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 THE
ENEMY’S WITHIN (Blueboy
Productions) by Jimmy Reject. 120 pages. Collection of various
fiction/nonfiction writings. As his writing indicates, Jimmy Reject tends
to live life to the extreme, and I don’t mean the Mountain Dew
rollerblading down
Mt.
Everest
extreme. “Down in Flames,” which chronicles Mr. Reject’s life
between the ages of 14-23, proves that he let the good times roll a bit to
well and let the bad times take its toll. Tales of friends, school, work,
and many punk rock travels are detailed. The other sections of the book
are a mish-mash of short stories and a chapter packed with simple
paragraphs giving you an idea of what was going on in Jimmy’s mind at
the moment of writing.
Having
grown up in the same general area as Jimmy and hanging out in the same
general
Boston
“punk” scene, I often found myself very interested in what Jimmy had
to offer with this book. Although I do not know this guy, I did often
wonder while reading if maybe our paths crossed or if I know some of the
people of whom he wrote. That aside, Jimmy’s writing is very readable
and enjoyable with some instances of rambling. However annoying the
rambling seems at times, it also gives you an idea of how out of control
this guy’s brain moves and works. The writing shows as much confidence
as it does brutal insecurities, with heavy doses of self destructive
behavior. “Down in Flames” (the best part of this collection) had me
cheering Jimmy on as much as it made me shake my head and wonder
“Why’d you do that, Jim?” The stuff is like a roller coaster. I did
enjoy the fiction pieces and I am sure there’s a lot of underlying truth
to what is written, but I constantly felt myself wanting to read more of
JR’s nonfiction ranting. The one major bytch I have concerning The
Enemy’s Within are the short “why I wrote this” introduction to
each section of the book. I hate reading this kind of narrative before
stories (as well as narration in movies) and feel it just gets in the way
of true writing. Jimmy Reject use to be the drummer for the once popular,
but now defunct, Dimestore Haloes. The
text within the covers of this book will have you saying three Y words;
Yaay (or yeehaw if yer a Southerner), yick, and yikes. Sadly, the author
died at the age of 35 in August 2006.– Denis Sheehan
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