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Larry Sargeant provides autobiographical questioning of life's essence through his protagonist, Alan Bentley, the second son of a "greatest generation" mother and father. Alan has grown up during the post WWII era of euphoria, with many real (Abraham Lincoln, Lindy, Ike) and fictional (Superman, Batman) heroes. His adolescence is filled with questions about the meaning of life. He asks himself can a person establish and reach goals to justify his existence while enduring the pitfalls of innocent ignorance and impatient curiosity in an inept search for his inner hero?
In Book 2 Alan resurrects his documenting of that search from 1963 as he somewhat reluctantly returned to boyhood digs that he had escaped from in 1960. Having experienced many challenges in his quest for heroism, he questions his commitment to that goal as a result of setbacks and irrelevant detours. Returning home had reinforced his sense of failure and, while fighting an inclination to accept defeat, he begins to symbolically tread water. The only perceptible changes in his status after a three-year absence are being older and finally having a room of his own.
Alan had suspended his journal-writing, but fortunately continued to scribble notes about events and experiences, stuffing them into shoe boxes in case he ever decided to resurrect his journal writing. In 1964, after determining that, despite frequent renewed misfires, perseverance was his only choice, he established a Plan To Live Forever, his personal PTLF.
He experiences an unusual epiphany that gives rise to the concept of a finite forever, inspiring him to adjust his goals with revived zeal and a new sense of urgency. In 1974 he resurrected his journal from his saved notes. Again, his documentation reveals a plethora of misfires and catastrophes that ran a gamut of highs and lows, laughter and tears, excitement, and flirts with death. Self-destructive behavior, lust-related threats from angry husbands and boyfriends, risky experiments with skydiving equipment, and flawed romance-centered decisions, frequently challenge his PTLF. Alan attempts to reconcile his altered concept of forever with his goals, achievements, and beliefs, by narrowing his focus to unmask his inner hero. Will his revised path and renewed determination enable him to finally find the hero-centered success and happiness he seeks?
