Dark / Drama / Thriller
Date Published: July 28, 2023
Publisher: Troubadour Books
“Love before Covid - A raw, philosophical dive into love’s
messy reality—unflinching, dark, and unapologetically human. Unlike
typical romance novels, LOVE BEFORE COVID is a dialogue-driven exploration
of human flaws and ideologies, blending fiction with metaphysical inquiry.
It’s not about comfort; it’s about confrontation and
insight.”
Laced with dark humour, it is best described as traumatic (sur)realism.
Love Before Covid takes the reader on a journey through the mind of Joe
Pastorius - jazz fan, poet, and victim of horrendous sexual and emotional
abuse at the hands of his mother.
The real-time dialogues between the characters that emerge from Joe’s
unconscious come via arguably corrupted memories and dystopian dreams. They
tell us more about Joe than he could ever know, and perhaps more about our
world than you could ever imagine.
Dialogues entail an exploration of clashing perspectives and opinions, that
cause reflection. Today though, our world has been infiltrated by online
dialogues that tend to feel like wild unfiltered streams of human thought,
raw, chaotic and often polarising and devoid of much reflection. Arguably
that attitude, and lack of reflection is mirrored by the characters you will
encounter. The reflection comes from the reader as the situations unfold.
Your moral boundaries will without doubt be pushed to the limit.
You will meet an altruist who can’t stand up for himself, a charming
but violent public intellectual, a beautiful dancer who hates fat people, a
flirty and gregarious bartender who will do anything to get pregnant, a
traumatised art historian who never wants to be a mother, a successful
intellectual Mexican writer who is secretly disapproving of her childhood
friend’s career as a pornstar, the teenage genius son of that pornstar
who has sexual fantasises about his mother, a woman who is pressured into
cutting off her penis and a successful therapist who has a habit of ruining
people’s lives.
And yes, before you ask, some of the characters in this book eventually
catch Covid 19. However, there is always hope. For Joe Pastorious, that
comes in the form of the psychopath named Janet Waverley.
Review
A menacing descent into the edges of humanity. This book had a unique flow and a different kind of storytelling.
I thought this novel did a few things brilliantly. One being the almost hypnotic sense of reality vs storytelling. These things happen in real life... the sudden changes, the second guessing, the feeling that you yourself are going crazy.
Lyrically beautiful and emotionally astute, Love Before Covid is raw, stunning, and darkly twisted.
About the Author
During the pandemic Dr Greg Scorzo completed his first novel ‘LOVE
BEFORE COVID’ as well as producing an innovative radio play based on 6
chapters from that book, also called – LOVE BEFORE COVID. available on
our YouTube Channel. and via Audioboom with links to all major podcast
platforms.
Greg says, “I was interested in the challenge of writing a novel that
was formally experimental, while still being easy for a mass audience to
read and understand. I love the idea of a piece of philosophy that is
simultaneously a work of fiction, and a philosophical thought experiment
which can function like a great, twisty roller coaster of a story that asks
the reader many questions. Unlike traditional philosophy and many
fashionable works of literature, this book purposefully asks questions
without giving answers, encouraging readers to think (and emote) for
themselves.”
Since gaining his PhD in Philosophy in 2011, Greg Scorzo has aimed to find
creative and original ways to take philosophical thinking outside of
academia. By using modern accessible philosophical dialogue inpublic talks,
podcasts and his novel Love Before Covid, Greg explores clashing
perspectives and opinions that cause reflection. Based in Leicester, he was
a founding member of Culture on the Offensive and runs the podcast The
‘Art of Thinking’.
Dialogues entail an exploration of clashing perspectives and opinions that
cause reflection. Statements and declarations can close minds.
The ‘Art of Thinking’ with Greg Scorzo podcast is available on
YouTube where he does friendly philosophical interrogation of ideas
with many interesting thinkers. Also available via Audioboom linking to all
major podcast platforms.
His extended essays on Arts and Culture as well as Cultural Issues are
available on this platform www.gregscorzo.com
He has a passion and extensive knowledge of film and music.
From 2017 – 2020 Greg Scorzo was active in running over 60 engaging
voluntary community sessions, centred around ‘The Art of
Thinking’ The focussed on universal philosophical themes,
arts and culture and cultural issues. The ethos behind these events was to
encourage the use of EMPATHY, CLARITY and COURAGE in ensuing dialogues with
the audience. These were organised by COTO.
He also took up invitations to partner and run sessions at other events,
including the Battle of Ideas Festival at the Barbican London, the
Philosophy Now conference, Leicester Comedy Festival and DeMontfort
University’s Cultural Exchanges festival. He is always interested to
partner up with other like minded people.
Contact Links
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Purchase Links
https://mybook.to/LoveBeforeCovid
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