Customer Reviews

America by Land: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This kind of writing is "literistic." This means: no one has ever talked or had thoughts like the ones shown, but the purple prose sounds awfully pretty within the author's head. It's often the kind of prose generated in writing workshops.

Example: "She lies down and thinks about rest, thinks about forgiveness."

No she didn't. Not like that.

When our hero and heroine are having sex:

"He think: This is my life.
She thinks: This is my life."

It's all the author striking a pose, trying to sound literary. The characters, to the extent they exist at all, merely cast shadows from afar.

The reader knows s/he is in the hands of a craftsman, a wordsmith. Olmstead feels deeply and writes beautifully, translating life through two people who are running from and running after a life of integrity and wholeness--on a Harley.

They are first cousins, years apart in age, who love each other completely and desperately; each offers the other a reason to hold on and ride through landscape as rich and colorful as the mistakes they've made and replay painfully. The miles and canyons slide by and they find their way back to New Mexico and a commitment to each other.

This is a slow read because it has to be, a slow unraveling of distance and feeling. Though they move swiftly on the Harley, their story cannot. Read this book for its clarity of language and feeling, for Olmstead knows the wayward ways of the human heart.

I didn't like the novel because it was slow.
The two main characters were Romeo (Raymond) and Juliet...right from the beginning I knew there'd be trouble.
It was not until at least 70 pages in did I understand the reason behind Raymond's trek. Also, every character the two of them met on their trip thought Raymond was funny...he was not funny. If I met Raymond on a trip, I would punch him...hard.

This was a wonderful book that was artfully crafted and spoke to me. You have to read it!

I didn't like the novel because it was slow.
The two main characters were Romeo (Raymond) and Juliet...right from the beginning I knew there'd be trouble.
It was not until at least 70 pages in did I understand the reason behind Raymond's trek. Also, every character the two of them met on their trip thought Raymond was funny...he was not funny. If I met Raymond on a trip, I would punch him...hard.