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“Through the 21st Century Looking Glass” —USA Today, by Grady Harp
"Mel Mathews is a sensitive observer of the human condition, with an emphasis on the Male Human Condition of our time. He has created a character in Malcolm Clay that is a baby boomer Holden Caulfield, a variation on John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom, and he manages to take us by the hand and lead us through the bumpy terrain of current interpersonal relationships as well as anyone writing today..."
“A journey of expanded awareness,” —Dec 2006, Midwest Book Review
“The first in a series of seven novels by author Mel Mathews, LeRoi is a novel following the seemingly ordinary man Malcolm Clay, whose car breaks down and whose cell phone suddenly dies, stranding him by a garage and a diner. Malcolm has lived a seemingly successful life, but at what cost? An introspective allegory about the search for prosperity of the soul, a need that lingers despite fulfilling the needs of the body, LeRoi tracks its self-assured, at times sardonic, yet inwardly incomplete protagonist on a journey of expanded awareness. Also highly recommended are the sequels of Malcolm's adventures, Menopause Man and SamSara.”
“Malcolm Clay is the story of everyman.” —Feb 2007, Nancy Qualls-Corbett
“Malcolm Clay is the story of everyman. He is every man who ventures into life and love. The every man who experiences the vicissitudes of the ecstasy yet fear and pain that life and love may bring. Author, Mel Mathews, brings to light the engaging energies of his novels’ protagonist, Malcolm Clay, both in his external happenings and also in the soul making substance of his inner on-going life. He allows us to hear the inner dialogue, to touch the feelings, to view life as if an X-ray vision of a man’s soul. In an appealing manner, a crisp and crusty narrative, we, as reader, also envision life and soul.” —Nancy Qualls-Corbett, Author of The Sacred Prostitute & Awakening Woman
“LeRoi and the Scapegoat for Failure,” —Feb 2007, Grady Harp, Los Angeles, CA
“Mel Mathews steps into the foray of writing with a flair for vivid descriptive phrasing, a keen sense of character development which he wisely parcels out over the course of the entire novel, and a manner of writing conversation that is direct, terse, pungent, funny, and tender. He almost makes us think of Five Points as Camus' 'No Exit'...”—Grady Harp is an amazon.com Top 10 Reviewer
“Menopause Man a tale of transformation” —Feb 2007, The Californian
"Menopause Man" and its companion titles, "LeRoi" and "SamSara," focus on shedding bogus identities and the discovery of one's true self.”
“Chasing leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold,” —Sept 2006, The Florentine
“This adventure attempts to unify the masculine and feminine and Malcolm Clay’s dream world with his waking reality. With his third novel, SamSara, Mel Mathews certainly does prove to be a master of his trade.”
“Painfully sweet, honest and hopeful” — Nov 2005, Sharon Martin, Mt Pleasant, SC
“This is a story of a man who is not afraid to be who he really is, Its authenticity and vulnerability made me laugh, cry, and wonder if I also have the courage to live an authentic life. LeRoi is a good read that is painfully sweet, honest and hopeful…”
“SamSara provides valuable insights,” —Sept 2006, J.G. Moos Küsnacht, Switz.
“Not only a page-turner, SamSara provides valuable insights into a very small part of mankind, those who do not fear Freedom but instead demand it as their individual right.”
“Bravo, Mel Mathews, Bravo!” —Nov 2005, Dana Lucas, Waldport, OR
“I've read few novels written by men that have such keen insight into the struggle for truth and intimacy. To admit one's frailties is unusual. Malcolm Clay manages to do that in the most unusual of places, which is revealing in itself. One need not go on a trek to India or elsewhere to discover one's Self. Sometimes our greatest teachers are working the tiller at a diner…”
“Breakdowns and Breakups,” —Feb 2007, Joseph Madia Jr., Author & Playwright New Mystics Theatre Co.
“I finished LeRoi last night and I enjoyed it--enjoyed the honesty and the hard reality and the layers of symbol and spirit. In framework it was kind of like the film Doc Hollywood meets the book ‘The Way of the Peaceful Warrior’ by Dan Milman, with three of the main characters--Flo, Jimmy and Okie--all confluencing into Milman's Socrates.”
“Through the 21st Century Looking Glass” —USA Today
"Mel Mathews is a sensitive observer of the human condition, with an emphasis on the Male Human Condition of our time. He has created a character in Malcolm Clay that is a baby boomer Holden Caulfield, a variation on John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom, and he manages to take us by the hand and lead us through the bumpy terrain of current interpersonal relationships as well as anyone writing today.
"We first met Malcolm Clay in Mathew's first novel 'LeRoi' as a middle aged man trapped in a successful but boring occupation who becomes stranded in a dusty little truck stop where he is forced to slow his pace to adjust to the fertile characters he created there. Well, now Malcolm is living in Carmel, California, having been divorced, forgoing his childhood entrapping religious heritage, traipsing through many brief and physically oriented affairs while deciding to change his life as an alcoholic tractor salesman to that of a reformed AA writer ('..he didn't think anyone should be called an addict, alcoholic, codependent, or any other of the pathologized clinical diagnosis that propelled a person into another lie'). His existence is populated in this gorgeous coastline area of California by all manner of women and men whose connection to life is through tenuous strings tied to fairly shallow buoys. Most of the novel is conversational, with Malcolm discovering the intrinsic personality defects of characters ranging from his landlady Mrs. Shams to men on the make to physical therapist Jenny who manages to keep a physical distance between the lusty but controlled Malcolm and her fragile, purging diet, Zen-like self.
"What Malcolm discovers in this 'quasi-rake's progress' is his inner feminine 'who has been waiting for me to come for her so that she can breathe new life into me, animate me, and give me a new meaning.' Women 'never lied because of the devastating moral injustices it caused. Instead of lying, they just accidentally forgot to tell the important stuff'. All this is a journey so well written that the novel calls for pause to enjoy the sheer ebullience of the verbiage. Mel Mathews is a fine writer, finding his way through life in these times. He is a reliable companion on the trek we all are taking. And now on to the next volume in the series, 'SamSara', addictively!"—USA Today, by Grady Harp
In addition to the USA Today, WNBC.com and BloggingAuthors.com, Grady Harp's reviews appear on Barnes & Noble, Soapadoo, Powells Books, and he is an Amazon.com Top Ten reviewer!!
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