Book Review: "The Remnants" by Robert Hill

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to Forest Avenue Press for making it available!

As many people I know, I read a tremendous amount. But even though I read on average of 130 books a year, in a number of different genres, some books have similar themes, ideas, or plotlines, even if they're told in different ways.

And then there are the books that are utterly different. Robert Hill's The Remnants definitely falls into this category. While the heart of this book is familiar—the power (both positive and negative) of love in all its forms, the pull of family (again, positive and negative), and the tug-of-war between following your dreams and being happy where you are, Hill has created a universe of characters and a setting so unique, it almost seemed as if I were reading a book whose characters were fantastical creatures rather than actual people.

The town of New Eden is on its last legs, as most of its residents have died. It's Kennesaw Belvedere's 99th birthday, and, hewing to the tradition he has followed for a number of years now, Kennesaw is going to have tea and saltines with his friend True Bliss. True is one day shy of her 100th birthday, and although age has taken its toll on her body and her mind, she has never forgotten the memory of being stood up by the boy she loved so long ago.

"What kept him coming to her house for his birthday tea year after year was friendship based on age and familiarity, and the habits we can't shake and the hurts we can't outrun, and the senility that in its arbitrary mercy blocks our memories of it all."

As Kennesaw sets out for True's house, his mind wanders through the peaks and valleys of his life—being mistreated by his parents because he was more attractive than the average New Eden resident, the affection he had for another of New Eden's citizens that he didn't allow himself to feel, and the injustices of growing older. Unbeknownst to Kennesaw, his old friend Hunko Minton is also on his way to True's house, determined to stop the birthday tea and reveal a secret he has kept (mostly) hidden for so long.

New Eden is a whimsical town, where intermarriage between not-too-distant family members has created a unique blend of physical and mental characteristics among its residents, and through the years, many have died of unusual causes and in bizarre fashion. But despite their uniqueness—and their unusual names—(the names of the characters I've listed in this review are just the tip of the iceberg where that's concerned), these are people dealing with the same wants, hopes, and hurts as you see in any other town.

Hill has a voice all his own. It's at times flowery and old-fashioned, as he talks of begetting and lonesomes; at times it's gag-inducing, with a great deal of talk of bodily functions and the smells of each person; and at times it's even a little ribald, as he discusses sex but in a way I've never quite seen. It's a little off-putting at times, a little twee even, but these characters have such heart, and the payoff is both endearing and emotional, so it was worth the journey.

This is definitely not a book for everyone. You have to be willing to allow yourself to be transported into a town, a world of characters, a language all its own. And while you may wonder just what on earth you're reading, hopefully at the end (or perhaps sometime before), you'll find yourself smiling, and maybe even wiping away a tear or two.

Book Review: "The Never-Open Desert Diner" by James Anderson

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for making it available!

This book snuck up on me and both charmed and utterly fascinated me.

Ben Jones has been a trucker in Utah for some time now, traveling up and down Route 117 in the desert. It's a fairly solitary existence he's eked out for himself—during his workdays he interacts periodically with some of his customers, but there's a reason they live off of a little-traveled road in the desert, and most are not really the type for socializing beyond general niceties.

Along Ben's route is a somewhat-famous diner, often used as scenery in movies. The diner is rarely if ever open, ever since the diner's owner experienced a painful tragedy there a number of years before. But Walt, the diner's cantankerous, tough-as-nails owner, and Ben have a lukewarm relationship, and he is one of the few people Ben might consider a friend.

One day on his route Ben comes upon a solitary home that was probably used as a prototype for a never-built housing development. It's a beautiful home, and it catches his attention, although not as much as the beautiful woman he sees inside the house, silently playing the cello. She fascinates him, and he wants to get to know her, even as he knows it probably would be a mistake. And when he learns that this woman, Claire, is hiding from her husband and events in her past, he is convinced even more that he should avoid her. But she has gotten under his skin, and he wants to be with her.

He can't get Claire out of his mind, and she is slowly warming up to him. Then he suddenly begins catching the attention of mysterious people, including a woman appearing in different guises in the fairly solitary desert community and an earnest, young reality show producer who has allegedly taken interest in Ben. He worries about Claire being found by those who are looking for her, but he should worry more about himself, because he unexpectedly winds up under suspicion of several crimes.

What, or whom, is Claire really running from? What brought her to the desert? And what happened in the diner all those years ago? The Never-Open Desert Diner is a book about secrets and the danger they bring, and it's also a book about loneliness, how it can be both comforting and depressing. It's also a book about love—romantic, parental, filial—and the lengths we go to in order to protect it.

James Anderson is an excellent storyteller and he created some really memorable characters. Ben was really fascinating, as were many of the supporting characters in this book. I loved how Anderson gave us some insight into a number of these people, fleshing them out as more than just people wanting to protect their solitude. This is a mysterious, insightful, thought-provoking book that definitely evoked some emotions as well. I really enjoyed this one.

Movie Review: "The Revenant"

During the Oscars this coming Sunday night, Leonardo DiCaprio is expected to finally win an Oscar for his role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's The Revenant, and both the film and Iñárritu himself are considered leading contenders for Best Picture and Best Director awards as well.

While I believe that DiCaprio's win is as much a payback for his previous Oscar-worthy performances (this is the Oscars, after all) and an acknowledgment of how harrowing it was to make this movie, I will be tremendously disappointed if either the film or the director wins an Oscar. To say the very least.

The Revenant takes place in the 1820s (a fact I had to research, since the movie itself never divulges where or when it takes place) in the midst of the burgeoning fur trade, where battles between Americans, the Indians, and the French were commonplace. An expedition of American frontiersman, which includes scout Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) and his Native American son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), is trying to gather as many pelts as they can, although they're not making as much progress as one member of their group, Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy, sounding a bit like Mushmouth from Fat Albert, yet with a Southern accent), would like.

Early one morning, Glass is scouting nearby where his group has settled in for the night when disaster strikes—in the form of a very angry, protective bear. Glass is repeatedly mauled and tries to fight the bear off any way he can. The attack leaves him (no pun intended) barely alive, but he fights for survival. The group needs to move on, but the captain (Domhnall Gleason) wants to do the honorable thing and not leave him behind to die. Hawk and a friend, Bridger (Will Poulter), agree to stay behind, as does Fitzgerald, more because money is offered to sweeten the deal.

Almost immediately after the remainder of the group leaves, Fitzgerald is ready for Glass to die, either by natural causes or by his own hand. And after several days of watching Glass' condition worsen (SPOILER ALERT if you've not seen any of the trailers for this film), Fitzgerald kills Hawk and buries Glass alive, convincing Bridger that Hawk disappeared and Glass died, and the two head to meet up with their group.

The movie then shifts into revenge mode, as Glass, barely breathing and torn to shreds by the bear, digs himself out of the grave and nurses himself back to enough strength to try and track Fitzgerald down. On the way he encounters more crises, survives a blizzard by sleeping inside the carcass of a dead horse (I thought Luke Skywalker did this better in The Empire Strikes Back), and deals with Indians and unsavory French fur trappers before the inevitable showdown.

I saw someone refer to this film as "a much longer Road Runner/Wiley Coyote cartoon," because Glass is able to keep on his path of revenge even after surviving a bear attack, pneumonia, and various other injuries and accidents. Along the way he is buoyed by memories of Hawk and Hawk's mother, and these spur him on despite his severely weakened condition.

This movie is beautifully filmed, and I understand it was tremendously difficult to make. While I understand the concept of the story, of the power of love and revenge to strengthen us, the movie never clicked with me, and it even felt preposterous at times. DiCaprio certainly underwent significant physical torture making this movie, and there was some emotion in his performance, but I definitely don't think this was the best performance of the year by a long shot, despite the fact he's a sure bet for the Oscar. Hardy, too, has delivered Oscar-worthy performances before, but this is definitely not one of them.

Beyond that, though, I thought this movie was utterly predictable and certainly not worthy of the praise being heaped upon it. A movie should be recognized as Best Picture because it is the best, not because it was challenging to make. Should this win Best Picture on Sunday evening, it will be one of the biggest disconnects I've ever had with the Oscars.

Book Review: "All the Lasting Things" by David Hopson

I was able to read this book through Amazon's Kindle First program. Thanks to Amazon and Little A for making it available!

"'Life will always be disappointing,' he said with pressing emotion. 'Even if everything looked exactly as you thought it would, even then, there would be disappointments. Deep, even ruinous disappointments. Compromises we think we can't possibly live with. But we do. We do because we must. It's the contract we sign for being here. We have to treat life like it's precious. Even when we think it's not. Especially then. Because then we see how easily it can be thrown away.'"

The Fisher family has had more than its share of ups and downs, and more than anything, now seems to be a time of more downs than ups. Henry, the family patriarch, is a famous writer who is in the throes of Alzheimer's disease. His condition is becoming more of a burden on everyone, especially his wife, Evelyn, but she isn't ready to seek full-time care for him or move him to a nursing home, even as she suffers emotionally and physically.

Their son, Benji, was a child actor famous for his stint in a 1980s sitcom, but he's never quite gotten back to that level ever again. He spends his days pitting his ego and his desire for fame against his increasingly self-destructive behavior. In the midst of a less-than-glamorous regional theater production of Hamlet, Benji hits rock bottom—although not quite as rock bottom as his family is led to believe. It's up to his older sister, Claudia, usually the stable one, to keep her family together through Benji's recovery and Henry's continued decline.

Then a more-than-20-year-old secret is revealed, and suddenly the stable one has her life rocked to the core. And while this secret shakes up the entire family in different ways, it also sets into motion a chain of events which will further knock the family for a loop, and confront the question about whether hiding the truth from someone is the same thing as lying.

David Hopson has created a compelling look at a family dealing with more than its share of crises. Benji and Claudia are the most fleshed-out characters (along with a third), but they're not always sympathetic, so it's difficult at times to get fully engrossed in their stories, and I didn't really understand what made them do many of the things they did. Hopson has a vivid ear for language and emotion, even if he sometimes uses three metaphors when one would suffice.

Although I didn't like how the bulk of the story was resolved (even though I anticipated that was how things might end), and I felt the epilogue was completely tacked on and didn't really flow with the rest of the book, I still enjoyed All the Lasting Things. It made me feel and it made me think, and I look forward to seeing what Hopson's career has in store.

Book Review: "Cold Barrel Zero" by Matthew Quirk

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for making it available!

Matthew Quirk's third book, Cold Barrel Zero, almost literally begins with a bang.

John Hayes was once an elite soldier in Special Operations. He and his fellow soldiers were trained to infiltrate targets by completely immersing themselves in their midst, essentially becoming one of them. They performed many deep cover missions, eliminating enemies of the U.S. by whatever means necessary, and their very existence was disavowed by the country they were fighting to defend. When one mission goes wrong, Hayes and his cohorts are labeled as traitors and are disgraced, forced to go into hiding and leave their loved ones behind. But Hayes knows at some point those who betrayed them will come after them again, and he must be ready to fight with everything he has.

Tom Byrne once knew Hayes, once fought by his side as a combat medic, and even helped patch him up after a firefight. Yet the two followed different paths—after a particularly difficult time on the front lines, Byrne makes the decision to leave the military and become a surgeon. But the memories of his time as a soldier haunt him, making it difficult for him to stay in one place too long or commit to a relationship.

Much to his surprise, Byrne finds himself enmeshed in Hayes' plans for revenge despite not having seen him for years. He isn't sure whom he should trust—a soldier he fought with years ago who seems utterly capable of the crimes of which he is being accused, or the U.S. government, who is allegedly protecting Byrne but yet isn't sure whether he is to be trusted either. Whatever choice he makes is a dangerous one, with significant repercussions for everyone involved, including the woman he's starting to fall in love with. This is a battle with the highest of stakes, for both life and liberty.

I first came upon Quirk a few years ago when I read his debut novel, The 500, which really impressed me. I missed his second book (but will have to pick it up, as it was a sequel of sorts to the first) but in the ensuing years, Quirk has definitely matured as a storyteller. He has a real knack for action sequences—I felt my pulse racing during some of the fight scenes. He also has a created some very interesting characters, although he doesn't develop all of them fully, leaving some of them to be a little more rote than I wished they were.

There is definitely a lot going on in this book—too much at times, in my opinion. Between the use of a lot of jargon and acronyms I'm not familiar with, and the large cast of cohorts on both sides of the battle, I found myself having to re-read passages to be sure I knew which side I was reading about, and who did what to whom. This is definitely a book that keeps you guessing, and while that makes for a suspenseful read, there was a lot of double- and triple-crossing to keep track of.

If you like action and espionage, I think you'll find Cold Barrel Zero a really compelling read. Quirk's talent makes you want to keep reading, and while it is a little confusing from time to time, your heart will be pounding as you race through the book.

Book Review: "You Should Pity Us Instead" by Amy Gustine

The characters in You Should Pity Us Instead, Amy Gustine's powerfully moving story collection find themselves in the midst of all kinds of challenges or emotional crises. But while reading 11 stories about people at emotional crossroads may sound harrowing, many of these stories also have a little bit of suspense, some have traces of sly humor, and all are tremendously compelling.

I had never heard of Amy Gustine before finding a mention of this collection in one of Book Riot's weekly emails highlighting new releases. I love finding story collections by new authors, and find that some of the best writers out there are generating such power and emotion within the confines of short stories. Gustine now has a fan in me, that's for sure.

The characters in these stories deal with both everyday and unusual problems. I honestly liked every story in the collection, but my favorites included:

• "Prisoners Do," in which a radiologist is torn between his loyalty to his wife, who lives with the aftereffects of a stroke, and his lover, who is also a doctor;
• "AKA Juan," which follows a young man whose adoptive siblings want him to be their ailing mother's caregiver, but he wants to live his own life;
• "When We're Innocent," in which a man travels to pack up his daughter's apartment after her death, and meets one of her neighbors, who is dealing with his own crisis;
• "All the Sons of Cain," the story of the mother of a kidnapped Jewish soldier who travels to Gaza to try and find her son;
• "Half-Life," which follows a young nanny as she cares for a couple's children and navigates the memories of her own troubled childhood; and
• the title story, about a woman whose life is affected by her husband's book about the hypocrisies of religion and her children's desire to understand what religion is.

Gustine's ear for dialogue, characterization, and language really shows through in these stories. Not all of the stories are perfect, but they do pack a punch, and leave you thinking about them long after you're finished. Not everyone is a fan of short stories, I know, but this is a collection worth reading and savoring.

Book Review: "The Throwback Special" by Chris Bachelder

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for making it available!

One weekend every November, a group of 22 guys get together at a hotel. They aren't friends during the year, but there is rarely a question that they'll miss this weekend.

The purpose? They gather to reenact (although they hate that word, since for them it connotes people dressed in war uniforms holding guns) what is known in football history as "the most shocking play in NFL history": on November 18, 1985, Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann had his leg horribly broken on live television by New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. The injury ended Theismann's career, and was replayed several times that night on television, although commentator Frank Gifford warned those "with strong stomachs."

The weekend isn't just a casual game of touch football. Every year one of the men becomes the commissioner, and each man gets to choose which player (of those Redskins and Giants players who were on the field for that play) they will play that year. They watch the film of that play, room together by position, and even dress in authentic uniforms, down to wristbands or taped body parts. Some of the men take the weekend and their roles very seriously, while others would rather be anywhere else but know they're obligated.

If your eyes have already glazed over because you're not a football fan, rest assured that Chris Bachelder's The Throwback Special is less about football and more about life. The men have been playing for a number of years now, and most are approaching or are solidly entrenched in middle age, experiencing all of the stresses and problems which come with it, from physical ailments, difficulties and/or concerns with their children, financial challenges, marital woes, etc. These are men who bear the weight of life on their shoulders, and while this weekend should serve as a release for them, they can't seem to shake everything that's going on in their "real lives."

This is a really interesting and sensitive meditation on the burden of manhood and growing older, as well as the dissatisfaction and the disappointment that comes with it. Bachelder has a great ear for dialogue, which imbues this book with a great deal of sensitivity and humor. The challenge is, there are so many characters that it's hard to keep all of them straight—there's Fat Michael (who isn't fat in the least) and Bald Michael (who is bald), Adam and Andy, and many others—and while some of the characters are more vivid, it takes a little time to remember which one you're reading about.

I'm a huge football fan and we even have Redskins season tickets, so this book definitely appealed to me, but you don't need to know the first thing about football to enjoy The Throwback Special. If you're a guy dealing with growing older and the challenges of life, or you know someone like that, this book may interest you. It's very different than I expected it to be, but it definitely captivated me.