fiction – Page 15 – The Spine View

Winter Park by Graham Guest

Title: Winter Park Author: Graham Guest Pub Date: 4-Mar-2016 Rating: 3.7 Stars — Title: Winter Park
Author: Graham Guest
Pub Date: 4-Mar-2016
Rating: 3.7 Stars

Winter Park, the debut novel by Graham Guest, is an unusual read. In fact, I have never read anything like it. I think that is what intrigued me most about the novel. I found the plot a little lacking; yet, what Mr. Guest does do well is interject a mix of thought provoking ideas with an absurd sense of irony that really worked. Due to the lack of grammar, the prose can be difficult at times to follow and the characters are nothing short of bizarre.

The story starts with a young Philosophy PhD student, Eric Swanson, on spring break headed to Winter Park, CO to a reunion of sorts with friends he left behind. What ensues is a drug/drunken calamity that ends in murder. Part I abruptly ends when Eric wakes up from his stupor and recalls what happened.

In Part II, the reader is then whisked away to a rehabilitation camp in Texas called The Dude Ranch. The camp is run by a strange group of people. Eric has now metamorphosed into a paraplegic as a result of the trauma in Part I. He is then given an alias, as everyone is, of Wayne Ford and is paired with Harris Birdsong. Harris is a savant of sorts in that he has memorized the whole dictionary but appears to function on a social level of a young child. The story from this point is mainly a continuous stream of Harris’s thoughts. Without a doubt, the intent here is to recall the idiom “out of the mouth of babes”.

I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Risen by Ron Rash

Title: The Risen Author: Ron Rash Pub Date: 16-Sep-2016 Rating: 5 Stars — Title: The Risen
Author: Ron Rash
Pub Date: 16-Sep-2016
Rating: 5 Star

The Risen is another Ron Rash novel that the prose just sings off the page. Rash never fails to disappoint me in his use of descriptive verse. He so easily transports me to the stage of his characters. It was as if I was sitting on that river bank soaking my toes in the icy waters of the mountain stream known as Panther Creek. The story itself is rather quiet and ambles along at a nice pace and then before you know it you have reached the end. Then I exhale in a long sigh because it is always bittersweet to come to the end of a story well told.

The book is both a coming of age story and a murder mystery wrapped up in one neat package. The story revolves around two brothers, Eugene and Bill Matney, 16 and 20 respectively, and one pivotal summer in 1969. Bill is home from Wake Forest for the summer and he and Eugene have gone fishing after church, as they do every Sunday, when they meet Ligiea. Ligiea, 17 herself, has been exiled by her parents to her Uncle’s in rural Western North Carolina in an attempt to remove her from the drugs and counterculture of the 60s she has been involved in at Daytona Beach.

For these young boys/men, she is a temptress. She is worldly to their innocence and Eugene is captivated by her. With her, he experiences alcohol, drugs and sex for the first time. Bill, is much less progressive, while at first he joins in, later, after his girlfriend visits, he under goes a metamorphosis. A sibling rivalry of sorts ensues and the brothers drift apart.

Years later, Eugene is an alcoholic and his brother is a prominent surgeon in Asheville and though the physical distance between them is short, in reality, they are worlds apart. Then the unimaginable happens, a body is found near the spot where they fished that summer in 1969. The remains are identified as Ligiea’s. The police start asking questions. She can’t be dead, Eugene knows Ligiea was on a bus bound for Florida.

I have had this book on my desk for over a month. I kept putting it off for others that were more pressing. Now I want to read it again. Great Stuff!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Title: The Bear and The Nightingale Author: Katherine Arden Pub Date: 10-Jan-2017 My Rating: 4 Stars — Title: The Bear and The Nightingale
Author: Katherine Arden
Pub Date: 10-Jan-2017
My Rating: 4 Stars

The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden, is an adult fairy tale. The story draws heavily on folklore and fairy tales and is set during Russian medieval times when belief in demons and witches was still prolific. The story is beautifully crafted and the imagery is elegantly presented. I did find the first thirty or so pages a little slow, but once I made it through the beginning I was thoroughly entertained.

The story is about a young girl, Vasilisa, who is the second daughter of Pyotr Vladimirovich, a Russian lord. Vasilisa, like her mother, is able to see the old spirits that protect the home and hearth. Though Christianity is starting to take a foot hold, even in the remote northern wilderness of Russia, the belief in these spirts is still strong. When Father Konstantin, a new priest, comes to Vasilisa’a small village he preaches against the old ways and forbids the honoring of the old spirits. Without the spirit’s protection evil is allowed to gain a foothold and crops fail and some of the villagers die. Vailisa must find a way and the courage to protect those she loves from the evil that abounds. Continue reading “The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden”