All for Now

Brother Stephen dies suddenly. That’s when things get complicated. Is Stephen’s death his wake-up call? That’s a possibility that slowly dawns on him. Soon he is behind the wheel of a Prius, driving through his afterlife, listening to himself being interviewed on NPR. His afterlife feels a lot like high school, he tells Terry, and she questions him about those lawsuits filed by students who claimed to have been molested by pedophile Brothers. As an administrator of his Roman Catholic religious order, he was caught in the middle of all these heartbreaking cases. In fact, the lawsuit he was dealing with the moment he died is one that strikes especially close to his heart. He once knew the plaintiff. He once knew her very well. He also knew very well the Brother who is named in the lawsuit. Now that he is dead, Brother Stephen is more determined than ever to get to the truth. He spends his afterlife solving a terrible mystery or two—about the survivor and about the accused. The biggest mystery he faces, however, is the one about himself.

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  • “Di Prisco (Sun City) takes a bold and unexpectedly amusing look at the unfortunately joined subjects of religion and pedophilia. When Brother Stephen, an administrator of a Roman Catholic religious teaching order dealing with lawsuits from former students who claimed to have been molested by his brothers, suddenly dies, he finds himself in the afterlife—driving a Prius in Northern California as an NPR interview of himself plays on the radio. Needless to say, he’s shocked and confused, but he discovers that this is only the beginning of the oddities he will soon encounter. He returns to an amorphous afterlife version of his former high school, where, in a nod to Orwell, all doors lead to “Room 101,” and one of them holds his old girlfriend Shannon, now a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. The dreamlike events that ensue with not only Shannon but also former mentor Brother Charlie and a student Brother Stephen taught 30 years ago forces Stephen to confront truths that he would rather have left unexamined. Though Di Prisco takes a heartbreaking look at the scars left by pedophilia, and some readers will surely feel anger at the sins, the tale unfolds, bravely, with much humor thanks to Brother Stephen’s bemused narration”

    — Publishers Weekly

  • “What makes Joseph Di Prisco’s novel work is its narrative voice— poignant, rueful, and wise-crackingly sardonic. This voice belongs to a just-deceased Catholic Brother, lingering in the afterlife to sort out his life’s meanings and errors, confronting friends and enemies. This is a novel about posthumous discoveries, reunions and revenge. Readers of J.F. Powers’ Morte d’Urban and Alice McDermott’s Charming Billy should find their way to All For Now.”

    – P.F. Kluge, author of A Call From Jersey, Gone Tomorrow, and Eddie and the Cruisers

  • “What will the afterlife be like? If we’re lucky, it would be something like the humorous and humane version Joseph Di Prisco imagines in All for Now, a smart, sparkling tale about faith, religion and devotion under less than ideal circumstances—that is, the average existence.”

    – Oscar Villalon, Managing Editor Zyzzyva Magazine

  • “Joseph DiPrisco has crafted a completely original thriller. What happens AFTER we die? It’s the question Brother Stephen asks in DiPrisco’s All for Now. Can Brother Stephen solve the case he was working on when he died or can he discover how he got where he is and why he’s still here? The quick pace and sharp writing make All for Now a book you can’t bear to put down.”

    – Kathleen Caldwell, Owner, A Great Good Place for Books

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