Brooks Doherty

Shawn Shook: Memoir of a Derelict Brooks Doherty

Shawn Shook is a thirty-something bookstore employee plans to revive his great uncle's Cold War-era short stories; unfortunately, inertia engrosses Shawn Shook, who employs booze and a box of waterproof markers as tools to cope with a personal tragedy. The impotent protagonist covers the walls of his rented apartment with stories that serve no purpose other than narcissistic self-therapy. Shook surrounds himself with the words of others, and sadly perpetuates his "vortex of language" without realizing that, as his prized Oxford English Dictionary could tell him, words are defined as distinct from actions. Despite its melancholic shell, Shawn Shook features many comedic moments, including Shawn's humorous encounters with moronic bookstore patrons and delusional coworkers.