Every actor has a story, but some of the best tales belong to those you’ve never heard of. While there’s something to be said for the obvious interest an A-lister will garner when they pen a tell-all, the view from the top of the mountain tends to be pretty myopic–if you’ve read one star’s ‘rags-to-riches’ journey, you’ve just about read them all. Of course, there’s another side to every success story: the ‘almost, but not quite’ story. Part autobiography, part literary time-capsule, Tobias Maxwell’s NAKED INK: Diary of a Smalltown Boy is a bold, refreshingly candid deep dive into the life of a struggling actor working his way around New York City during the late ‘70s.
Born and raised in Canada, Maxwell’s first acting experience came by way of the Canadian Youtheatre, which he joined at the young age of fifteen. Following a summer tour, Maxwell caught the acting bug and spent the next few years working on his craft, a journey that eventually brought him to New York. From there, Maxwell’s life became fully intertwined with the ‘scene.’ Through a series of brazenly honest diary and journal entries, a twenty-something Maxwell recounts every step of his journey with a vivid attention to detail. One might expect that a daily recounting of day-to-day life might grow tiresome over the course of a few hundred pages, but the subtle narrative that unfolds–aided in no small part by a sprinkling of present-day commentaries–is so engrossing this could have easily been billed as a work of gritty ‘slice-of-life’ fiction. Be it the never ending auditions or the legendary nightlife, NAKED INK is less a story about a struggling actor and more a story about the act of living–relationships, restaurants, and even the traffic all get equal billing here.
But while MAXWELL’s writing is remarkably nuanced, especially considering his age at the time, there’s far more to NAKED INK than wide-eyed wonder and nostalgia. The author dives deep into his fluid sexual identity and the bevy of exploits that seemed to pile up in his wake across the city. Add to that the ever-present complication that is Maxwell’s visa status (or lack thereof), and you have a narrative that paints a vivid picture of a bygone era. In addition to his early acting and modeling experience, Maxwell’s resume boasts everything from a year of law school to a degree in counseling. The man has lived quite the life, something that the former actor has spent years channeling into his writing and poetry. In much the same way that Henry Rollins’ ‘Get In the Van’ transports readers to the DIY punk scene of the early ‘80s, when it comes to New York City in the late seventies, if uttering the words ‘you had to be there’ isn’t an option, Tobias Maxwell’s NAKED INK just might be the next best thing.
A bold and vivid first-hand account of the life and times of a struggling actor in the late ‘70s, NAKED INK is both a thoughtful examination of NYC’s rich cultural history and a refreshingly honest ode to living in the moment.
~James Weiskittel for IndieReader