Syncopated Rhythms

Synopsis

Syncopation is a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm, a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur. When you read Syncopated Rhythms my hope is you'll read them collectively as a playlist, like hearing that new soul album the first time, how the heart opens and then the whole body follows.

Syncopated Rhythms bring into sharp relief subtexts of the ordinary— the rhythmic in our lives interrupted by a walk in the desert; a woman on the subway; a bear eating out of someone’s hand. With strong poetic voice and lyrical vision, Rabinowitz takes his readers on a memorable ride through a series of 13 short stories: part poem, part prose, deftly combining concrete images with streams of consciousness in new and surprising ways. Rabinowitz’s details about cities are as compelling as his observations about art, sushi dinners, or a Netflix show. As a storyteller Rabinowitz masterfully depicts the wounded topography of a soul-searching odyssey that transcends traditional literary narrative. 

Syncopated Rhythms will delight and challenge readers with its innovative and refreshing style from start to finish.

Syncopated Rhythms bring into sharp relief subtexts of the ordinary— the rhythmic in our lives interrupted, by a walk in the desert; a woman on the subway; a bear eating out of someone’s hand. With spot-on dialogue, resonant imagery, and unusual prosody, these stories pulse and sing.

—Sandra Tyler, Author of The Night Garden: Of My Mother, After Lydia, and Blue Glass

Reading Rabinowitz’s Syncopated Rhythms is like observing his characters through a kaleidoscope of humanity, intermingling the innocence and depravity of any person at any given point in time. His own passion for the arts is reflected in the intimate details of his artist characters and lend a fingerprint of sorts to this new collection. In short story, poetry and the masterful dialogue of poetic vignettes, characters wander in search of something or someone, moving away from one life and into the next, or retreating more deeply into their own shadows. Destiny is always uncertain, although often, for these characters, the unknown turns out to be more gratifying than what’s clearly ahead.

—Michelle Ortega, Author of When You Ask Me, “Why Paris”

With his strong poetic voice and lyrical vision, Rabinowitz takes his readers on a memorable ride through a series of stories: part poem, part prose, deftly combining concrete images with streams of consciousness in new and surprising ways. His details about cities are as compelling as his observations about art, sushi dinners, or a Netflix show. Rabinowitz as a storyteller masterfully depicts the wounded topography of a soul-searching odyssey that transcends traditional literary narrative. Syncopated Rhythms will delight and challenge readers with its innovative and refreshing style from start to finish. 

 —Tammy Smith, Poet

Every story is intriguing and digs deep, chock-full of beguiling characters. From lyrical prose that unlocks poetic doors to a screenwriter’s eye seamlessly shifting the horizon, these stories, a baker’s dozen, leap from the desert southwest to Coney Island to, why not, the dark side of the moon. And with a gentle nudge, the reader is ushered through time and space. At one point, I expected Rod Serling to step out from behind a curtain. A few minutes later, I imagined Kerouac adding a final period to an intricate stream of words. I also heard the bang-bang-banging of a hard-boiled reporter’s typewriter—Breslin? Hamill? Who knows? It doesn’t matter. And like his previous work, these thirteen gems march to Rabinowitz’s quirky, beautiful, and original style. The secret to his success in this mosaic might be found buried in one telling passage, when a character, a fictitious author, writes, “[M]y signature is to play on the reader's impressions with a subtle twist. Never what they expect, and then I let them make the final assessment. My hope is they’ll think, ‘Holy shit, that’s not what I expected.’ Was he a hero or something else?” Yep, that’s Syncopated Rhythms. That’s Rabinowitz, offering you a short story passport to his captivating realities—places and people that are in step by being out of step.

—Stephen Vittoria, Award-winning filmmaker & Author of Christina and the Whitefish