Fantasy vs. Reality

Norman Paperman leaves the fantasy world of Broadway to pursue a different fantasy—the perfect island paradise where healing and effortless joy await. As he struggles with the daily, and even hourly, crises at the Gull Reef Club, it slowly begins to dawn on him that perhaps Amerigo is not the idyllic place he imagines when he purchases the resort. He is jarred into a painful reality by a failing water supply, an earthquake-shattered cistern, electricity that goes on and off randomly, unreliable workers who disappear and then reappear without explanation, non-functional telephone lines, fickle guests who abandon the club in the middle of major remodeling, and a homicidal madman roaming the premises with a machete in his hand. Having suffered a heart attack in the high-pressure world of New York public relations, Paperman fears that his second coronary is just around the corner.

Another...