Likely Stories - AMORALMAN: A True Story and Other Lies by Derek Delgaudio

The first chapter of AMORALMAN opens with a story about Delgaudio dealing a poker game and facing an unhappy player who has run out of cash. The second half of the book is dedicated to Delgaudio's experiences as a dealer at a weekly high-stakes poker game at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, a game which may or may not have been legitimate and a game in which the players may or may not have been the only ones being dealt, or told, an untruth.

Delgaudio spent a great deal of his early life keeping secrets, protecting himself from schoolmates discovering some realities about his family, especially after being abandoned by a boy he considered to be a friend.

"My mother had taught me the value of truth, but she neglected to teach me the cost," he writes. "She told me that honesty was always the best policy, but now I had evidence to the contrary."

In holding those secrets, he intentionally sets himself apart from other kids. But he puts that time by himself to good use, practicing sleight of hand movements for hours at a time, until they become a second nature. He becomes an expert in handling cards, learning to shuffle so that he can deal himself, or a particular player, an advantageous poker hand. He can deal from the bottom of the deck, or her can deal the second card from the top, all under the watchful eyes of players who can win or lose a great deal of money, depending on the hand they're dealt.

He befriends a magic shop owner who introduces a young Delgaudio to other poker dealers, who may not always have the players' best interests at heart while dealing.

Delgaudio is also a performance artist, actor and magician. Many of the stories he tells in AMORALMAN he also shared in his stage show, In and Of Itself, which he performed in New York for two years. A filmed version is available on Hulu.

AMORALMAN is Delgaudio's first book. On the inside front cover are flattering reviews from the actor Tom Hanks and the esteemed English writer Neil Gaiman. Waco native Steve Martin said. "This is a book about honesty, deceit, and the short distance that lies between."

AMORALMAN, which is written as one word, was published in 202, is 237 pages. I read it in one sitting. I watched his performance on Hulu a couple of nights later, and then had my family watch it with me again the next night. The performance, and the book, are both highly recommended.

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