"RAGS" a New Novel by M.J.SilbersteinReview Synopsis Below...
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Rags is "Vos" Silberstein's intriguing, powerful, and suspenseful account of a group of childhood friends who spend the journey of their lives walking the tightrope between right and wrong. The novel spans five decades, as we follow Vos and his friends from the playgrounds to the racetrack, to the army, to Manhattan's bustling garment district, to the lower, middle and upper echelons of the 'Mob'. to the exhilarating decadence of Vegas and Hollywood.
Some of Vos' friends fall off the tightrope-- desperate gamblers and addicts who have to pay up eventually, usually with their lives. A few friends find a way to make the tightrope walk pay off. Still other, more powerful friends make the big decisions-- who gets to stay on the tightrope, if they can, and who gets pushed. then there's Vos himself; gambler, textile supplier, devoted husband and family man, who manages his own long tightrope walk with a little help from friends.
Because Silberstein has taken many incidents from his own life, this wide-ranging work of fiction has the firm grounding and telling details of reality. It may well inspire readers to take a look back at their own past as Vos and his friends reactivate recollections and earlier recognition.
There is a tender side to Rags as well. We see Vos' pain as he has to raise his family when his wife succumbs to manic depression. And we get to experience the hope and exhilaration of finding a lost love once more. Most of all, though, Rags is a story of friendship-- the deep, long-lasting right-behind-you-when-you-need-them-the-most kind.
When Vos' son, a lawyer, sets out to prosecute a ruthless, White House and mob-connected CEO on charges of sexual harassment and rape, and the CEO delivers the ultimate threat. The only way for Vos to help his son, is to enlist the aid of his old buddies.
With a few phone calls and a couple of personal visits, Vos gets everyone together for a 'meeting'. But since this is Vos and his friends, it can't be just any meeting. Nothing less than the finest suites in one of Las Vegas' largest hotels will do. And, Vos realizes that he just might have the greatest bunch of friends a not-quite goodfella could ever ask for.
Rags brings together it's colorful cast in a series of vignettes that turns raucously funny, brutally shocking, and quite elegiac. It is as unique and original as the people it portrays. By the novels end, the reader will also be glad to be one of Vos' friends.
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