BACK TO OAKLAND

OAKTOWNOakland. The contemporary buzz of Oakland, national and beyond, is tricky, and it is not entirely negative. These are Lake Merritt stories, fictional accounts of characters and events woven into a novel occurring around a lake in the middle of Oakland, California. Residents stay in Oakland, sometimes by choice, sometimes not. Many people not from Oakland view it as a notorious city. Others, some ex-residents, miss it. Still others who have never seen Oakland or noticed it are attracted to visit, perhaps to stay. The characters are all doing things people do: walking, sleeping, talking, working, looking around often at each other, driving, studying, being sexual, coming of age including getting old, playing, dreaming. That describes Oakland, but doesn't it also describe San Francisco, or Rome, or Tulsa, or Cleveland, or Mumbai?Maybe differences among cities are a state of mind, something people talk about to pass the time.The characters in the novel are often interacting in a public space, enabling readers of to explore how the city might shape the story, and also the reverse, how people meeting each other might shape the meme that is Oakland. Silicon Valley is a Bay Area "place" which has shapeshifted the 21st century. This novel addresses whether the buzz of Oakland - and other communities like it in other geographies -- might contribute cultural shapeshifting as well, though from a different angle of repose.

• | Author: Penn Hughes
• | Publisher: Independently published
• | Publication Date: Dec 28, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 225 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1790920094
• | ISBN-13: 9781790920099