The Merch review

I lived in pre-Speleto Charleston in the first years of the 1970s. The Merch precisely
captures the grit gri!e and sha""y gentility of the city in those days. #re-Spoleto
Charleston did not have the South$s so!e clai! the Continent$s "est restaurants as it
does today. The Charleston of those days !ade little pretense to "eing the cultural center
it is today. That Charleston was a !etropolitan area with dives instead of "ars and
saloons. That Charleston had %a&& if you 'new where to find it. It had southern roc' and
()* and plenty of li+uor and drugs cra!!ed into places li'e the Merch. That Charleston
had no central sewer collection and treat!ent syste!. (ecreational sailors would often
encounter untreated hu!an waste floating in the har"or. ,ccasionally I grant you rarely
a pleasure "oat !ight cruise past a dead "ody. That Charleston was a wild and wide open
city co!posed of cultures steeped in the rhyth!s of the Cari""ean Sea Islands and -est
.frica the various waves of /uropean i!!igrants pri!arily 0ews Irish #oles and
Italians as well as the fa!ed second sons of /nglish and 1rench settlers. That Charleston
had an 2off the "oo's2 econo!y at least e+ual to the econo!y you could tell the I(S
a"out.
#re-Speleto Charleston was one of those !agical places in geography and ti!e that
allowed heterogeneous cultures to a"ide side "y side "lending their superstitions as well
as their ethnic 'nowledge and understanding in strange and so!eti!es dangerous ways.
The Merch tells a story of this ti!e and place and does so with a voice so true so
elo+uent that the reader to co!pelled to engage a new e3perience and live the story with
the characters he4she finds there. This story isn$t a !ere read it is an e3perience. It is an
e3perience as vi"rant and e3citing as any a!use!ent par' ride as sensually into3icating
as any roc' and roll concert as invigorating and gut wrenching as any 5.SC.( race.
6o yourself a favor "uy "orrow or steal this "oo' and read it. 0ust don$t "e surprised to
find yourself "reathing through flared nostrils and itching to "e part of it all the way to
the end.