THE SOUL CITY SALVATION

A relocation to the West triggers major life changes for a soul-searching man in this novel.

This fifth volume of LaPoma’s (Hammond, 2018, etc.) loosely linked series focuses on Jay Sakovsky, a restless schoolteacher in his mid-20s who recently relocated from Buffalo, New York, to the “Promised Land” of Southern California. He did so in the hope that a change of scenery would cure his chronic anxiety. He also wants to realize his dream of becoming a successful actor, songwriter, and novelist. After arriving in Soul City, a Venice Beach–like cosmopolis north of Hollywood, Jay searches for substitute-teaching work at one of the local schools and crashes with his moody college buddy Doug. In teaching, he hopes to gain the confidence to begin auditioning in Hollywood as an actor; he also seeks to cure what he calls “the Darkness inside,” which seems to refer to chronic depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Jay meets Soul City native Cody, a wealthy former biotechnology company businessman who has a major plan for education reform, which involves opening his own academy. While teaching at this new school, Jay parties, fights, dates, confronts a scoliosis diagnosis, and embarks on a “healing journey.” Over the course of this lengthy novel, Jay is revealed to be an intriguing soul to follow, and LaPoma seamlessly depicts aspects of Jay’s mental illness as well as his attempts to get successfully published. Along the way, the author effectively plays with the theme of control— specifically, Jay’s lack of it, in both his classrooms and in his personal life. Readers who are looking for less rumination and more action may find this tome to be somewhat lacking, but those who will enjoy a good character study of an educator yearning for more will be satisfied.

A protracted but highly readable tale of a struggling but well-meaning schoolteacher.