Customer Reviews

A Flamboyant Disarray Of Dreams

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Once I read the final pages of this novel, I considered myself extremely fortunate to have had the honor of reading a modern day masterpiece. Joy Lee Rutter should be highly commended for her work. She has successfully weaved a love story, a story of self-evaluation and a story of discovery into one novel. It is a very difficult feat that she authored rather marvelously.

The main four characters of the story are Joleen Cumberland, Geoff (with-a-G) Stevens, his brain injured brother, Mitch and Mitch's roommate at River Edge, Alex Williams. Joleen starts the story off wondering where life is taking her after seven years of witnessing the unthinkable at the neuro-rehabilitation facility where she works. Torn between pursuing her author ambitions and the unexplainable urge to return each day for another episode of punishment, she sees life passing her by and her accomplishments being constantly put off until tomorrow. At the neuro-rehabilitation facility, there is an array of people staying there that she must care for, including Alex who seems to be lovable, yet unpredictable at the same time. Her co-workers sometime seem to appear to belong with the inpatients rather than working with her.

One day a new patient arrives by the name of Mitch. He was an author that suffered an accident that renders him speechless and with a huge memory loss. Alex is assigned to be his roommate. While everyone else marks Mitch off as just another patient, Joleen senses that he is more coherent than he leads on to be and, through sometimes trying circumstances, she helps to push him on the road to recovery, falling in love with his brother along the way.

The twists that the tale takes are incredible and entice the reader to read on with anticipation as we are privilege to watch from the pages a very well told story. Spiced with humor, sprinkled with emotion and overflowing with intrigue, this is a story that is a must read for every avid reader.

After reading the first few pages of Joy Lee Rutter's novel, A Flamboyant Disarray of Dreams, I realized it was well written and that the author knew her subject well. I did wonder how she was able to write a full-length book that would keep the reader's interest, when the subject was a neuro-rehabilitation center, its staff and patients. Still, the author managed to paint an intriguing description of her protagonist, Joleen Cumberland, that made me want to continue. This wild-haired, burnt-out, would-be writer, who wore unmated socks like a badge, came to life under the skilled pen (or in this case word processor keys) of the author. And I was hooked.

Rutter goes on to introduce her other characters, one by one. These are not one-dimensional people. There's Brad, Joleen's coworker, who seems ill placed in his vocation of working with brain-damaged individuals. And the patients, themselves, Alex, a young man full of rage, who coddles a violin like a child clutching his security blanket; Mitch, a talented author, who suffered brain-damage from a drunken fall; and his overly-protective brother, Geoff, who is stiff and authoritarian, but who eventually shows his softer side.

Rutter weaves these and her other characters into a tapestry that had me captivated long before the first chapter ended. As the characters dance around each other, they are slowly drawn together in stunning and beautiful ways that made me smile long after I'd finished the last page. I eagerly await a sequel to this work by a truly gifted author.

This is the second book by Joy Lee Rutter that I have read.
"A Disturbing Pesence" was her first book and it was great and made me want to read another book that she had written. Both of her books are great and I will certainly recommend them both. I have read many books by many authors and this author is one fine author. You will find her books interesting and books that you will not want to put down until you have finished them. "A Flamboyant Disarray of Dreams" is a book that I will keep in my library as it is a very good book.

I started reading this book in school and i thought it was a little slow but then Bing Bang Boom!!! You just cant put it down!!! Your drawn in to the story by Protagonist. She is a real person and doesnt mask her feeling. You can realy relate to her.