Julie Miliner

Review by Steven J. Pradia

November 2, 2008

The debut novel of Julie Miliner, The Magic and the Mayhem is a tale of a 30-something man reaping all the benefits of a single life. Selfish as ever, John Drake doesn’t eat much because he’s cheap. Drake doesn’t form relationships solid enough with the bevy of women he beds as he’d rather continually play the field. The protagonist of Magic also does not have protected sex and subsequently learns the value of following this teenage lesson. The early chapters of Magic detail the quickly uncovered newfound fatherhood Drake finds himself inheriting. A first knock on his door comes from Tiny. The little boy nearly identical to a younger version of Drake is a result of his army days as a youth. The second knock reveals Tomeka, the lone child he was aware of yet opted to avoid for over a decade. At a point when Drake playing Dad to two children in a spotless one bedroom apartment seems like plenty of fodder for the remainder of the novel, a third knock comes along. This bundle of joy is just that, a set of twins and a toddler are amongst his newest order of responsibilities. As if overnight, Drake is “sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss where all single men who don’t wear protection one day fall.” Dodging the threat of eviction from his condo, nasty stares from neighbors and fellow shoppers while in public, Drake makes due if for no other reason than that he doesn’t have a choice. An inevitable coming of age story is developed. The need to protect Italian leather, Japanese stereos and premium box springs is shelved in the name of nurturing a newly discovered gaggle of heirs. While yet a 4th knock comes to the door, a comical run in with a lady friend of Drake’s he’s been avoiding occurs, the general trials of single fatherhood take place and Drake’s growth ensue it is the latter that amounts to the backbone of the novel. I found the outstanding achievement of the story to be the way Miliner gradually develops Drake. The me first womanizer initially introduced is molded into a selfless loving father who in the end hardly resembles the Drake of old.