Is a love story that happens once in a lifetime. It unveils the secrets of the world's major religions, explores the difference between cats and dogs, examines the conflict between government security and individual privacy, and colors a belle lettre portrait of America that includes powerful businessmen, exiled Ethiopians, and outlaw dope-smokers. It also unravels the problem of saving the world.
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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cymry is like Tom Robbins and John Irving combined...Fun with Depth.,
By
This review is from: Hope in a Nutshell (Hardcover)
Wit and wisdom explode from a precarious piñata of life/ death, ying/yang, good/evil, and despair/hope in Keith Cymry's novel HOPE IN A NUTSHELL. Hope, as the author neatly states, "is the golden thread from which the world swings like a pendulum hanging from the Kingdom of Heaven." The nutshell in the title? That is another matter altogether and as difficult to explain as the concept of hope.
Cymry has as much quirky "stuff" crammed between the covers of his book as Tom Robbins and John Irving do in "Jitterbug Perfume," and "World According to Garp," combined. Case in point? How about a mystical 2000-year-old walnut coated with Arizona gold, which serves as the tale's touchstone of hope as well as its center of conflict? Add the fact that the stolen medallion comes from the City of Forever, (somewhere out there), which allows the author to expertly knit together the natural and the supernatural. With a crazy cast of mismatched characters, from the hippie hero, Uriah Freestone, who travels blue highways of Arizona and "the badlands of gnawed skulls and scattered bones known as New Mexico," to a supernatural raven named Rocker, to an occasional Ethiopian as well as an ancient Navajo pal named Laughing Puma, the action is non-stop. And an added plus is a gem of a character, the ever-slimy Sheriff Joe Garbonzo. Garbonzo is a sweet morsel of satire offered up to Cymry's fellow Arizonians who have their own Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the troll of Maricopa County, as a dangerous irritant. As the humans who are able to save the world, Freestone and his beloved Mary Beth, nimbly straddle the universe of other humans and the universe of them, the gods (little "g"). (Both worlds are peopled by the sane and the insane.) In constant conflict with both the natural and unnatural worlds, Uriah and Mary Beth are tasked with ciphering clues found on the aforementioned ancient medallion encased in a golden walnut. Mary Beth has knowledge of nuts and bolts science/math while Uriah has mastery of the ancient Celtic language and all matters mystical. Their combined skills represent a symbolic blend of science and humanity. Can they solve the puzzle in the nutshell in order to save the world or might the world drift into nothingness on the proverbial Mayan doomsday of December 21, 2012? As with Arthurian legend (immeasurably updated and brushing on Pythonesque) getting to the end goal is the fun that makes the journey worth while for hero and reader alike. Parts of the journey are quirky and absurd, parts are dramatic and tense and parts are poignant and sniffley. In recap, to reach the end game of the story, the author weaves a tender love-story into a fantasy landscape while telling a taught suspense thriller at the same time. And he does it with language that flows in many, many instances with the best contemporary word-smithing this reviewer has come across in many a magical moon. To include all the remarkably turned phrases would cheat the author of one of the prime reasons to read his novel, but as enticement, a few one-liners are shared here: "Tequila will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no Tequila." "Are they trick questions? Do they move when someone tries to answer them?" "Those eyes could launch a thousand ships," he thought. "Or at least a thousand of his own tiny mariners upon some great odyssey." "In Las Cruces are still to be found those cheap sort of motels that once dotted the main thoroughfare of every small town in America. Nowadays the few that remain cluster in cities like rotting hope." Continuing to speak of seedy motels, Cymry refers to them tautly as "dilapidated remnants of America's greatest generation." So much for misguided jingoism. "Free beer was always the best beer, provided it wasn't 'Milwaukee's Best.'" And finally, to sum up some of the insanity our hero faces, the "narrator seeks to put an eye-of-newt up the arrogant nostril of a chained consumer society whose course will ultimately lead humanity to near certain bloody, chaotic rebellion, mass starvation, and the annihilation of civilization." Clearly the stakes are high. This novel is a quick read and, because it functions on so many levels, the experience of reading it will delight any thinking person.
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing read!,
By
This review is from: Hope in a Nutshell (Paperback)
The imagery and description in this book make it an interesting and intriguing descent into a world that both fascinates and compels the reader to move forward. I was unable to put "Hope in a Nutshell" down; once I read the first page, I was hooked. The author clearly has an understanding of the many elements he explores in this book, and I look forward to his next literary offering with eagerness and anticipation!
43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Modern Parable,
By
This review is from: Hope in a Nutshell (Hardcover)
After reading the last page of this original and inspiring debut novel, it became a difficult task to categorize the story as it crosses many genres. In many respects the novel is an extended allegory about society with its growing justified oppression, superficial values and, perhaps most importantly, our diminishing freedoms. This may sound a bit heavy or even pretentious, but this novel is far from taking itself seriously, as it addresses current issues with a wry smile, a playful irony and a tone that is thoroughly appropriate for our world that is growing more and more absurd.
There is a legion of extraordinary and bizarre characters in this tale including biblical gods, mythical creatures, native Indian shamans, fascist cops, pot-smoking left-wing liberals, greedy right wing capitalists, a ruthless CNN reporter, patriotic CIA and FBI agents, a beautiful idealistic girl, Mary Beth, who delivers cars across the country, and has a pet ocelot, Michelob, who opens doors and can write his own name; and of course the leading man, the hero of the tale, Stoney, an educated philosophical vagabond, whose companion is Rocker, a extremely intelligent crow or raven that follows Stoney across the country like a pet collie. Surprisingly, none of these characters are incidental, but all play an important role in the story, including the author, who calls himself the "interrupting narrator." In fact the novel harkens back to the ancient Homeric tales of jealous and mischievous gods playing havoc with us self-absorbed mortals, unaware that our fate is in the hands of beings who move us around like mere chess pieces, betting on the outcome of the game on earth and our lives. Generally the story is concerned with the actions of Mary Beth and Stoney, whose fates' are thrown together after the gods decide to make a wager. Secret knowledge in the form of a relic is given to Mary Beth, and what she does with this knowledge will determine her fate. After a near fatal car accident, (fleeing from her rich and greedy boyfriend, who wants the relic) Mary Beth falls into a coma for 18 years, where our philosophical hero, Stoney, manages to later obtain the relic, and uses the knowledge it imparts to build an energy source that can supply the entire planet for little cost, making fossil fuels obsolete. The elites and government, of course, cannot tolerate this for the obvious reasons, thus the authorities, in typical fashion, label Stoney a terrorist and the energy source a weapon of mass destruction, threatening the free world. The author's writing is unique, a new and confident voice, as the prose style is lyrical, strewn with spiritual metaphors and philosophical insight, a dead on the mark critique of modern society, rendered with humour and the right amount of satire - one can arguably call this novel a spiritual parable for the modern age. I found Hope in a Nut shell to be entertaining and informative and extremely astute concerning the many issues it raises: environment, civil liberties, our dwindling rights, religion vs. spirituality, human nature, greed and our media as a mere mouthpiece for government propaganda. In the end, however, as the title implies, the story is about hope, a genuine desire for a better world. Highly recommended.
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