Writing essays since the early 90's, these missives found in "Because You Never Asked" are but a cross section of work that is still in progress today. Grapel considers them therapeutic objections to the paradigm of our culture and the negativity it is leading us into. "All cultures attempt to inculcate their constituents into someone's narrow-minded, self-serving version of reality and this book is an attempt to translate these subterfuges into the truth," he says. Although several of his earliest essays are included in this collection, the vast majority of them are contemporary. Regardless...

This powerful debut novel is, primarily, a look at human love-lust and how it can manifest itself. But it is also a detailed description of how a lovely place turns into what is now generically called a "tourist trap," as well as a book with a worldview that is a pivotal part of its discourse. If one reads this book with all these levels of thought in mind, then it should be a worthwhile experience.