And Every Day Was Overcast

A photography-driven fiction about coming of age in the creep show of south Florida's swamps and strip malls.

About the Author :
Paul Kwiatkowski is a New York-based writer and photographer. This is his first novel. His work has appeared in numerous outlets, including "Juxtapoz," "Beautiful Decay," "Dazed and Confused," "Fault," "Dust," and "American Suburb X."

Review :
"This illustrated novel about growing up poor near the swamps of South Florida has a lurid vibrancy. Its prose is lit from below, like a vaguely scummy in-ground swimming pool, and the author's photographs--of ranch houses, randy adolescents, alligators, drug paraphernalia, fishing tackle, convenience stores--are what you might get if you combined William Eggleston's talents with Terry Richardson's. 'My hometown, Loxahatchee, was built over Seminole Indian burial grounds, ' Mr. Kwiatkowski writes. 'In exchange for land we inherited bad conscience. It was in my blood.' His book is full of young people, seen as if from a passing Camaro, having a good time and trying to get out alive."--"New York Times," Holiday Gift Guide, Dwight Garner ""And Every Day Was Overcast" [is] unlike any book I've ever read. [It's] a mix of this clean, spare, unaffected prose about growing up near the swamps of South Florida--plus these incredible photos [Paul has] taken of the area.... A completely original and clearheaded voice."--Ira Glass, host of "This American Life" ""And Every Day Was Overcast" available in paper form, digital form and as unique iPad edition (with accompanying soundtrack), is an autobiographical and exhilarating pursuit of the author's adolescence in the gritty suburban South Florida of the 1990s . . Our new favorite NSFW coffee table book."--"I Love Fake Magazine" "We finish "And Every Day Was Overcast" in a delirious state of disassociation, not unlike the kids whose lives it seeks to evoke. This, of course, is why we turn to books--or one reason, anyway--to see the world as we have not before. The shabby suburbs of "And Every Day Was Overcast" may not be unknown to us, but Kwiatkowski's ruthless excavation give us a new language by which we hear stories that might otherwise go unheard."--David L. Ulin, "The Los Angeles Times" Photo-Eye Best Books of 2013 (Selected by Doug Rickard) "A tale of trailer parks, drugs and teenage construction and destruction, Paul K has brought forth an American diary hugely personal and partially universal. Through skillfully written prose and raw imagery that's authored, found and stolen, we witness the protagonist's young life on display. It's not pretty nor should it be. A scrapbook of intention and carefully put together pieces, we witness elation and pain and the special concoction of America's 'Florida' in all its glory." "Kwiatkowski's immersive book couples a disjointed, disturbing story with photos that capture the disaffected lives of adolescents growing up and getting high in a decaying South Florida in the 1990s. . . the novel is peppered with scenes that create a devastating spectacle of lost youth."--"Cleveland Plain Dealer" "Kwiatkowski's language is harsh and direct, and his stories are compelling in their sadness and brutality. . . the photographs serve to confirm the reality of these stories. We look at them and can see the people and landscape Kwiatkowski describes. Whether this means these stories are largely autobiographical, or are simply of a piece with the author's experience, matters little, and is part of what grips us. Kwiatkowski has produced an illustrated novel that shows what the form can do."--"PDN" Magazine "The characters are vivid and cruelly drawn . . .The novel is driven forward by [their] relationships, each captured in pithy chapters accompanied by a series of photographs."--"HOTSHOE" magazine "Kwiatkowski's novel succeeds in doing much more than simply conveying the isolated experiences of one idle teenager with a penchant for drugs, pornography and reckless sexual encounters. Through a marriage of images and words, the novel illustrates the result of adolescent malaise against Florida's eerie, subtropical backdrop. Perhaps less noticeably, "And Every Day Was Overcast" is also the story of a man fortunate enough to have actually made it out."--"Fault" Magazine "The aire of documentary aids Kwiatkowski in his style. It keeps the prose direct, simple, and free of clogging metaphor. As a result his prose scans more similar to a journal entry than it does typical fiction. His images bounce between counterpoint and harmony with the text, never literal or clumsy, sometimes sweet, smooth sad or ironic."--"ASX" "Beautiful photographs which seem inspired by Larry Clark, and blends visual fact and visual fiction with the story of a young man growing up...a graphic novel in photographs...physically a beautiful book"--Carolyn Kellogg, KCRW's "Which Way, LA?" Los Angeles Public Radio "Kwiatkowski could have published these photos as an art book - they're astoundingly fresh, almost electrifying--but chose instead to pair them with this short coming-of-age tale. . . It's an overt rejection of the already--blurry lines between the real and the artificial, between reality and fantasyland. . . And Kwiatkowski doesn't disappoint as a Baudelaire of the swamps."--"Orlando Weekly" "Disposable-shot photos and alluringly honest prose narrate a romanticized version of the 'lost youth, ' filled with vignettes of sex, hallucinogenics, surface encounters, and overall debauchery and delinquency. With aesthetic conviction comparable to that of Harmony Korine, this alternative novel is sure to have you nostalgic and reaching for the cheapest brand of beer you ever got your teenage hands on."--"Nylon" "The form of Kwiatkowski's terrific coming-of-age novel, set in the 1990s, is offbeat and provocative. Short chapters, long on imagery and adolescent attitude, nestle between pages of color photographs. What's exciting is how well these components complement one another. The pictures don't literally illustrate the story, but only suggest connections.. . Vibrant and original."--"Publishers Weekly" "I can count on my fingers the number of great books that seamlessly mix photographs and literary text in a compelling way. Paul Kwiatkowski's "And Every Day is Overcast" not only achieves this rare feat, he does so with an artistry that makes the achievement nearly invisible. As compelling as the best movies or graphic novels, "And Every Day is Overcast" is a landmark in visual storytelling."--Alec Soth "Paul Kwiatkowski stitches together an ugly-beautiful fabric of volatile America, threaded with gators and bad acid trips, swampy living and early sexual encounters. There's hardly anything more American than this ode to coming of age in South Florida. A tour de force in the form of battered scrapbook memories."--Doug Rickard "That is the strange, unsettling success of this book. Kwiatkowski is such a good writer and editor that we allow him to charm us, despite the possibility that the author may be as unreliable a narrator as the protagonist, because words and pictures are both in the service of such a seductive hallucination. The work presents an affecting and introspective narrative experience . . . If you want to know where photography is headed these days, this book provides one interesting answer: Paul Kwiatkowski has made a place inside his head for you and this book will take you there."--"Fraction Magazine" "Paul Kwiatkowski's new gritty and dark coming-of-age novel evokes a rave gone wrong in the '90s. "And Every Day was Overcast" succeeds in portraying teenage toxicity in South Florida in the worse yet most vibrant way. The volatile narrative is carefully nestled between ugly-beautiful scrapbook photos that seamlessly construct a unique type of visual storytelling. . . this delinquent memoir has it all."--"Creative Loafing Tampa" "Paul Kwiatkowski [is] a narrative-driven photographer whose first book, "And Every Day Was Overcast," conveys the eerie upbringing south Florida imparts on its residents . . . his prose weaves a fictionalized tale of boyhood in a strange land."--"Mpls/St. Paul Magazine" ""And Every Day Was Overcast" is a novel about teenhood in South Florida, where Kwiatkowski grew up. His photos, which make up the bulk of the book, drive singular, clear prose"--"Minnesota Today" ""And Every Day Was Overcast" [is] unlike any book I've ever read. [It's] a mix of this clean, spare, unaffected prose about growing up near the swamps of South Florida--plus these incredible photos [Paul has] taken of the area.... A completely original and clearheaded voice."--Ira Glass, host of "This American Life" "We finish "And Every Day Was Overcast" in a delirious state of disassociation, not unlike the kids whose lives it seeks to evoke. This, of course, is why we turn to books--or one reason, anyway--to see the world as we have not before. The shabby suburbs of "And Every Day Was Overcast" may not be unknown to us, but Kwiatkowski's ruthless excavation give us a new language by which we hear stories that might otherwise go unheard."--David L. Ulin, "The Los Angeles Times" "Kwiatkowski's language is harsh and direct, and his stories are compelling in their sadness and brutality. . . the photographs serve to confirm the reality of these stories. We look at them and can see the people and landscape Kwiatkowski describes. Whether this means these stories are largely autobiographical, or are simply of a piece with the author's experience, matters little, and is part of what grips us. Kwiatkowski has produced an illustrated novel that shows what the form can do."--"PDN" Magazine "Kwiatkowski's novel succeeds in doing much more than simply conveying the isolated experiences of one idle teenager with a penchant for drugs, pornography and reckless sexual encounters. Through a marriage of images and words, the novel illustrates the result of adolescent malaise against Florida's eerie, subtropical backdrop. Perhaps less noticeably, "And Every Day Was Overcast" is also the story of a man fortunate enough to have actually made it out."--"Fault" Magazine "The aire of documentary aids Kwiatkowski in his style. It keeps the prose direct, simple, and free of clogging metaphor. As a result his prose scans more similar to a journal entry than it do ""And Every Day Was Overcast" [is] unlike any book I've ever read. [It's] a mix of this clean, spare, unaffected prose about growing up near the swamps of South Florida--plus these incredible photos [Paul has] taken of the area.... A completely original and clearheaded voice."--Ira Glass, host of "This American Life" "The form of Kwiatkowski's terrific coming-of-age novel, set in the 1990s, is offbeat and provocative. Short chapters, long on imagery and adolescent attitude, nestle between pages of color photographs. What's exciting is how well these components complement one another. The pictures don't literally illustrate the story, but only suggest connections.. . Vibrant and original."--"Publishers Weekly" "I can count on my fingers the number of great books that seamlessly mix photographs and literary text in a compelling way. Paul Kwiatkowski's "And Every Day is Overcast" not only achieves this rare feat, he does so with an artistry that makes the achievement nearly invisible. As compelling as the best movies or graphic novels, "And Every Day is Overcast" is a landmark in visual storytelling."--Alec Soth "Paul Kwiatkowski stitches together an ugly-beautiful fabric of volatile America, threaded with gators and bad acid trips, swampy living and early sexual encounters. There's hardly anything more American than this ode to coming of age in South Florida. A tour de force in the form of battered scrapbook memories."--Doug Rickard