Waking Summer White — Michael Roberts

Life, it ain't easy, that's for sure. Thomas just never thought it would be so hard. In Michael Roberts' debut novel, a young attorney seeks to understand himself and his place in the world. Several years after graduation, attorney Thomas Grace is still unemployed and shuffling between anxiety, depression and borderline alcoholism. Exhausted from battling personal demons, he seeks sanctuary and takes a day off from e-mails and resumes to reflect and contemplate his existence and future. Thomas returns to Chicago's lakefront that he frequented while in college, where he meets Lisa, an attractive young bibliophile who reminds him of his unfulfilled desire for love. The novel weaves through Thomas' nomadic childhood, failed marriage and his unique social observations as he searches for self-actualization and romance on a jobless salary. He alternately tries to bring closure to the absence of a father and foster appreciation for his mother.