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The Five Senses by Joe Sinkler Jeremy Holmes
reviewed by Marjetta Geerling
"For several of the most panic-stricken seconds of my life, I struggle to regain control of my balance, before it finally happens: I Fall Down The Well"
Joseph Adams' weekend camping plans take a deadly turn when he finds himself trapped in an abandoned well. Alone, injured, and with only a single banana for nourishment, Joe desperately tries to stay awake long enough to come up with a plan to escape. His frequent dips into unconsciousness send him back into his past where he examines the forces that shaped him and the regrets that weigh heavy on his mind. Switching from the present to carefully chosen flashbacks and back again, Joe shares the most devastating and most joyous times in his life. His self-examination is as brutal and painful as the shattered leg that prevents him from climbing to safety.
Joe's struggle to survive both his past and present is told with narrative urgency. The first person narration reveals Joe as a slightly eccentric, endearing man with the ability to see humor in the mistakes of his past. Joe is all the more likeable because of his honest and quirky self-portrayal. The reader knows that Joe is not perfect, and identifies with him because of his flaws, not in spite of them. Although he is trapped at the bottom of the well for the duration of the novella, Joe's story roams through his past relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and lovers, touching on the universal experiences of love, loss, regret, and death. Sinkler masterfully weaves past and present, love and loss, and hope and despair into a cautionary tale about the pain of regret.