PERVERSE, ADVERSE & ROTTENVERSE

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

From the very beginning of Perverse, Adverse & Rottenverse, June Foray, perhaps best known for her voicework as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, indicates that the essays that follow will be iconoclastic. She opens this collection with a bit of verse, which seems like doggerel, but is her battle cry to look at the expected and accepted and deny its reality.

The book is a collection of essays and poems, each based on an adage, such as "Pride goeth before the fall" or "Never look a gift horse in the mouth." using these pithy sayings as a jumping off point, Foray practices a stream of consciousness style of writing, using the title to give herself a loose theme for the essay (or poem).

The essays and poems engage in clever wordplay, although the stream of consciousness style means that while the essays may be witty by the line, they don't necessarily hold up for the length of the brief essays (even the long ones are only three pages). The reader finds himself enjoying the wit and allusions for their own sake rather than in service to a longer and more cohesive argument.

Foray, currently 99 years old, was 88 when Perverse, Adverse & Rottenverse and on occasion, her age is betrayed by the references and language that she elects to use, making allusions which, while many of them may be known to younger readers, also seem to date the author. These references give some of the essays an outmoded feel which may send some readers to the internet to learn what she is referring to. An iconoclast talking about individuals or social situations which have passed from common knowledge is a bit awkward and undercuts the message of questioning the current authority.

Although Perverse, Adverse & Rottenverse attempts to make a statement, the essays are a little too random to fully make their arguments, the dated references aside. These are best read on an individual basis, enjoyed for the specific cleverness inherent to each piece without really trying to stitch together an overall message, even, sometimes, within the span of an individual essay.

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