Anything Out of Place is Dirt

Review of Anything Out of Place Is Dirt by Naomi Rose In reading Michael Chacko Daniels’ early novel, Anything Out of Place Is Dirt, recently published in a revised second edition, I found myself entranced by the evocative, poetic, often soaring beauty of the writing. The narrator, an Indian atypically named Barthalomew, is young and intensely self-conscious; but I soon found endearing his painful, sincere efforts to connect with other people and the factionalized society around him. I found myself willing to enter his closely examined world, expanding to include every one of his paradoxical qualities—as when he looks up at an office clock on the wall, remembers that he is already wearing a wristwatch, and then, as if others were purposely watching him, aware of his awkward mistake, covers his traces by turning the knob of his watch as if to set it. This intense self-consciousness, and the sincerity of heart confined beneath it, is tremendously touching. It is youth’s way to question existence while knowing so little of its reality; and Bartholomew’s search for love, meaning, and societal healing is also youth’s quest. Yet the book has such detailed nuance that this is no polemic but an internal experience through another time and place, yet also timeless. Written when the author was in his twenties, Anything Out of Place Is Dirt still has great value and is worth a careful reading. Even after the covers are closed, its yearning and song will linger. ______________________________________________ Naomi Rose is a writer and Book Developer whose work has appeared in Shaman's Drum, Intuition Journal, The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Writer's Connection, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, The New Holistic Health Handbook, Writing, and many other publications. She is currently writing a book on writing a book.