It's Like This (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798988913948)

John (Jack) J. O'Brien (B. 1925 - D. 2001) was an ecclesiastical muralist who painted the ceilings and walls of cathedrals and churches and one statehouse across the Northeast United States during the 1950s - 1960s. A World War Two veteran with the 45^th Infantry, he was severely wounded, highly decorated for bravery and suffered severe post-traumatic stress for many years of his life. In the 1960s, an accident with a coke bottle injured one of his hands and he could no longer climb the scaffolding to paint church murals. For a while after the injury he worked the Montreal Exposition, the World Fair and the Macy's Day parades as an artist and helped his Union. He rejoined his wife and children in Toronto, Canada after a hospital stay to treat alcohol and codeine dependency. Taking a tiny, Spartan studio in Markham near Bloor Street, Jack began a torrent of writing as a catharsis to rid himself of the demons of war. The book of poetry It's Like This and the book on war Dog Star, were completed first. He was elected President of the Canadian Writer's Guild, though American, and he would read his work to rapt, packed-in audiences. He completed two more novels in that tiny studio which housed only a bed, a coat hook and an overturned fruit crate as a desk. The Golden Gumball detailed his family's experiences during the Great Depression and The Terminal Assassins, was his only fictional work. It was a fast moving book where group therapy veterans with terminal conditions decide to target untouchable criminals and other agents of evil as their parting gift to the world. Paramount Motion Pictures began discussions with Jack to buy the rights to make it into a movie. As with all of his written work, he demurred and did not publish.

Author: Jack O'Brien
ISBN-10: 8988913949
ISBN-13: 9798988913948
Publisher: Jenoco
Language: English
Published: 01/01/2024
Pages: 156
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.34lbs
Size: 7.00h x 5.00w x 0.36d