LAST LAST CHANCE, by Fiona Maazel

(originally posted on March 22, 2008)

I'm not sure I want to know what Fiona Maazel dreams at night, or if she's completely untroubled during sleep. What I do know, and wish to impart, is that her first novel is a messy, sprawling, nervy and daring synthesis of post-apocalypse, hippie ethos, and genuinely moving moments with one very screwed up, pill-popping, off-kilter protagonist who glues the whole damn thing together because she's trying so hard not to care even though that's about all she can do. LAST LAST CHANCE doesn't always work but I applaud Maazel for taking serious story and narrative risks here.