The Glow

It's 2004 in America and Quentin Ross does not elect to visit Chile with his new girlfriend for spring break. Instead he finds himself criss-crossing the country with his roommate and with fellow travelers of various persuasions. However, it is through Olivia Dupree that Quentin might wonder about the narrowness of his own perspective in this novella with picaresque and coming-of-age elements.Quentin Ross is twenty-one years old and approaching the end of his college years. His (nominal) girlfriend Marcela is decidedly out of his pay grade on the scale of life ambition. In lieu of visiting her family for spring break, he crosses from one side to the other of 2004 America, with all of the anti-turmoil that implies. There are the regressive jokes and diatribes of Kjell as well as the adderall-induced conniving and philosophizing of Carson. But it is truly through Olivia Dupree, vivacious and tormented, worldly and aesthetic, that Quentin might wonder about the narrowness of his own perspective.The Glow touches on the nature of responsibility, relationships, redemption, and repetition. It contains historical, picaresque, coming-of-age, and romantic elements, and it is the first work of Dan Bryan.