Michael Deal

Michael Deal is a novel about one man's struggle to find his place in the human community. The structure of the book reflects its theme. Every action sequence, every series of events, every chapter, as well as the entire book as an organic whole, exhibits the identical structure as its protagonist attempts to "fit in," is frustrated and fails, and reacts in one of two ways, withdrawal or attack, until at the very end of the novel he finds his own way of coming to terms with the issue. This blending of structure and theme is masterfully accomplished in the Africa sequence, which constitutes most of chapter two, the longest of the novel's three chapters. The theme of finding one's place may not be unique; but Vivelo's voice, as well as his manner of presenting this perennial concern, is decidedly different from that of any other novelist.