The Final Audit - Softcover

Alexander, Ronald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0967600316 ISBN 13: 9780967600314

Publisher: Hollyridge Press, 2000

Synopsis

Dexter Giles, who has lived a secret life as a gay man, circumnavigates the years surrounding retirement from Imperial Petroleum by conducting a personal accounting. In the process of attempting to reconcile the polarities of his existence, he succeeds in ways both comic and touching in escaping his button-down existence and in coming to terms with his own mortality.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Ronald Alexander is a retired corporate executive intimately familiar with the milieu about which he writes. He has published in many prestigious publications. Novelist Reginald Gibbons writes that Alexander's book "combines vivid knowledge of far-flung locales, and keen observation of the infighting of office life. The characters are convincingly and memorably portrayed." It's the intensity of the writing and the revelation of character that drew us to publish the book.

From the Author:

During the ten years it took to write and publish the stories that make up this novel, I learned a great deal about criticism. "Reader Response Critical Theory" offers that there is never one manuscript, but as many manuscripts as there are people who read it. In other words, each person reads a different book. Indeed, the friends, writers, and editors who commented on my book had a wide range of reactions to the main character, Dexter Giles. Some described him as humorous -- and yet sad. Others said, "He's not very likeable," then went on to say, "but he's interesting," As each story was individually submitted for publication consideration at various literary magazines I got the impression that editorial boards were often passionately and deeply divided as to whether or not to publish the story. One editor asked me, "Why does Dexter allow himself to be treated the way he does?" Well, the answer is that I don't know why Dexter allows himself to be treated the way he does. I don't know why Jake drinks so much in The Sun Also Rises either. I just know that he does, and for me trying to figure out why is what makes him interesting.

As for the prose, one reader compared my writing to that of Somerset Maughm, another to Joseph Conrad, and yet another to William Burroughs. And while I'm grateful no one compared the writing to Judith Krantz or Danielle Steels, when a reader said the they enjoyed the "beautiful and lyrical writing" I tried to let it go, because to accept that assessment would mean that I would also have the accept the opinion of the editor who found the writing "full of cliches" and the outcome of a particular story "predictable."

So, while it was never my intent to portray a person who was always likeable, I did want to create a character who was human and I wanted to write about his experiences in a fresh, poetic, and original way. I started each story with a blank canvas and just tried to let go of control. I never knew what Dexter was going to say or do next, but it ultimately he does interest reader, it's probably because he interested me as he struggled to make sense of his life and the hand that he had been dealt. I am proud of these stories, of this novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hollyridge Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0967600316
• ISBN 13: 9780967600314
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200