“An opening piece about his ongoing relationship, begun in teenagehood, with his miniature Christmas village sets the tone for this whimsical, Sedaris-esque collection of autobiographical essays.”
—Emily Donaldson, Globe and Mail
“Kemick has a way of noticing odd details and meaningful moments that pass us by when we are with those closest to us.”
—Bill Paul, BC Review
“Funny and poignant . . . It’s a weird and rewarding ride.”
—Publishers Weekly
In Decadence, Richard Kelly Kemick’s “accidental memoir of a sort,” the author ranges widely through his myriad preoccupations and obsessions (volleyball, municipal landfills, dogs, high school plays, Christmas villages, love) out of which the shape of a unique sensibility is revealed. Reminiscent of the three Davids—Rakoff, Sedaris, and Wallace—these essays accrete into a portrait of a man trying to make sense of a world in which there are no goddamn rules; and yet one in which every action has sometimes profound consequences.
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- “Playing God” in The Walrus.