Customer Reviews

The Blind Season: Common Threads in the Life

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4 star:		(1)
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This book continues the love story of Joel and Tom which Ron began in "Common Sons". It's so wonderful to see the two of them in love, strengthening their relationship, and starting a family with their birth daughter(that's pretty interesting!!!) I'm hoping that Ron can continue their lives for those of us fans who need to know more. But he'll have a fantasy series coming out soon, "Twilight of the Gods", beginning with Cinatis, that also looks fantastic. Can't wait.

Ron Donaghe's second installment following "Common Sons" in The Common Threads in the Life series, picks up with "The Blind Season." The story continues five years afer we've left Joel and Tom in "Common Sons." Joel, never one to accept other people's ideas of what he should or shouldn't do, or what he can or cannot have as a homosexual man living an openly homosexual life, once agains follows his heart. In the process he upsets a lot of people, shocks many more, and creates a lot of division within the town of Common, New Mexico, where he lives. Donaghe's setting for this story is once again the New Mexican desert. His vivid descriptions of the New Mexican landscape come from the heart, and his love for the the setting is evident, serving only to enhance the story.

Without giving away too many details, suffice it to say that Joel finds a way to fulfill his dream of becoming a father, raising a family, and leading a life no different from anyone else's with the man he loves.
Donaghe's story is a testament to listening to one's own heart, rather than to others' and about following one's dreams and making them reality, no matter how many people tell you "you can't." It's a statement about the rights--regrettably, rights that need to be fought for--of gay men to have what most people take for granted.
For those who first met Tom and Joel in "Common Sons," and want to know what became of them, I highly recommend "The Blind Season." Donaghe's writing style is riveting, easy on the senses, and draws the reader in from the beginning.
This book is a great follow-up to "Common Sons."

We are fortunate to learn more about the characters introduced to us in Common Sons - Tom Allen-Reece and Joel Reece. This time they want to be parents, yes gay parents, and the year is not 2001 but 1970 - a totally different mind set! Ronald Donaghe weaves quite the tale when old characters return and new arrive. Even though the characters are in their 20's, I can identify with what they are going through because unfortunately some people's opinion of gays has not changed since the 70's.
The story picks up five years after Common Sons ends and we witness as we see characters change, Tom and Joel's relationship get even stronger. This novel includes many real life situations that people can identify with whether gay or straight. Just when you think that you know what is going to happen, Donaghe surprises you! I couldn't put it down, as soon as I finished I began the next volume in the series - The Salvation Mongers! Run, do not walk to get a copy of this novel. A message to Mr. Donaghe: Please finish The Gathering ASAP because I want to read it yesterday!

Ronald L. Donaghe continues his Common Threads in the Life series with a novel that excels both as a family drama and as an action drama. Five years after the events of the novel Common Sons, Donaghes young lovers Tom and Joel decide to start a family. The struggles they face come from unexpected sources, keeping readers guessing at the next obstacles or solutions. Donaghe delivers what should become a classic of gay literature.

That was how I felt when I finished reading Common Sons and I got my wish with Blind Season. Now I'm eager to hear a little more about these wonderful boys who follow their hearts and go after the family they desire despite the obstacles.

There are new characters introduced that blend in very well with the old seasoned characters. Ronald Donaghe has done it again, spinning a wonderful story that should warm the heart of all who have a chance to read it.

I hope the Gathering comes out soon. I'm going to read Salvation Mongers for sure, and I have no doubt that it too will be fascinating. Thank you Mr. Donaghe for bringing Tom and Joel to life. I love them both and i found the story very touching and enjoyable. It was another that i couldn't put down.

Great read,could not put it down, wonderful story! Read all three so far , Common Sons, The Blind Season and The Salvation Mongers, can't wait for the final book, The Gathering when is it ever coming? Hurry Ronald we are all waiting........

In the middle 1980s, author Ronald Donaghe envisioned a four book series which he called Common Threads in the Life. The initial book, Common Sons, was published in 1989 and found a cult audience, particularly among youth, both gay and lesbian, who were struggling with their own coming out issues. Then it took well over a decade to bring the sequel to fruition. The Blind Season is that long-awaited sequel and is the continued story of Joel Reece and Tom Allen, two young men from Common, New Mexico. The sequel picks up in 1970, four years after Common Sons left off. The two boys are now young men who live together, work on Joel's parents' farm, and consider themselves married. Though the townspeople continue to be suspicious, prejudiced, and unsupporting, Tom and Joel are mostly happy-but not entirely happy because they want children of their own.

The boys set out to find a young woman to carry their child, and they meet Sharon Minninger, who is a shunned Mennonite runaway living over the border in Mexico. Sharon has dreams of her own, including getting an education and making something of herself. She agrees to bear Tom and Joel's child in return for help to go to college. The circumstances of the baby's conception, Sharon's pregnancy, and the little girl who is subsequently born bring strong feelings out in the open from the townspeople and from Tom and Joel's families as well. The story of how they navigate all of this is suspenseful, dramatic, and touching. While many people are against Tom and Joel - particularly the vicious, latent homosexual police officer in town - they gradually find others like Margaret, the low-key lesbian from the local diner, who support and encourage them. In addition, there are some real surprises from members of their families.

This story evoked a tear or two along with a few chuckles. It's lively, entertaining, and a highly effective sequel to Common Sons. Mr. Donaghe is a talented writer who continues to put a realistic and reflective face on the gay young men about whom he writes. This is a book anyone from high school to age 100 could enjoy, and I highly recommend both this book and the series.
~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

One thing I love about this author is his realistic point of view that not everybody is going to respond horribly to the fact that somebody comes out of the closet. This makes his books much more readable to me.In this story, the two main characters are still together five years later and are about to be fathers through the help of an unfortunate runnaway from a Mennonite community.
The main drama in this book concerns their friend and his viruently homophobic yet gay boyfriend.
I won't give away the ending but I will say that I enjoyed it all the way through and I got a nice smile from the part where a person who had done nothing but harrass the two main characters in the first book seemed to regret that, this author didn't have them give a long speech, just a smile was enough.

Again, thank you for a splendid sequel. Their lives for the period of reading was my life and I thoroughly enjoyed being there. The compassion, forgiveness and understanding of all peoples no matter where they are in their lives came through brilliantly. Humanity is all of its forms shone brightly. Thank you.

We finally have the second installment to this promised series on Joel Reece and Tom Allen (Joel and Tom Allen-Reece rather.) As a big fan of Common Sons, I must say that I'm little disappointed with this installment. Somewhere in the forward to the book, the author expressed how he agonized over this one, and at the end having to scrap much of his work, start all over, and rush it into print. Well, unfortunately, some of that rushing really showed. The book is choppy, uneven, and in some places down right clunky. The prose just didn't flow.

There was not nearly enough written about Joel and Tom, and far too much of just about everybody else. We're re-introduced to the boys five year later. Well, how did they fare in those intervening five years. We are told they didn't exactly see eye to eye about having a baby, how did they resolve that? I think I would much prefer reading about how the two 'settle' into domesticity and all the mundane stuff one experience in married lives after the giddiness of new love wears off.

All in all, this was an ok book. It just didn't quite measure up to Common Sons. It makes me a little leery now of getting the third book in the series (published before this one, weird) the Salvation Mongers where I'm told right up front that it's not about Tom and Joel. Already, I'm disappointed about that.