Rollie Gold's father had been a Marine drill instructor during World War II, and treated him like just another raw recruit who needed to be run through boot camp. At least this was Rollie's opinion, though as a kid he loved to hear his father's war stories of when he'd fought in the Pacific. When his mother later told him these stories were untrue, it felt like a betrayal. His mother made him promise he'd never tell his father, and he never did, but whatever chance they had of ever enjoying a healthy father-son relationship seemed lost. In his twenties, he moved to Oregon with three companions to live on a commune. There, he came to see a parallel between the four of them and four characters he'd read about in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance. He came to see this romance as his personal myth, but later came wonder if it might be only an illusion. Growing older, he came to equate this illusion with his father's illusion about fighting in the war. This novel focuses on five years in Rollie Gold's life. In his own words, Rollie describes his thirty-year search to find a reconciliation with his father.
I can't really give this book a recommendation. I thought it was as boring as the cover. Some people complained about Where You Belong that the main character is too passive, but Frost Devereaux is a dynamo compared to this guy. The commune part is especially dull and it just seems to go on and on.
But just because I didn't like the book doesn't mean other people will.
Get it for only 99 cents on Amazon!
5 comments:
Wouldn't it make more sense to feature a book from this author that you did like? Since you say you like this author?
Nah, I'm just featuring ones I read this year.
Doesn't sound all that compelling.
I love your very frank reviews. The cover does indeed look boring. I'm trying to decide if it is the font, the use of orange, or the guy and his pose (which is very closed due to the folding of the arms).
I'm not sure about the picture but the rest is an Amazon template.
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