Joe Clifford on 'Eli,Ely.'

A new review appeared on Amazon today.

As much as this dazzling debut novel is about a doomed (?) love affair, it is also very much a love letter to San Francisco. Women come and go, but anyone who's lived in SF knows that this city is unlike any other, which is why it's attracted the wide-eyed dreamers from all over America for years. Jennifer Ely may've broken our hero Eli's heart, but The City is what keeps breaking it. And making him fall in love all over again. A lot of novels could take place anywhere. Not this one. It is quintessential San Francisco. Its quirks, its pretension, even its one-of-a-kind cuisine (and I'm not just talking the California Pizza Kitchen). The prose bristles with urgency, as Eli, our everyman, navigates through posers and potholes for his place to belong. The plot jumps around, and the telling is unconventional, part epistolary, part anecdotal, but all cool. Much like San Francisco itself. Think: High Fidelity meets On the Road. Highly, highly recommend.

-Thanks, Joe Clifford. You obviously got what I was going for. Now everybody who lives in San Francisco, has lived, or is simply curious about this whacky town, needs to read the damn book.