The Flame Alphabet offers a variation on William Burroughs' concept of language as a virus. In this experimental novel, language becomes toxic, causing people to become seriously ill and even die. Children are immune, so many parents do everything they can to ameliorate the symptoms and stay with their kids. The narrator belongs to a religion called "the forest Jews" whose members worship in huts hidden in the woods and receive rabbinical transmissions through underground cables. Some people blame the forest Jews for the epidemic; others think they may hold the key to a cure.
As in Notable American Woman, Marcus includes a personal tenderness not usually found in avant-garde novels of this sort. Sam's relationship with his wife and daughter provides a solid, relate-able foundation for the wild story. I wasn't always sure what Marcus was getting at, but interesting ideas shone through.
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