Customer Reviews

Blurred Images

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

 

 

Here's a timely and compelling read. Dimond introduces us to Jeffrey Stevenson an accidental murderer and long-time fugitive who cuts a deal and heads home after 25 years on the run.
This book has one of the most realistic and poignant relationships between brothers I've ever read. Jeff's brother, dying from cancer and troubled by his own past mistakes demands time, music and love from his long-lost brother. The description of Danny's illness and the reactions of his family ring desperately true.
There's also a hilarious series of meetings with two PR professionals that could only be written by someone who's been there.
It's a great book to take along on that next long flight.

Having lived through the actual events in this book (I landed in Pittsburgh two days after the Kent State massacre after spending five years at the University of California, Berkeley, running to escape the frequent tear gas, which was dropped by helicopter), I want to commend the author for a gripping and enlightening story, which conveys more accuracy than many of the "memoirs" currently in the news.

This novel is entertaining, and more than entertaining; it works on several levels, as good fiction should. It's an engrossing read which starts out as something of a political suspense novel and then moves on to an equally engrossing family drama of a man trying to reconstruct his own life and his relationships after a long enforced absence. On the way, it touches on issues of politics, ethics, and their not so simple interaction with the dynamics of family and friendship. The characters are well drawn and the narrative keeps moving forward. A fine first novel.

I read this book in 4 fours during a cross-Atlantic flight, and enjoyed it immensely!

Arthur Dimond's rich homecoming tale has enough complexity to fill three books, but his choice to weave a narrower thread through it all is a good one, and makes the book a very meaningful but easy read. Instead of becoming mired in the many complexities or detailed examinations of the main character's past, his life on the road, and his family relationships, Dimond presents these as meaty background to lend perspective to the homecoming event itself. Much of the book is an examination of this event, and Dimond's realistic account allows the reader to experience it with much of the same emotion and difficulty as the main character does.

Dimond takes an intricate tale and tells it in a believable, easy to digest way, without losing the powerful themes of forgiveness and family that give this book its depth and strength.

Arthur Diamond has written a great book which explores the themes of "what if" and "wrong place, wrong time" that confronts so many ordinary people during the course of their lives. The nuances of his characters' relationships with each other slowly unfold right up until the books' inevitable ending. It's these characterizations that make me hope the author will write a sequel some day so we can see where the story goes from here.

Arthur Dimond has produced a book that is hard to put down. Authentic, intellgent, incisive and well-written, this fast-paced novel successfully conveys the way in which secrets and lies drive loved ones apart and ultimately draw them together.
A tortured musician, estranged from his brother and father by an impetuous act of violence, struggles to reassert his place in a world he fears has been lost to him forever. Highly recommended.

Art Dimond's book on the key character's life away from home and how he must integrate it after returning is similar to Anna Quindlen's One True Thing which I also enjoyed. The relationships are not expected and yet, probably, truer to life. I highly recommend this especially to those who experienced the 60's in the U.S.