Shawn Mihalik

The Dissection of Vertebrates

Threesomes and sex magick and open relationships and depression and drunken nights — all those things young lovers fight and dream about. The Dissection of Vertebrates, Mihalik’s latest novel, resonates with anyone who fell in love with the boy at the coffee shop and imagined her husband in bed with them, anyone who has been laughed at by his wife, anyone who has looked at that bottle of pills on the counter and asked himself, is today the day? Mihalik writes with depth and emotion and heart and pain; no character escapes suffering, no character escapes heartbreak, there are no ideals in his world, and sometimes there are not even happy endings. After all, that is not how life works. There are no clear endings to things, no lines in the sand that cannot be crossed. We all fall down, we all mess up, and he does not shy away from showing you these falls and these mess ups. You will want to reach into the very pages of the book, take the characters by their shoulders, and hug them or shake them for their hypocrisy. You will see yourself in them, and you will hate it and you will love it. Reading Mihalik’s words, you will be confronted with the worst parts of yourself, and you will enjoy every moment of it, guided along with his rich, poetic language and dry, in-your-face wit. (Paige M. Ferro)