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sjj169's review against another edition
4.0
In the southern Mississippi swamp you can watch the world awaken as the pale yellow sun edges itself between the trees and moss and wide winged cranes. Dragonflies buzz and raccoons come out of their dens and crawl along fallen trees. Turtles situate themselves onto stumps that will later become sun-soaked and hidden things slide beneath black water with murderous patience and skill.
That passage sets the tone of this book. I knowone a few of my friends (Dan 2.0) would totally read this book wrong and swear it was full of purple prose. He reads everything wrong so.....
Russell Gaines is being released from prison after eleven years. He admits to and is carrying the guilt of his crime.
He had seen the worst of men and he wanted there to be punishment for that so that he could feel like he was different from them.
Russell gets met at the bus station on his first day out by the brothers of the man that he killed. Russell doesn't get many breaks in life.
Don't get all the tissues out yet though, because Russell is not the perfect man. He still boozes up every-time he gets behind the wheel and that made me kinda eye-twitchy. (It was perfect for this story though..so what do I know?)
He finds himself driving around trying to clear his mind after his friendly welcome home and ends up at a backwoods road where a local deputy has been shot. Then as life would have it he meets the woman on the run that is carrying that deputies gun.
The woman had the look of someone who might have been used to it but the was concern in her voice. He had heard the sound from men who knew what tomorrow would bring and knew there was nothing they could do about it.
This is completely my kind of story. Dark as my hateful old heart. I likey.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
That passage sets the tone of this book. I know
Russell Gaines is being released from prison after eleven years. He admits to and is carrying the guilt of his crime.
He had seen the worst of men and he wanted there to be punishment for that so that he could feel like he was different from them.
Russell gets met at the bus station on his first day out by the brothers of the man that he killed. Russell doesn't get many breaks in life.
Don't get all the tissues out yet though, because Russell is not the perfect man. He still boozes up every-time he gets behind the wheel and that made me kinda eye-twitchy. (It was perfect for this story though..so what do I know?)
He finds himself driving around trying to clear his mind after his friendly welcome home and ends up at a backwoods road where a local deputy has been shot. Then as life would have it he meets the woman on the run that is carrying that deputies gun.
The woman had the look of someone who might have been used to it but the was concern in her voice. He had heard the sound from men who knew what tomorrow would bring and knew there was nothing they could do about it.
This is completely my kind of story. Dark as my hateful old heart. I likey.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
chazmo1431's review against another edition
4.0
I hear words singing in DESPERATION ROAD, the way John Hart makes them sing. Mr. Smith uses a sentence fragment like a spear or a scalpel, depending upon his intent. Like Hart, he makes me know the South as people, not places, as spirit, not cliche. It does not matter that I know, more or less, where the story will go, where the people I learn to root for will wind up. I hope they will, anyway, and intuiting where they may wind up keeps me reading, keeps me hoping they are able to fix it, to win. That is the key to a good read for me, to hope for the characters, to believe in them because I have erred like them, I have not overcome as I hope they will, and be inspired by them.
A great introduction to this author for me!
A great introduction to this author for me!
starness's review against another edition
5.0
From the first sentence I was intrigued and wanted to keep reading, if I wasn’t occupied with other life stuff I would have happily read this in one sitting. The pacing of the story was perfect in keeping your attention, not one word is wasted and the characters felt to me so incredibly believable. There’s so much tension while your reading, really feeling for the two main character’s distress and the terrible situation they each encounter. Nothing is simple for these characters and each find themselves with ethical dilemmas while attempting to do the “right thing”. Not an easy task when your past keeps hunting you down and veering you off course.
Russell really becomes the ultimate anti-hero. I don’t condone the drinking and driving aspects of his character but underneath the gruff he has a heart of gold. I love how the book played out drawing together two broken souls and connecting them in a way that felt so natural and purposeful.
Russell really becomes the ultimate anti-hero. I don’t condone the drinking and driving aspects of his character but underneath the gruff he has a heart of gold. I love how the book played out drawing together two broken souls and connecting them in a way that felt so natural and purposeful.
bellaroobookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Stunning. I loved the style of Smith's writing, very Ulysses . The whole book feels driven by desperation, but the hope is there, too. A gritty, beautiful read.
kerrynicole72's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this story and the characters a lot. I think the pace was a bit too slow, though.
castlelass's review
5.0
Story of two people returning home, separately, to their small town in Mississippi after much hardship: one from eleven years in prison and the other from a nomadic self-destructive life. Both are haunted by past mistakes. Both want to get their lives together. Russell is trying to figure out how to come to terms with a significant error in judgment that changed the lives of many people. Maben is trying to get her life together to provide for her young daughter. Filled with bad decisions, revenge, misfortune, and redemption.
The author has a knack for character development. The story is compelling. The prose is straight-forward and suited to the content. The setting is vividly pictured and plays a large role in the narrative. While one could question the plausibility of a few of the plot points, I was able to overlook them in the vein of “yet another poor decision” by one of the protagonists. The story contains emotional depth. Some deep questions run under the surface of this novel. What is the role of fate in life? How does a person cope with mistakes that have momentous irreversible consequences? Is there a force of good operating behind the scenes, counteracting a force of evil? How can lives be changed by helping others?
Content includes profanity, drinking while driving, drugs, sex, rape, and graphic violence. Recommended to readers that enjoy thought-provoking dark novels or struggles to overcome adversity and self-destructive tendencies.
The author has a knack for character development. The story is compelling. The prose is straight-forward and suited to the content. The setting is vividly pictured and plays a large role in the narrative. While one could question the plausibility of a few of the plot points, I was able to overlook them in the vein of “yet another poor decision” by one of the protagonists. The story contains emotional depth. Some deep questions run under the surface of this novel. What is the role of fate in life? How does a person cope with mistakes that have momentous irreversible consequences? Is there a force of good operating behind the scenes, counteracting a force of evil? How can lives be changed by helping others?
Content includes profanity, drinking while driving, drugs, sex, rape, and graphic violence. Recommended to readers that enjoy thought-provoking dark novels or struggles to overcome adversity and self-destructive tendencies.
auntieg0412's review
5.0
I waited more than 24 hours before I tried to write this review, but I still don’t know what to say. The stories of Russell, Maben, and Larry are wonderfully told: three desperate souls who had made bad choices — sometimes the same bad choices over and over again — and were seeking some form of redemption, if you will, some way to ease their hurt.
I felt a sense of desperation myself, so invested in the characters’ lives that I actually had to stop reading for a while because I was filled with foreboding about what might happen to them. That is truly the mark of good writing, isn’t it, when the reader forgets that the characters aren’t real?
I felt a sense of desperation myself, so invested in the characters’ lives that I actually had to stop reading for a while because I was filled with foreboding about what might happen to them. That is truly the mark of good writing, isn’t it, when the reader forgets that the characters aren’t real?
joshrskinner's review against another edition
5.0
Tremendous. Michael Farris Smith has quickly become one of my favorite authors.