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A review by jmcphers
A Million Heavens by John Brandon
3.0
If John Brandon writes like anyone, he writes like Kurt Vonnegut. The content is completely different, of course, but the structure of the sentence is remarkably similar. Short, simple sentences, often beginning with the name of a character, full of matter-of-fact detail, and frequent little bursts of philosophy.
My first book by Brandon was Citrus County, and while that one was a page-turner, this one has very low tension. If it were a movie, it would be one of those indie flicks with lingering camera shots of squinty-eyed actors sitting in a small town gazing meaningfully out a window or doing something poetic by themselves. This book has lots of little spurts of plot growing all over the place but in the end it is (to me) an atmospheric work.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Brandon has gotten more adept at deftly telling a lot of stories at once. There are many characters here and he cuts back and forth between them a lot. That and the easy-reading descriptions make reading this book about as easy as watching television, except in this case you have the vague sense that someone wiser than you is trying to get something across about people, and about hope, and about waiting. No morals or philosophizing here, just a few hundred pages of meditation.
I think Brandon could do all this and write a page-turner, too (because he did, in fact, do all this and write a page-turner too) so I'm only giving this three stars. But it's not because I'm not a fan of Mr. Brandon's. I'm down to one unread book by him, and I'm going to savor it.
My first book by Brandon was Citrus County, and while that one was a page-turner, this one has very low tension. If it were a movie, it would be one of those indie flicks with lingering camera shots of squinty-eyed actors sitting in a small town gazing meaningfully out a window or doing something poetic by themselves. This book has lots of little spurts of plot growing all over the place but in the end it is (to me) an atmospheric work.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Brandon has gotten more adept at deftly telling a lot of stories at once. There are many characters here and he cuts back and forth between them a lot. That and the easy-reading descriptions make reading this book about as easy as watching television, except in this case you have the vague sense that someone wiser than you is trying to get something across about people, and about hope, and about waiting. No morals or philosophizing here, just a few hundred pages of meditation.
I think Brandon could do all this and write a page-turner, too (because he did, in fact, do all this and write a page-turner too) so I'm only giving this three stars. But it's not because I'm not a fan of Mr. Brandon's. I'm down to one unread book by him, and I'm going to savor it.