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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome to the real world.,
By
This review is from: Mystery Ride (Paperback)
This author has an ear; he sets down the words of Iowa farm folk with pitch-perfect accuracy. Set in both California and Iowa, Mystery Ride tracks the lives of a divorced couple, their daughter, friends, neighbors, and new families. The portrait of Dulcie, a teen as disturbing as she is disturbed, is especially wrenching. The author absolutely refuses to pretty her up. You have to love her, anyway. The opening passage of this book comes close to literary perfection. I read it, I sighed, and I reread it. The writing is luminous. The plot moves swiftly while remaining mercifully free of gimmicks. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a thoughtful, humorous, realistic novel.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An overlooked gem,
By OmnivorousReader (Chelsea, MI United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mystery Ride (Paperback)
Robert Boswell's work has been uneven, but in this novel he pulls everything together. The blazing romance and failed marriage of Stephen and Angela is one of the subtlest and most insightful portraits of real love in modern literature. Dulcie, their daughter, is an unforgettable holy terror who brings out the worst in everyone around her and very nearly steals the show. Boswell never takes the obvious road in this story--Dulcie makes sure that everything will go awry at one point or another. But her savage humor and flair for anarchy, brilliant as they are, only serve to highlight what may be Boswell's greatest feat: his portrayal, in Stephen, of a truly contented man. Happiness is a hard thing to write about, but Boswell does it and still keeps you turning the pages. Tremendous stuff.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The ambiguities of marriage, love and family,
By Rick Hunter (Malone, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mystery Ride (Paperback)
The "Mystery Ride" in Robert Boswell's 1992 novel of that name is marriage, or perhaps life itself. Angela and Stephen were married young, had a daughter, Dulcie, then divorced. Each remarried, and spends much of this novel examining whether they made the right choices, and realizing that what's past is prologue. Stephen remains on his farm in Iowa, where he struggles with the business and regrets. Angela, who has custody of Dulcie, moves to California, where she marries a husband whom she realizes is adulterous, but whom she still loves dearly. Dulcie, as a teenager, is hopelessly screwed up, and her parents hope that some time on dad's farm might help matters. Above all else, this is a very good story about people we can't help but care about. A very good book.
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