MY ONLY SUNSHINE by Lou Dischler – Humorous Fiction, Dysfunctional Family Humor, General Humor

Lou Dischler delivers an intricately woven story about one well-meaning boy who tries to make sense of the crazy he’s been born into. Get ready for one belly laugh of an adventure in My Only Sunshine.

Welcome to the Louisiana low country, home of 9-year-old Charlie Boone, a kid growing up in 1962. Charlie, a most unreliable narrator, concerns himself with giant wingless wasps and biting red velvet ants. Combine his critter-concerns with the legend of the giant slugs, the story of his mother taken up by a hurricane, and the episode of the puddle he and his brother dug that grew into a pond, then turned into a lake, and we have one wildly imaginative ride well-worth taking.

Dischler delivers an epic tale that shifts from Charlie’s first-person point-of-view with his youthful ignorance coloring his observations to his Uncle Dan’s and “Aunt” Lola’s in third-person point-of-view. While Charlie ages and grows in wisdom as the story progresses, his uncle never seems to gain a lick of sense. Dischler skillfully applies the laws of magic realism to Charlie’s wonderful way of viewing his world. Uncle Dan’s story, on the other hand, derives from an inept conman’s rap-sheet – from failed grifts to bank robbery bungles that succeed only by accident. Dischler guides us, normalizing the ridiculous to the point that the characters jump off the page and set up camp in your living room.

Charlie and his family come richly drawn.

Altogether, the story lands somewhere between Stand by Me meets Bonnie and Clyde combined with an over-the-top sense of humor. Charlie’s easy banter transports us from the classroom to the lake, which becomes a vivid metaphor for his life. Through it all, readers experience the naïve confusion in Charlie at his uncle’s supposed wife, the Tijuana Bibles – more porn than scripture, and his uncle’s frequent disappearances. Dischler casts his spell, causing us all to fall for this 9-year-old boy and want to see what happens next.

My Only Sunshine shines brightly.

In the end, Dischler weaves the threads of this story into a fine cloth of satisfying, dysfunctional family love. Top that off with Charlie’s determination to find his mom no matter the outcome, and this novel shines like a gem. Readers can’t help but root for Charlie to catch a break, find his mom, and become the young man his destiny calls him to.

This rollicking novel will keep readers up at night, rehashing the escapades of one young southern boy, someone to whom we can all relate. Charlie’s a well-meaning kid who makes mistakes. He’s human, after all, just a kid whose mission unfolds in hysterical detail on every page. Dischler’s My Only Sunshine comes highly recommended as a laugh-out-loud read with some thought-provoking issues on the side.