubris has saved a thousand lives, not only in the streets of Hell's Kitchen where we worked as paramedics, but in the breathtaking lines of this book. Her poetry shines in the darkest places." - Joe Connelly, author of Bringing Out the Dead "Dubris' New York has everything to do with the real world. Skels floats completely free of those painful, tiresome conversations about who we're supposed to be." - New York Times"

Author Bio

Maggie Dubris works as a paramedic and is also the author of two books, WillieWorld and Weep Not, My Wanton Sparrow. She lives in New York City.