In The Poet In Exile there are two fictions playing off each other. Both are the fiction that Jim Morrison faked his death in Paris in 1971. Unfortunately, the fictions presented aren’t because of the complexities built into the story by Ray Manzarek. While reading The Poet In Exile it’s hard not to read this either as non-fiction or trying to superimpose The Doors story over a work of fiction. Ray Manzarek, is after, all the keyboardist and along with Jim Morrison founded the rock group, The Do

In The Poet In Exile there are two fictions playing off each other. Both are the fiction that Jim Morrison faked his death in Paris in 1971. Unfortunately, the fictions presented aren’t because of the complexities built into the story by Ray Manzarek. While reading The Poet In Exile it’s hard not to read this either as non-fiction or trying to superimpose The Doors story over a work of fiction. Ray Manzarek, is after, all the keyboardist and along with Jim Morrison founded the rock group, The Doors. Manzarek has been flogging some version of this story since Morrison’s death.



The Poet In Exile is about Roy who was in a legendary 60’s rock band with Jody the “Snake Man.” As you can see there’s no great effort at fictionalizing the names of characters, Ray=Roy, Jody=Jim=Snake Man=The Lizard King. Doors drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger are referred to only as “The Drummer“ and “The Guitarist.“ Manzarek might have been trying here to present them as archetypes, but it only seems to minimize them in the overall story. Roy starts receiving mysterious postcards from the Seychelles Island signed only by “J.” With little need for any more motivation, Roy takes off to the Seychelles in search of Jody. It’s at this point that we run into the first missed opportunity of this novel. On the plane trip to Seychelles, Roy has time to reflect on his past. Ray Manzarek is one of the most uniquely positioned people to not observe but comment on the inner workings of a successful band, the 60’s, and Jim Morrison, but he offers no unique insight on any of these.



When Roy arrives in the Seychelles he’s faced with not knowing where to find Jody, but through a clunky Deux ex-machina runs into Jody’s son. Compared with what’s to come, the reader is almost able to write it off to the Seychelles being a small island. The real problems with story start when Roy finds Jody and they start to catch up on the events of their lives. The dialogue sounds and reads more like a monologue. The philosophy and ideas presented are interchangeable between Roy and Jody. If you read this as a roman a’ clef it certainly isn’t true to Jim Morrison or his outlook on life. If you read this as straight fiction it’s a disservice to Jody’s character making him indistinguishable from Roy. The ending is totally predictable almost from the moment Jody enters the story is one of the most easily telegraphed resolutions I’ve ever read.



The Poet In Exile is easily one of the most linear novels I’ve ever read. This may be because Manzarek is used to the mathematical progression of playing the keyboards. If this were anyone else’s first novel, I doubt it would have been published.