Reviews of An Epitaph for Coyote: A Novel

An Epitaph for Coyote is one of those novels that just gets under your skin and into your head and makes you take a long look at your own life. The story is centered around Henry Pluck, an average young guy with no small amount of neurosis. He lives alone in a house devoid of personaility where everything is "just so". He works as a finance clerk in an office, never happier than when he is at work. There is a humdrum, "sameness" to his life that has seemingly dulled him to actually living life. Until Rosa Santana comes into his life. She is everything he isn't. She's passionate, free-spirited, and determined to get the most of life. Against all odds, they bond, first as friends and then later as lovers. Rosa opens Henry up to experiences he would never have had without her, expanding his little world. Henry can't help but fall in love with her, even though there is so much about her he just doesn't understand. And Rosa shows her own love for him in her own, unique way.

This book is beautifully written, making you, as the reader, consider your own life and it's meaning. At times, the story is poignantly sad, at others light and humorous. Although Henry is on the extreme end of the "square" scale, there is so much about him that all of us can relate to. While Henry and Rosa are the main characters, there are other, more minor characters that are equally as interesting. Vince, a former friend of Henry's deceased father, has become Henry's friend and father figure. He is the epitome of a grumpy, old man, and reminded me of my own grandfather in many ways. Carlos, a resident of the nursing home that Henry visits, is another grumpy old man, but a likeable one. The loneliness that each of these men felt made my heart ache at times.

As I read, I marked one of my favorite passages in the book to share. As I prepared to write this review, I noticed that the author had shared the same exact passage on his own site. It is a bit of sage advice that Vince gives to Henry and I thought it was wonderful.


"You won't be remembered by your job title. Forget `Henry the Accountant.' If you're going to be remembered you'll be remembered by other titles. `Dad' or `Friend' or `Husband' or even `Grandfather,' those are the titles you'll be remembered by. Or not remembered by."

Henry Pluck is a creature of habit. He only eats sandwiches, he has all of his ties pre-tied into perfect Windsor knots, and he is the perfect worker. He also has a love for older people and has several older friends from Irma, Carlos, and Vince. He loves the different habits and behaviors that they have compared to younger people.

All that changes when he finds a cockroach in his house. When he calls in an exterminator, he meets Rosa Santana and his life is forever changed. Rosa starts to make Henry think about what is going on around him and ultimately if he is happy with how his life is going.

Rosa is a free spirit with a breath of fresh air. She flies into Henry’s life as an exterminator that is fired/quits shortly after she sprays for cockroaches at Henry’s house, with sugar water. Then she arrives in an ice cream truck for her new job. From there Henry learns that she has three boyfriends and painfully meets one of them while Rosa is cutting his hair.

Together, Henry and Rosa see a 4,000 year old movie, discuss the behavior of old people, and look at how people don’t appreciate the nature around them. As Henry spends more time with Rosa, he realizes there is more to life than the little square box that he has enclosed himself in.

I really enjoyed this book. Henry is a perfect example of most people in the world, stuck in their own little worlds now realizing there is more to life. Rosa was a kick in the shorts with all the outrageous things she does. I admit that I probably wouldn’t have chosen this book but I’m glad that I read it. This is one book that you early need to read.

[I received this book from the Blog Fest Giveaway from the author]

“In a material society where people define themselves by the things they own, how can individuality exist if everyone owns the same things?”

Beige. Manila folders. That inoffensive, nameless metallic color your Hondayota CamCord comes in every time you buy a new one. Tedium. Ennui.

An Epitaph for Coyote introduces the reader to a boring man, Henry Pluck, who holds down a boring job, to fund his boring life in Las Vegas, the land of bing-bing and bling-dah-bling-bling. He provides us with an uncomfortable mirror in which we see ourselves, but the portrait is unflattering showing us the more we try to control reality, the more imprisoned we become.

The clever naming of protagonist cannot be dismissed. “Henry” could not be a more middle-of-the road name, but his surname, Pluck, illustrates his biggest challenge: to summon the strength to risk, to become plucky. That is the storyline in a nutshell.

To the maximum extent possible, Pluck controls the limits of his space, be it his work cubicle, his house, or the rigid rules in his mind for looking at women. He derives the kind of satisfaction some OCD types revel in. Except, that he is unhappy, if truth be told, and total control remains elusive especially when a lone cockroach wiggles into view and subsequently a bug lady named Rosa.

Mind-numbingly banal memoranda interrupt the story sending out admonishments every one of us has seen where we work and through this device the author cleverly links Pluck’s plight to ours, making his dissatisfaction with the status quo ours.

An Epitaph for Coyote reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s short story There Will Come Soft Rains in which a fully automated house, with unfailing predictability, goes about the business of catering to a dead family after a nuclear war. Like Bradbury’s masterpiece, Dennis’ work has that same, seemingly detached tone, which deepens the reader’s discomfort, and draws us in. As with Bradbury’s piece, social commentary abounds in this satirical novel. The “little pink houses for you and me” world we experience in American suburbia controls us to the maximum extent we allow it to and we need to break free to live.

We want Henry Pluck’s world to be challenged and Rosa is just the catalyst for the job. Paradoxically, Rosa does not want to kill roaches and is quite OK with letting them thrive. The roaches represent a clever metaphor for people trapped in their lives of seeming perfection.

Over time, Rosa jangles Pluck’s world causing him to tolerate more cognitive dissonance over his inability to exert absolute control and bit by bit he relinquishes.

The trick is to be open to change when the bug lady comes to kill your roaches.

Quite simply, I loved this novel. I loved it the way you sometimes stumble across a novel that just suddenly hits you like a punch in the gut - and I mean that in a good way. I hate to make comparisons to other works, as I feel a novel should stand on its own, but this one could easily become a modern classic.

I received this book as a freebie in exchange for a review. I am so thankful that I received the eBook as I would have missed a great read otherwise.

I initially thought this novel was going to be a light hearted romp through the life of a nerdish accountant cubicle living guy. The read started out with humor and a lightness that was very enjoyable and kept me reading. The whole reading experience changed for me when Rosa entered the life of our dear accountant. I realized that I had been set up by the author who drew me in expertly. The set up was a good thing and actually brought a wry smile to my face.

With Rosa in the story, the theme of the book became much deeper causing me to slow down and smell the roses. Each character in the book became profound to me. Their individual stories of life caused me to reflect on my own life. And yes, the title is very meaningful. A soulful thought process of the title as your read progresses will result in a much deeper appreciation of the writing ability and style of this author.

I heartily recommend this book to everyone and I will be reading the next book without question. I gave the book 5 stars because I could not give it 4.5 stars. The book does have spelling and grammatical issues but not enough to take away from the memorable experience.