harrison

The English Major: A Novel
$14.00
I have read several Harrison novels previously. Although none were outstanding, they were interesting enough to lead me to buy this book and then again, against my better judgment, to actually finish it. I did so thinking, surely there will be something here, if I just persevere. Surely the story will go somewhere or there will be some worthwhile insight into life or character. Well, I was sadly wrong. Contemporary fiction is full of well written, insightful novels about man aging and confronting the growing realization of mortality and the loss of vitality and energy. This book is certainly not one of them.

This novel is a road trip story that truly "goes nowhere," just repeats itself over and over. And what is repeated is hardly interesting or worth the energy or time of the reader. I can't tell whether this supposed 60 year old has the mind of a eight or sixteen year old. Maybe it is somewhere in between. To the extent that the sexual banter-musings-dialogue is humorous it looses even its virtue as humor very quickly.

From prior readings, I know this author can write a good story, one that has rounded characters, develops in a meaningful way, and provides some substance or insight. Here, I have no clue what he thought he was doing, other than wasting the reader's time.

In Search of Small Gods
$22.00
In my opinion Harrison's prose has always been poetry so it seems natural he should write beautiful touching poetry. I believe he has said before that poetry should not be truly understood; this book touches my soul and my heart and remains enigmatic. I live in Montana and am drawn to the land here as I am his poetry.

The Outlaw Demon Wails (The Hollows, Book 6)
$7.99
This is a great addition to the Hollows series, probably the best as far as pacing and action go. There were very few, if any, spots were the action lagged, which made it hard for me to get the dishes and laundry done before they both overflowed. ;)

I don't want to post any spoilers, but will say that Rachel faced a lot of hard truths this time around, as well as worked through a lot of relationship issues - becoming closer to her mother and seeing her in a different light, coping with the death of Kisten, coming to an understanding with Ivy (however tentative), learning that it's okay to love, trust, and depend on her friends, and learning to accept herself as she is - warts and all. As much as her heart hurt in this book, it also healed, and it was a wonderful thing to see.

Looking forward to the next one. :)

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1)
$16.99
Once Dead, Twice Shy, started out really slow, and really confusing. It took awhile until I completely grasped the concept of what was going on, which seems to be the general feel of most reviews I've read as well. (It would have been really helpful to know beforehand that there was a preceding short story called "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper" in the Prom Nights From Hell anthology. That however, wasn't mentioned on her site, or on the book anywhere at all.)

Overall the story was nice, it had a good plot as well as decent characters, but my absolutely favourite thing about this book was Madison's guardian angel. About halfway through the book we meet Grace, who is assigned to Madison for reasons I can't tell you (dun dun dun!), but she's basically a beautiful limerick singing guardian angel. Here is two small examples of Grace's quirky mini-songs:

"There once was a girl with blond hair, whose tresses were short like a mare, she brushed and she preened, like she was a queen, till I laced her shampoo with some Nair."
Excerpt pg. 50, Once Dead, Twice Shy

"There once was a girl from Lake Powell, whose mouth was something quite foul. The crap she did spew, like an overfull loo, til I smacked her right into a wall."
Excerpt pg. 111, Once Dead, Twice Shy

Other than my insane love for Grace, I really like the way that Madison and Josh's relationship ends up. You learn a good amount about both characters, and they fit into the world that Kim made just perfectly. The scenes are well described, so much that you don't have to question anything, I could easily see everything that Kim described as if I had been there. So, other than the slow and slightly confusing start, the book was good, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!