Deep Down Iola - by Peter Mehlman (Paperback)

About the Book

Iola Dyson, 17, has a gift for talking depressed classmates off the roof. But her secret is so cosmic, so berserk that telling anyone would land her in a psych ward. Funny and suspenseful. A woman's struggle to live life her own way.

Book Synopsis

Iola Dyson, 17, has a bizarre gift for talking depressed classmates off the roof. Literally.

At her boarding school, whenever a student is spotted on the ledge of Flyer Hall, threatening to plunge to their death, no one calls the campus police. They call Iola, who dashes immediately to the scene. Possessing as she does a curious, almost otherworldly insight into the human condition, Iola has never once failed to talk down a desperate teen and prevent a tragic suicide.

How did a varsity sprinter who has never left the state of Alabama come to have this superpower? Only Iola knows. But she's never told anyone. She can't tell anyone. Her secret is so cosmic-so berserk-that telling anyone would undoubtedly land her in a psych ward.

Finally, when the burden of Iola's secret takes her to a breaking point, she tells her story to a lonely local college professor. The moment she does so, the universe turns against her in terrifying ways.

Deep Down Iola is a funny, suspenseful, fantastical adventure. But more than that, it is the story of a young woman's struggle to live her life her own way.

Review Quotes

"Thanks to Peter Mehlman, former Seinfeld writer and producer, the terms 'shrinkage' and 'yada-yada' became a part of the popular vernacular." -NPR's Fresh Air

#MeAsWell:

A Novel "Mehlman's narrative is spirited, political, and both hilarious and sadly reflective of the digital culture that can befriend or betray on a whim. A witty, culturally perceptive dark comedy." -Kirkus Reviews

"It takes a certain kind of courage or, rather, daring to write a satirical novel or send-up of the MeToo movement. Comedy in the wake of contemporary cultural progressing towards an intolerance of not just sexual abuse and assault but casual sexism is a difficult vein to mine...#MeAsWell isn't a perfect novel nor does it need to be. What it does do is scratch an itch many will have to both blame and exonerate social media and cultural conventions." -Misanthropester

It Won't Always Be This Great: A Novel

"It turns out that not only can Peter Mehlman write funny television, he can write a funny book. Who knew?" -Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of Veep and Seinfeld

"Anyone who writes for television gets frustrated that they can't write like Peter Mehlman. Now he's going to make novelists mad too. Mehlman's writing style is completely unique and creates an intimate bond between the narrator and the reader. You finish the book feeling as though you've made a new friend." -Aaron Sorkin, Academy and Emmy-award winning screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The Social Network, and The Newsroom

Mandela Was Late: Essays

"A collection of outrageous and entertaining essays and accompanied by colorful trademark doodles, Mandela Was Late traverses the inner universe of a satiric genius who maybe should be getting out of the house a little more often. Wrapped in his cocoon of Hollywood residuals, battling his own (mounting?) foibles day by day, former Seinfeld writer/ producer Peter Mehlman somehow manages to see the world a little more clearly than the rest of us." -Mike Sager, Esquire