HYENA By Jude Angelini
I’m sitting here, Jimmy Hendrix blasting in the background craving a smoke, but since I quit and my lungs are shot from years of abuse I just let the anxiety I feel blend in with the music. This situation is perfect for writing a review for Hyena by Jude Angelini who is otherwise known as Rude Jude, a radio personality.
Hyena is a dark and twisted autobiographical of Angelini’s life, and it was powerful to read. In no way is this book for the faint of heart or those who plan on attending church on Sunday. To oversimplify what this book is about let me just say that Hyena will give you an insight into a man that is complicated, very very complicated. Rampant drug abuse and toxic relationships make up much of the book, but what got me to read it from cover to end in one sitting were the relationships Jude held dear to his heart. His life is gripping and Hyena does not sugarcoat the unsavory parts of society most of us would like to forget about.
Hyena explores the parts of life that give birth to some of the most talented artists of our day, and for every artist, there is a muse. Poverty, anguish, and immorality make up the muse that is Hyena. The stories told in this book make his life nothing short of an odyssey, Hyena does not take the reader on a simple journey but an odyssey, as anything less feels belittling to me.
I mentioned earlier that the parts of this book that kept me turning the pages were the ones not about the drugs or sex but the interpersonal relations Jude had with his family. The stories about a childhood filled with domestic violence; the snippets of how Jude feels about his daughter and the shame he carries are what kept me glued to each page. What this autobiography does a great job in is connecting the dots that make up his life. It is through these relationships that stories about drug use and casual sex become meaningful. Cause and effect; here is the trauma and this is his solution.
Caution Spoiler
There is one story that stood out to me the most. At one point in Jude’s childhood, his mother took him to the dentist. It was a grand occasion, as the poverty they lived in did not allow for insurance. In the newspaper, there was an advertisement for a 60 dollar dental visit and Jude had a toothache. Seems simple but when basic teeth cleaning and dental visit can run hundreds of dollars it is not. Jude’s mother spent months saving up the money to take him in for his toothache and by god she did it. When reading about how they dress up and made it into an event, as a reader I could not help but feel touched. In a book that is steeped in vice this one story was like seeing the light after getting out of a jail cell, I felt cleansed, but it was not to be. The advertisement had in small print a clause that this deal was only for those with insurance and the family was turned away. I was devastated and angry, nearly on the verge to call up my dentist to yell at him. But all hope was not lost, I found a silver lining in a simple, “Fuck them, Mom”.
If you are interested in reading a book outside of your comfort zone give Hyena a shot. Normally I read to lose myself in the pages but this book caused me to reflect. What are my issues? How do I deal with them? This book raised those questions for me and because of this, I can not recommend it enough.
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