Hating Olivia

Mark SaFranko is an American author, playwright, artist, and musician. He was cited in The Best American Mystery Stories 2000 and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. He is the author of five published novels-Hating Olivia, Lounge Lizard, God Bless America, Hopler's Statement, and The Favor-and has written dozens more. He lives with his wife and son in New Jersey.

"Safranko attaches a powerful message to an often painfully familiar story, about the individual versus the collective, the struggle to maintain the dream, and the importance of getting back up no matter how many times you fall." - Booklist

""SaFranko's prose is enthusiastically profane...as a narrator Max is engaging, funny and full of straight-talk....SaFranko has a talent for two-fisted, Bukowski-esque prose..." - Kirkus Reviews

"Hating Olivia is a novel about youth, passion and irresponsibility....If your literary taste runs to writers like Henry Miller and Charles Bukowski, Celine and Anais Nin, Hating Olivia is a novel you'll like." - BlogCritics.org

Hating Olivia is a remarkable tale of obsession and lust, a stunning portrait of a dangerously alienated hero masterfully told. You will not be able to put it down." - Mary Dearborn, author of Mailer: A Biography

"Hating Olivia is the kind of book - the kind of memoir - that must have been lived first. Survived. So strap yourself in. It's time for a real treat." - Dan Fante, author of Chump Change and 86'd

"... a book of quiet horrors and beautifully expressed longing... SaFranko's prose is precise, flawless and the work of a man who truly loves and understands great writing." - Tony O'Neill, author of Down and Out on Murder Mile and Sick City

"...radiates with an identifiable heartbreaking nostalgia that renders its affect timeless....Hating Olivia is a swift kick in the balls to modern fiction. - BookFetish.org

"SaFranko writes from the heart, and the balls, crafting a furious and passionate piece of work that is entirely his own, with some scenes that would make even Bukowski blush." - --- Susan Tomaselli (www.dogmatika.com)

"Throughout Hating Olivia, SaFranko shows his versatility and skill as a writer by making something supremely difficult look easy as hell." - --- Mike Ferraro (www.laurahird.com)

"...difficult to put down...an intense snapshot of love." - http://subtlemelodrama.blogspot.com