A Shot of Malaria

by Charles Souby

Overview

In a Shot of Malaria, Charles Souby unfolds the twisted story of a young man, Daniel Martin, desperately hooked on heroin, alcohol and his own delusions. Set in San Francisco in the nineties and written as a deadpan, first-person narrative, the novel captures and ugly realities of addiction with sharp, ironic humor.

A powerful, empathetic study of place and character with great depth.

-Kirkus Review

Definitely a book that will make you smile and think, Charles Souby has given readers a thoughtful experience with A SHOT OF MALARIA."

-Cyrus Webb conversations live

Readers will find a wealth of wisdom in these pages. As Danny notes: "We were both suicidal, but it wasn't the dying that scared us, it was the living."

-Blue Ink Review

 

Souby manages to make Martin, ...completely appealing and sympathetic. ...While I think some of its content might offend the squeamish, it's a book that I believe will resonate with readers who stick with it. We might not all be heroin addicts, but we all have our stuff, whatever that stuff is."

-23^rd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Award

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780578913094
Publisher:	Charles Souby
Publication date:	10/16/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	474
File size:	677 KB

About the Author

Charles Souby was born and raised on the Chicago North Shore. He became interested in writing fiction while in high school.

Editorial Reviews

2017-12-06
A musician copes with addiction, mental illness, and dreams of recovery in this novel.Daniel Martin at first appears to be an archetypal character. Living off the meager earnings of his street-corner banjo playing and the periodic release of savings bonds left to him by his grandmother, he believes his heroin habit isn't a big deal. Despite his 15-year addiction, he explains to his counselor at the methadone clinic, Elsie Schwartz, that he just needs a little short-term help to get back on his feet. But while parts of Daniel's life may seem like familiar tropes, the depth of his characterization should strike even the most jaded readers. Daniel's story reveals his profound, driving need for connection and companionship. He yearns for a girlfriend and the comfort and closeness of a relationship, especially over the upcoming holidays. But his feelings for Elsie can't go anywhere, and when he meets a woman named Caroline, she falls into a recognizable pattern for Daniel—most of his friends are addicts. With Caroline enabling him, her dealer husband breathing down their necks, and his best friend, Cody, suffering from terminal cancer, Daniel has plenty of reasons to keep using and to follow that instinct to his death. His abiding Aunt Teresa and his few clean friends and loved ones try to pull him out of his addiction, depression, and suicidal thoughts, but it ultimately comes down to whether Daniel will allow intervention to succeed. Complexity and uncertainty fill the pages of Souby's (Winifred, 2014) tale. The open, blunt first-person narration provides a thorough sense of Daniel's character, and it's difficult not to feel for him and to understand the bleak twists and turns his mind takes on a regular basis. But what makes the story stand out are its descriptive prose and sense of place. The highs and the shaking lows are palpable. (At one point, he muses about mixing cocaine and heroin: "A nice concentrated blast of coke rocketing my soul to the stars with the dope dropping me back down like parachutes guiding a space module.") But even more tangible are the fog-swept San Francisco streets and the sights and smells of dead-end bars and vomit-streaked clothes. While Daniel's world is not for the faint of heart, it delivers a rich, revealing darkness unlike what readers encounter in most books.A powerful, empathetic study of place and character with great depth.

Kirkus Review