I’ll Be Your Mirror: Essays and Aphorisms

This collection of reminiscences, music preferences, and aphorisms is an eclectic collection of random thoughts and deep memories of epically failed relationships, singing, and mindless actives like bowling. However, the author finds meaning in bowling, likening the alleys to cloisters where one can excel in a team or against oneself.

It is interesting that the author chooses a Velvet Underground song as his title. Much of the memoir is fueled by memories of songs that are empowering to him and bring the past into focus.

The book begins with the O.J. Simpson chase, which interrupted a basketball game where the author was detailing his relationship with his girlfriend, Ann, who ultimately self-destructed. Their relationship was dramatic, drunken, and doomed. Naturally, there are regrets when one learns of any death via Facebook. So, in this memoir, the banal mixes with deep sadness and comic irony. Lazar is a very good writer, and his aphorisms alone are worth the read.