Rent Haiku

Synopsis

Ho is an ancient sensei who began training as a child, until war changed him forever. When his dismissive arrogance causes the death of a student he called "daughter," Ho renounces not only his possessions but also his role as master, roaming the streets of an always-cold city in search of a way to atone. As if magnetized, a group slowly forms around him: Michael, an addicted gambler who finally lost himself; Ranger, a psychotic Vietnam veteran for whom reality is an ever-revolving door; Lamont, once a fearless street-gang warlord who degenerated into hopeless alcoholism when the literati who discovered his poetry discarded him; Target, a relentless "clanger" who speaks only by echoing speech sounds; and Brewster, an obsessive collector of 1950s "hardboiled" paperbacks whose stash is housed in an abandoned building even vermin avoid.

Late one night, Michael spots a woman in a white Rolls-Royce throwing something into the river. Convinced that the woman is a perfect blackmail target, he attempts to recruit the others to search for her. But what transforms a halfhearted effort into a mission is the news that the building housing Brewster's "library" is slated for demolition. Knowing that Brewster could not possibly survive such a loss is enough to bring them together in a search for the ultimate problem-solver: money.

Each frantic knock opens another barred door as demolition draws nearer. And the answers to each man's questions trigger shocking explosions that hit you with the visceral power we have come to expect from this fierce and dynamic writer.

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