America by Mike Bond

 

Mike Bond is clearly a student of history and world events. He’s also a fine writer. Sometimes, it isn’t the best novel to combine everything the author knows into one project, even if he takes seven books to do it.

America is the first novel in a seven-book series tracing the history of the United States and many other world conflicts. Having lived through many of the events described in the book, purportedly from the point of view of different characters, I didn’t find the author’s narrative to be balanced journalism or believable dialogue for his characters. Many times, he quotes speeches and writing from the time, though always with a slant.

The book switches point of view often between two male characters and two females. Despite growing up in the same community, and the same household for three of them, they have divergent views on war, patriotism and education that feel, at least in the last half of the book, preachy. However, I loved the first half, where the author introduces Mick, Troy, Tara and Daisy, and their rural childhoods and coming of age stories set the stage for the novel.

Bond then takes the four and tries to cover all the politics, religious issues, sexuality, and philosophy onto them. Maybe ONE character’s quest would have been okay, but the reach of this book, and the number of characters needed to cover the agenda, was just too much.

Bond is an excellent writer. His settings are brilliant, almost sentimental and his characters are people I liked knowing. I just wish they hadn’t fallen into the stereotypes of the day and used a bit more common sense. And restraint.

After the Rapture by Nancy Stohlman

 

 

I know how long this book was in process, as the writer struggled with it through the pandemic, so I’m pretty sure it is coincidental that it finally made it into readers hands the same year the Barbie Movie hit screens. But in many ways, the movie helps extend the metaphor of this smart Novel in Flash. If you don’t know what a Novel in Flash is, you will find not only that Stohlman is at the forefront of this exciting new-ish- form of literature. Each chapter is like looking at a short film or contemporaneous photograph where all the questions of “if” and “how” we have about culture in the 21^st century, when confronted with big box stores, pink plastic worlds inhabited by Fashion Model Dolls who do everything, contrast with ancient scripture. Human nature and confusion frolic with base needs and desire, and the whole doesn’t only make us question how we live but make us finally know we deserve answers.

This is art in high form. While we aren’t always sure we know what it means, we know “it tickled something forgotten, something buried so far down it seemed like a past life memory. Like an alternate childhood. Like fear.”

 

Sidle Creek, by Jolene McIlwain 5 stars!

 

 

 

Not only one of the best short story collections I’ve read, but one of the best works of fiction of the decade. McIlwain takes the beautiful and harsh landscapes of Appalachian West Pennsylvania and creates community with the landscape, the creeks and rivers, the wildlife and the wonderfully complex people who live there. They are not all lovable people, and the situations where, especially young people, encounter will tax the readers understanding of right and wrong. McIlwain is a seasoned writer with a deft hand at descriptive narrative, spot on dialect and dialogue and an imagination that takes stories handed down through myth and generation and paints a picture of America that we don’t often see. She’s been compared to Louise Erdrich, Annie Proulx and others concerned with people in troubled landscapes just trying to get by. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, is another book we loved this year, for bringing people of the mountains forward in ways that help even city dwellers get it. McIlwain clearly “gets it” and this book should jump to the top of your stack for both individual and reading groups alike.

Almost Deadly, Almost Good, by Alice Kaltman

 

In this collection of stories, Alice Kaltman studies both virtue and vice, and with her complex characters, it is hard to tell the difference. Kaltman’s exquisite fiction brings these people to life in ways that extend beyond the pages of their own stories, bleeding sometimes into other ones in the book, and even in other books. Like visiting people we know. but are never quite sure if we like them, or want to keep our distance. Whether you want to laugh or cry, it’s a brilliant collection, highly recommended.

Off the Map by Trish Doller

  

This was my first book by this author, but I can’t wait to read her other books!  Off the Map is the story of Carla Black, a woman who has been raised to always go where she wants to go, travel light and not look back. Her motto is “here for a good time, but not for a long time.”  Until she meets Eamon Sullivan, wbo is supposed to drive her to the wedding of his brother and her best friend. Their instant connection exceeds anything either has experienced before and instead of heading across Ireland to participate in pre-wedding festivities, the two take a detour into the beautiful mountains and valleys of Ireland in a romance that makes even the most jaded of us swoon.

Whether it’s Ireland itself, Carla’s declining father Biggie and his wife Stella, or the Sullivan clan…to say nothing of Carla and Eamon’s adventure into love, you’ll find plenty of charm in this fun book. Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this review copy.

The Referral Program by Shamara Ray

 

In the olden days, people didn’t find dates on Tinder or other social media programs. They met potential mates at work, church, school, and through friends and acquaintances, sometimes on blind dates. So, I was a bit skeptical about where this book was going when the three protagonists thought their “Referral Program” was something “new” that had to be kept secret.

Sadly, my opinion went downhill from there. The three protagonists, Ivy, Brooke, and Dylan, where indistinguishable from one another. They had different jobs, yes, but they were all beautiful, shapely, ambitious black women with high expectations for relationships. But … they didn’t have anything that differentiated them from each another. Likewise, the male characters they “referred” to one another. All successful, handsome, wealthy, fit black men. Everyone was experienced in dating and relationships, and suddenly, they all had the same goals. Only one, discarded character was “less” –and that was because he was nine years older and sold cars for a living (though of course, he owned three dealerships.)  Buzz words like Faith, Integrity, Loyalty are present throughout, whether through the mouths of the male characters, or the female.

First dates are painful for most people, tenuous at best, especially blind dates. I hate to say the reader struggles through no fewer than seven first dates in this novel, each painful. And when a couple finally gets to sex, these bright, educated, mid-thirties women refer to their own genitalia as “kitty” or “flower” and it was … for the reader…awful.

Finally, the author had trouble with point of view throughout the book, jumping from one woman to the other …and since they were indistinguishable in language or goals, it was difficult to follow. At one point, we even switched to one of the men’s point of view mid chapter and without warning. When anyone tried to have a conversation with a potential mate, the “dialogue” turned into preachy monologue. Three lines from one character at a time is a rule many writers have been taught. This one missed that lesson. It is not unusual to read 10-12 lines with no break, and sometimes, honestly 22-25. I have no sense of the setting and very little sense of the characters actions, habits, distinguishing features, etc.

I hate to leave a less than stellar review, as I know it takes so much to write a novel. I believe this writer has the skills to do a better job. The book is The Referral Program, and it will be released August 29, 2023. Thanks to the publisher, Atria Books and NetGalley for the review copy.