Scan barcode
craigmatthews87's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this audiobook, although I certainly don't think it's for everyone. Eschewing the horror of most of his other books, Jones weaves a non-linear tale of maybe fact, maybe fiction of a young man's life in Texas. I found it quietly captivating, if maybe a little hard to follow timelines and characters at a point.
Not a starting point for his work, but if you're already a fan of Jones' writing, this is well worth your time.
Not a starting point for his work, but if you're already a fan of Jones' writing, this is well worth your time.
scary_carrie's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
youraveragedave's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I saw a review saying this is literary A.D.D. and I have to agree.
The narrator tells us early and often he's changing names and can't quite remember things. The writing is circular, jumping from person to person, past to further past. He doesn't quite seem to finish a thought, segueing to another person or place in the county. The cast is sprawling, and it's hard to keep straight who is part of which family and at what point in time we are in.
This is definitely the SGJ narrative voice I'm used to, but it just didn't work for me in this book.
The narrator tells us early and often he's changing names and can't quite remember things. The writing is circular, jumping from person to person, past to further past. He doesn't quite seem to finish a thought, segueing to another person or place in the county. The cast is sprawling, and it's hard to keep straight who is part of which family and at what point in time we are in.
This is definitely the SGJ narrative voice I'm used to, but it just didn't work for me in this book.
alwroteabook's review against another edition
5.0
In a fit of whimsy, I hereby announce I will give everyone five stars, but the reviews may not reflect it.
This is different to SGJ's other works, as it is more of a memoir about his time growing up in Texas. thinking back to an unsolved fire back when he was a kid, the author tried to retroactively solve the crime. It's short and entertaining, but he's written better books.
This is different to SGJ's other works, as it is more of a memoir about his time growing up in Texas. thinking back to an unsolved fire back when he was a kid, the author tried to retroactively solve the crime. It's short and entertaining, but he's written better books.
opheliabedilia's review against another edition
2.0
I almost hated this book. A friend said it's like ADD in print, and that's true, but it's worse than that.
1. A hint to writers: if you're going to make your narrator a professional writer, he needs to be able to write. With sentences and coherent thoughts and those kinds of things. For an example of how this is done, see Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. If your narrator is going to write with ridiculous sentence fragments and no sense of plot or timing or anything useful, say he's anything but a professional writer.
2. Um, what? What just happened? What time are you recalling now? Who the heck is this person? Where are we... Wait now we're here? With whom? And what year are you suddenly telling me about? What the hell did that last sentence mean? These were my thoughts during the first chapter. And all 10 chapters that followed. Repeat what I just wrote 100 times in your head and you've experienced reading this book. I don't think I've ever actually rolled my eyes while reading. Before this.
3. I read all 250 pages, and I have only some idea what happened. I was counting on it coming clear at the end. Which was silly, given that nothing is clear ever in the rest of the book. I admit that I'm not always the most astute reader, and rarely the first to figure out the culprit in a mystery. But I am intelligent enough that I usually know what happened after I've read the whole thing, for goodness sake.
The author is good at one thing, which is creating a place. Rural Texas was essentially one of the characters in this book, and possibly the only well written one.
1. A hint to writers: if you're going to make your narrator a professional writer, he needs to be able to write. With sentences and coherent thoughts and those kinds of things. For an example of how this is done, see Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. If your narrator is going to write with ridiculous sentence fragments and no sense of plot or timing or anything useful, say he's anything but a professional writer.
2. Um, what? What just happened? What time are you recalling now? Who the heck is this person? Where are we... Wait now we're here? With whom? And what year are you suddenly telling me about? What the hell did that last sentence mean? These were my thoughts during the first chapter. And all 10 chapters that followed. Repeat what I just wrote 100 times in your head and you've experienced reading this book. I don't think I've ever actually rolled my eyes while reading. Before this.
3. I read all 250 pages, and I have only some idea what happened. I was counting on it coming clear at the end. Which was silly, given that nothing is clear ever in the rest of the book. I admit that I'm not always the most astute reader, and rarely the first to figure out the culprit in a mystery. But I am intelligent enough that I usually know what happened after I've read the whole thing, for goodness sake.
The author is good at one thing, which is creating a place. Rural Texas was essentially one of the characters in this book, and possibly the only well written one.
andy5185's review against another edition
5.0
This was written with such personality and was so real. Stephen Graham Jones is quickly becoming a favorite writer of mine.
bookwyrm55's review against another edition
5.0
There is so much to unpack in this book. Author Stephen Graham Jones takes readers back to his childhood, to a dusty Texas town where lives are lived one cotton module to the next, where famliies have been living and loving and lying to and about one another for generations. Parts of this are the results of conversations with people he has not seen in a very long time, talking about a mysterious fire that brought several deaths to the community... but even in those parts, it's about so much more.
There's a thing about Jones' writing that is on full display here, that is wonderful. He takes you into his head. He writes, thinks twice about things, seques into memories and back and it's not at all like fiction. It's like you are sitting around a fire somewhere, sipping something strong, and listening, as he tells a story. His voice is so strong it replaces the story with images that start to feel like your own memories.
This is very, very good book. It fits in between the cracks of genres, but stitches them together with a blunt needle and thick thread, letting the characters, thoughts and memories slip through the seams to other places. Mystery, memoir, alternate or corrected history? All of that.
Very highly recommended.
There's a thing about Jones' writing that is on full display here, that is wonderful. He takes you into his head. He writes, thinks twice about things, seques into memories and back and it's not at all like fiction. It's like you are sitting around a fire somewhere, sipping something strong, and listening, as he tells a story. His voice is so strong it replaces the story with images that start to feel like your own memories.
This is very, very good book. It fits in between the cracks of genres, but stitches them together with a blunt needle and thick thread, letting the characters, thoughts and memories slip through the seams to other places. Mystery, memoir, alternate or corrected history? All of that.
Very highly recommended.
paperback_heart's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0