The secrets, lies and mysteries in Bruce Bauman's novel Broken Sleep circle around and build on each other in a story that is frenetic and disorienting. From a single, simple plot point, one man is disconnected from the world he'd been living in, and every time he seems to be close to finding his way back, he gets pulled further out.
At the beginning of Broken Sleep, Moses Teumer is told that, in order to keep his leukemia in remission, he must find a bone marrow donor. His search for a match leads him to discoveries about his perceived reality that shatter both his hopes for survival and his own worldview. After Moses discovers that his Jewish mother is not his birth mother, he is stunned to learn next that he was actually born to a gentile, avant-garde visual artist committed to a mental facility, and that he has a rock star and political dissident for a half-brother.
As Moses searches deeper into his familial history, answers lead to more questions so that finding his bone marrow match becomes the least of his problems. In a narrative that takes a hard look at contemporary definitions of identity, meaning, sex, love and devotion, Moses discovers his own connection to domestic terrorists, Nazi Germany and Greta Garbo.
Although Moses Teumer loses his way among a swelling cast of characters, Bauman (And the Word Was) never loses his authorial way. As the plot spins out of control, Bauman is always, somehow, bringing his characters back home again. --Josh Potter