Customer Reviews

Citrus County

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If Raymond Chandler wrote of a teenage anti-hero (instead of the middle-age Philip Marlowe), it might be Toby of "Citrus County." This is a small book that reads quickly -- the writing is not complex but the story is. The characters of Shelby and Toby are perfectly captured with all the teenage angst of not fitting in and of going where they can to fit in. While the novel is not exactly uplifting, it is a realistic tale of life in a Florida middle school and of the choices that Toby makes. "Citrus County" could be set anywhere with Shelby's single parent family and with Toby as a victim of child abuse. This is a book worth reading.

John Brandon is at it again with his 2nd novel "Citrus County". Brandon brings Citrus County to life around this story of adolescence, teen romance and true evil. It's as if Brandon dropped me off in the woods of Citrus County and sped off. I felt I was deserted there, left to observe, watching the lives of these folks intertwine for days over one shocking event. Impossible to put down, Citrus County keeps you guessing, throws in a few laughs and even makes you cringe. Another great novel from a true storyteller.

I expected hilarious (I didn't really do my homework for fear of spoilers, just read a posted excerpt of the opening and the word "McSweeney's") but got harrowing. So know this: By the end, the title feels more like "Chinatown" than "Margaritaville" -- infused with dread.

The whole journey becomes a major heart workout, with this agonizing stress growing out of what you're continuously not allowed to see. What we ARE allowed to see is exceptionally intelligent people, two adolescents and one charmingly stunted adult, dealing with their developing senses of self while hemmed in by hopelessness. Their dialogue is a joy to read, because it's a kind of fantasy version of what SHOULD be said in any given situation, if only, say, the damaged teen girl were stronger and smarter, the vulnerable outcast love interest were more blunt (and simultaneously mysterious, because his reality is so spare), or the hipster teacher were more truly reckless. Before long you'll feel an aching tenderness for each of the three main characters despite their mounting and consequential mistakes. That's because Brandon convinces you that they're all giving of themselves more than they think they can, even as they protect themselves in ways that make their flaws snowball.

So this almost feels like two books: what's happening (on the achy, comic surface) and what's HAPPENING (the evil you know of but, agonizingly, can barely glimpse). An edgy coming of age novel and a crime novel. For the most part, that's a successful, if maddening, pairing. Both sides of the book work and, though they clash tonally, they exist somehow in a kind of balance.

One or two things keep the book from working perfectly. The first is that the balance gets thrown off occasionally by an overreaching towards gratuitous comedy. Some very minor characters behave implausibly, presumably for comic relief. Actually, some unfunny stuff is implausible, too, but at least it's essential to the plot.

The second flaw is debatable. It's the lingering question, why do I want to put my brain here? On the one hand, creating such a difficult psychological space for the reader to inhabit is a sign of tremendous skill. You can't put the book down until you reach the end, hoping there's some light and fresh air there. Witnessing that kind of narrative talent is its own reward. Brandon definitely makes you squirm and ache; he makes your throat close up. On the other hand, he seems to inflict and sustain the brutality at the center of this work on us for the same reason as the protagonist does: no reason at all, except perhaps that it makes him stand out.

--G.D.

I'm actually giving a 3.5 star rating to this strange book , which impressed me as something of a "Catcher-in-the-Rye" type novel--but much more macabre and disturbing. It delves primarily into the lives and minds of troubled and eccentric teens and adults, most of whom are given a sympathetic treatment overall.

What marks the book as special, is that is is also suspenseful and epsiodically funny. The narrative flow remains very smooth, as it alternates between characters. It won't be for everyone, but it's well worth a look.

It seems from the rogues gallery featured here in the reviews section of this title that Mr. Brandon has collected his fair share of enemies already in his short time as author. One finds some of these reviews (and reviewers) so utterly pallid and malicious as to intimate some underlying personal vendetta, or even some professional jealousy. An RLT, in particular, finds it indeed necessary to go above and beyond any semblance of an attack on the book itself (the only legitimate gripe to be made regarding a single title) as to personally attack the character and integrity of the author himself. He writes, mockingly, of Mr. Brandons biographical note, "I am not part of your frigging elite. I worked in a Frito Lay warehouse and a Sysco warehouse while I wrote this book I was also unemployed during part of the time I wrote the book. While I revised it, my great talent was recognized when I had an important creative writing fellowship at an important university. But don't get it wrong. I am a regular fellow. My favorite recreational activity is watching college football, not reading or writing or anything egghead. I am an aggressively non-elite person. "

It seems Mr(s). RLT's biggest problem with the book is that Mr. Brandon has not lived a life of luxury, nor does he sweep his interest in "common" recreations under the rug and instead pander toward, well, to whatever higher order culture RLT ascribes. Are the concepts of literature and football so irreconcilable? This is asinine.

For most uninvolved readers of contemporary fiction, take all reviews (including this one) with a heavy dose of salt. We seem to have a genuine, old-fashioned case of a personal grudge at work. In fact, I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the book, and its predecessor (and equal if not better) debut novel, ARKANSAS, to see what some of this fuss is all about.

All that said, Mr. Brandon's voice is distinct and fascinating. The characters of Shelby and Mr. Hibma in particular come so alive as to seem people I have known somewhere in my past. In fact, had I any gripes about this novel, they would be that I would have liked to read more of those two characters.

One reviewer remarked upon the dearth of adult female characters (striking through, of course, those examples that weren't to the reviewer's taste). Have we reached the point of affirmative action even in fiction? Is there a quota of particular demographics necessary to creating an "acceptable" book?

Shame on the majority of these negative reviewers. To each his own according to his taste. But, most of these naysayers have made their reviews personal, largely devoid of any legitimate critiques of the book itself. They have embarrassed us all.

And, yes, I also love college football and have loaded fertilizer, built houses, and driven a truck to help pay my way through college. I suppose I am "aggressively non-elite."

Don't give up on this one!

When you start reading the first chapter of Citrus County you'll probably wonder why in the world you bought the book. I guarantee you'll find the descriptions of the Citrus County teenagers strange, eccentric, but oddly believable.

The story is certainly not normal, but it certainly is fantastic. I loved this book--the characters, the plot, and most especially the writing. Brandon knows his stuff. Read the whole thing and you'll understand.

I finished reading this book in just over a day after getting it from McSweeney's as a damaged copy for a few bucks, and came here looking to buy a "good" copy of the paperback to have because I liked it that much (and like the cover design!). Much of what people have said here, both good and bad, is true, more or less. It is not an uplifting read and will be disturbing to some. I felt that the two main characters seemed a bit older than their 13-14 years... but don't hold that against it. Is it a perfect novel? I suppose not, but I tell you what: It held me engaged and curious, and when I finished, I wanted to read more by the author (I have "Arkansas" on back order from McS's). I am no literary scholar, but I am a fairly critical reader and didn't notice any obvious mistakes as others have noted. I suppose that speaks to my own ignorance, then - I was not derailed by anything except the fact that it ended. For me, Brandon set a distinct tone with palpable sensations - taste, sight, smell, hearing (I loved that "humming of bees" line, for example, that someone else criticized). He placed me somewhere that I wouldn't ever want to visit. I don't know, I don't mind being uncomfortable, I guess.

Count me among those who would recommend this book. I'm looking forward to reading more by Brandon.

This book made me sad. Sad as manifested by feeling dispirited and apprehensive on awakening, then realizing that that which made me gloomy was the tragic lives of these star-crossed teenagers rather than any particular pending problem in my life. I can hardly down-rate a novel so disturbing but well-written that it penetrates my sub-conscious, but no way is this a 5-star lovefest. Very thought-provoking, but I wouldn't recommend it to those who, like me, take compelling fiction to heart.

When I first read about this book, in NYTimes Sunday Book Review cover article, I was extremely intrigued because the reviewer loved it but his article about why he did was a treatise about dark places in the mind, and their expression in literature. I didn't really have a clue about what the review really meant, but I knew I wanted to read this book. Then when I ordered it, there was a wait of more than a month because only one small edition was printed, and the demand was immediately overwhelming.

It was worth the wait. This is an unusual piece of writing. I really liked it alot, but it's hard to say exactly why. All the main characters are in dark places, psychologically........ yet have some refreshingly funny, insightful and at times profound observations about the world around them. There is a good crime story here, but the true journey is through the ruminations and mental struggles of the young teen-age boy and girl and their one friend in the world ----- a teacher who himself is an hallucinating oddball, but also lovable.

The writing style is unique--- it doesn't "flow"..... it jumps. And it captures an aspect of Central Florida, and maybe everyplace where young people are growing up with damaged pasts and no prospects for a better future.

This book will reach you, and make you think.

If Denis Johnson met Raymond Carver, hitched a ride, and were picked up by Huck's lunatic brother in a rusting Lincoln Town Car at 3:00 a.m. in redneck Florida----you'd have something approaching John Brandon's Citrus County. I haven't read anything this tart, funny, exhilarating, and sad since...well, since Johnson, Carver and Twain. It's really something. Honest.