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Ladataan... Follow the River HomeTekijä: Corran Harrington
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Kirjaudu LibraryThingiin nähdäksesi, pidätkö tästä kirjasta vai et. Ei tämänhetkisiä Keskustelu-viestiketjuja tästä kirjasta. Follow the River Home by Corran Harrington is a touching, melancholic collection told in a poetic and lyrical manner. It is highly recommended. The first part of Follow the River Home is a novella, while the second part contains supporting short pieces. The setting is in New Mexico along the Rio Grande. In the novella, we are introduced to Daniel Arroyo. Daniel has guilt, a lifetime of guilt. First he feels he is somehow responsible for the death of his baby sister, Carmen, when he was eight. We don't know what happened, but we know Daniel feels guilty and culpable. The tragedy altered his family as well. When, later, he is drafted and sent to Vietnam, he comes home with PTSD, while a childhood friend dies over there. Now, thirty years later, he is still tormented by nightmares from the war and his sister's death. His wife and children are tired of it and he is searching for some redemption from his anguish. The stories in the second part of the collection provide additional glimpses of Daniel's life and of others who lived in the home. Some of the stories are told through certain pieces of furniture in the house in relationship to the families who have owned them and their surroundings. Taken as a whole, these supporting pieces create a scaffolding to show a more complete accounting of Daniel's life. Daniel's fear and guilt is overwhelming; the answers to his questions may be found in his old neighborhood. The quality of the writing sets this collection apart. Even when dealing with dark themes, like PTSD and flashbacks, Harrington describes what Daniel is experiencing and the anguish it is causing him and his family. The sudden, abrupt shift to the supporting stories in the second half of the book may be a bit disconcerting to some readers who are expecting a smooth continuation of Daniel's story. Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes. näyttää 2/2 ei arvosteluja | lisää arvostelu
DANIEL ARROYO has suffered a lifetime of guilt over the sudden death of his infantsister, who died when he was only eight years old. He now lives his middle years between thatguilt, and worsening episodes of PTSD from a Vietnam he left thirty years ago. When a violentencounter on a dusty highway forces Daniel to face what haunts him he finds himself pulled backto the neighborhood of his youth, where old houses hold tired secrets. What really happened to a baby girl on that steamy August afternoon? The answer comes spilling from the oldneighborhood, and Daniel begins to find his way home. Corran Harrington takes the reader along the Rio Grande, from its headwaters to the sea. Kirjastojen kuvailuja ei löytynyt. |
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Google Books — Ladataan... LajityypitMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyArvio (tähdet)Keskiarvo:
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The horrific things that Daniel experienced in Vietnam have haunted him since his return home. His flashbacks and increasing episodes affect his marriage and his relationship with his children. Added to his trauma is his long held guilt over his baby sister's death so many years ago. He holds himself responsible for the loss of her small life despite not knowing the whole story of her death. His double tragedies from the past continue to live in his present, sometimes more immediately than his actual present does. As he goes about living his life, holding on where he can and letting go where he must, many other people touch his life. It is the stories of these minor, heretofore unexamined characters that form the bulk of the short stories of the second half of this work. Each of the stories in the second half builds a life or backstory for someone mentioned in Daniel's story. Their stories may be far different but they all flow through each others' lives touching briefly, like small streams leaving their trace on each other as they come together to form a larger river of narrative, the narrative of the community around the Rio Grande.
The writing here is quite lyrical and there is a pervading sense of sadness in almost all of the tales. The horror of war and of grief and the way that these twin horrors never leave a person is beautifully rendered as is the dark pull of depression. The first short story told after the novella about Daniel is told from the perspective of several pieces of furniture in his house and that change of perspective, to inanimate but memory bearing objects is a bit disconcerting, especially for readers who expect a novel rather than a collection of stories. But as the reader gets farther into the originally disparate seeming stories, the more the connections to Daniel's story are made evident and the more the community enlarges to encompass many different stories and tragedies and sadnesses. The unconventional structure might throw some readers but the vivid imagery and the continued emotional cost of living is well drawn. ( )