Jumping Lizards

Adrian’s story is a thoroughly American story of a passionate and iron-willed individualist whose vision for his country is both fearless and frightening. The recent real-world collapse of several major U.S. corporations and the federal government’s bailout program provide the fuel for Pregadio’s novel. The book explores what might happen if the U.S. financial fortress actually fell down and didn’t get up again. Adrian equates market trading to a super-high or a kind of spiritual ecstasy that, in the novel’s climax, borders very closely on a sociopathic thrill fulfillment. Adrian Amato is an anti-hero, make no mistake, but his enemies are far worse. Pregadio combines prose and poetry in Jumping Lizards, creating an elegant and seamless narrative with incredible muscularity. His story is the literary equivalent of Athena bursting from the forehead of Zeus. This is a book to read for the joy of reading. And Yosef Ariel Pregadio is a name to watch.