The Street (2004)
By Aram Saroyan
Aram, a young writer of playful one-word poems, searches for intimacy while living in a small New York City apartment on W. 85th Street. What he finds are awkward romantic encounters, including a one-night stand with a waitress and a humorous brush with amateur porn. A decision to begin therapy and Aram’s quiet connection to the homeless man living on his street help him make sense of his misguided attempts at intimacy. Meanwhile, a chance opportunity to audition for a remake of “The Graduate” takes him to Los Angeles where he briefly flirts with becoming an actor. Instead, unexpected insights inspire Aram to begin writing an autobiographical novel and embark on a new life. I first stumbled upon “The Street: An Autobiographical Novel” while working at the Strand bookstore in the summer of 1989. I was going to college in suburban northern California where I felt homesick for New York City and the urban world I was used to. The author, Aram Saroyan, was living in northern California during the 1970s when he wrote the book, homesick for the year that he lived on West 85th Street in the mid 1960s. The novel captures not only the particular feeling of growing up in New York City, but…
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