OurColony.net

Eh.

Customer Rating:
Ok, well, I liked this book. It's just that I really wanted to LOVE this book, because the writing is beautiful and the author comes with such rich acclaim. But I felt I was kept at arm's length from the heart of this book, like I should have been content being just a spectator when I really wanted to be a participant.

The main character of this novel is Cassie Clairborne, who I suppose (to the casual observer) could be called a pool hustler. I love how she explains herself, though: "`I play American pool, not English billiards, and I'm not a shark. That would be a person who pretended not to be a good player, then stole the money of her opponent. I just announce myself, I say I've come to a place to play their best, and for money, and that person is called. Or I wait for him.'[...] `And do they, would they beat you?' `No,' Cassie said. `No, they wouldn't.'" The novel follows her "coming of age" in rural Indiana.

I love Cassie Clairborne, that much I can say without hesitation. She is complicated, so tough, so tender. Your heart breaks for her. I thought there would be many more poolhall scenes, but the fact that she plays pool is really just a consequence of her life experience, not the center of it. Pool is how she processes all of the pain and hurt and confusion she feels from the rest of her world.

I also love Kimmel's writing style, which is at times very lyrical. The pace of the plot, though, was what killed it for me. I joked with my husband that this book - even at a mere 269 pages - is a "skimmer's paradise," meaning that you could skim several large passage (even pages!) and jump back in with the plot having only moved forward just a skoche. I think I missed a lot of Kimmel's literary flourishes, but I could not convince myself to digest every single word.

Still, there is a different air to this book, and it is redeemed in the end by a handful of giant leaps in the storyline. I ended satisfied, if not completely enthusiastic.

Who says small town life isn't epic? Certainly not Haven Kimmel.

Customer Rating:
This is the second Haven Kimmel novel I've read, and I have to say I'm hooked. It's her characters. You'd be lucky to be a Haven Kimmel character. You might work in a tiny library and spend your life grieving the man who left you for a woman with a prior claim. You might never leave your kitchen table out of a fear of germs. You might be graceful, rock-hard pool hustler with a failing Mazda truck and a disputed cue. Whatever you are, you will be as deeply engaged in the world of ideas as any professor. I love this. These people think and they read and make up sort of a lost tribe of superior intellects living in Midwestern diaspora. Kimmel does have a tendency to invest her characters with a slightly incredible degree of lean, wolfen physical grace and beauty, but you know, I can forgive that because these people are so fun to read.

Something Rising

Customer Rating:
I must say I was a bit disappointed with this book after reading all of this author's prior publications. The transitioning is hard to follow and while the real situation is understood at the end, I found myself unsatisfied since the various pieces and scenarios preceding the finale did not all hold together for me.

Not my Favorite

Customer Rating:
This is not my favorite Haven Kimmel novel, but it's worth reading, and like most, perhaps all, of Kimmel's work, redemptive.

an interesting book

Customer Rating:
This is a really interesting book. The main character, Casey is evolving in the story. Keeps your attention.