David Galena’s debut novel is cathartic journey into a son trying to figure out who he is after the death of his father and the mysterious tale of the disappearance of his grandfather. The novel opens with up with a story of a boy who loses his uncle who is the main unnamed character of the book. The male lineage in Blood-Drenched Beard seems to have a lot in common by dying in tragic ways.
Anyway, the unnamed main character is a PE teacher and swimming trainer with an unusual disease that make it impossible for him to remember faces. He is forced to deal with the death of his father after he commits suicide and tells him before he does the deed that he must put down his dog Beta. Fortunately for Beta he gets to live because this dog is part of his father and he doesn’t want to let him go. He also morally he doesn’t feel it’s right even though he has people telling him he should honor his father’s dying wish and put him down (as an animal lover I was truly rooting for both to have a happy ending). Beta ends up being his sidekick during the journey of finding out who is grandfather was and how he died.
Throughout the novel we get to meet characters that said that they knew his grandfather and all seem to have the opinion that he was an odd man and deserved the horrible fate that befell him. All the characters in the novel from the landlord Cecina, his friend Bonobo, Jasmin a travel agent all seem to understand that the main character has interesting task ahead of him and all feel for him and want him to find the answers he is desperately searching for even when circumstances become difficult for him.
Blood Drenched Beard really is not the greatest title for this book. It is such a sweet and beautiful book that it makes it seems like it is a violent tale of some sort. I for one was captivated from page one and by the end of the story really started to miss the character and his adventures. I doubt we’ll have a sequel to this novel but for a story about a young man trying to find out about his past even though he can’t remember people’s faces it will leave you the reader, with a novel that you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
