Customer Reviews

Ransom Seaborn

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I went to see Bill Deasy's band the day Ransom Seaborn was released. First thing I did was to buy a copy. Bill signed it and as he handed it to me he said he wanted a review. As I walked away I thought, "What if I don't like it? What if it isn't any good? What do say then?"

By the time the crowd arrived for the show I was through 30 pages. I stopped reading it only to talk to friends and to listen to the band. I couldn't wait to get home and read more and cursed the fireworks display that closed the exits and the police who made me turn off my lights. When I got home I continued to read. I woke up with it laying on my chest, picked up where I left off and stopped reading only long enough to make coffee. That should answer the first question.

There's a passage early in Ransom Seaborn where a professor asks his lit class. "What is good writing?" He offers no answer but reads an example. Let me try to answer. To me good writing whether it be poetry, prose, song, or theater draws its reader, listener or viewer into another world. The people, places, sights, smells and sounds are clear in the minds eye. Ransom Seaborn does just that. The characters are real I now know them all, I've been to Harrison College and Pembrook.

I won't give any plot details, that would spoil it for you. It can most easily be described as a coming of age tale. As with all good writing it plays with your emotions. I found myself with tears in my eyes but breaking out in a laugh before the tear could fall over the course of a few paragraphs.

The difference between good writing and great writing is the test of time. If there is any literary justice in this world 20 years from now a young author will write a coming of age tale about a loner whose backpack contains a copy of Catcher in the Rye and Ransom Seaborn.

Yeah I liked and it is that good.

What I liked most about the book is that as soon as I finished it I came to the realization that I would have liked it even if I had never heard of Bill Deasy before opening the cover. It's a captivating story, told in a generous, thoughtful & thought provoking manner. At times playful, at times breathtaking, at times disturbing, and not for a moment disappointing.

As a faithful fan of Bill Deasy's musical career, I had the bar raised high as I prepared to read Ransom Seaborn. At first I thought, he wrote a book? After listening to his songs/lyrics for 10 years+, it makes complete sense that he would be a successful author. Once again, he does not disappoint. He writes from his soul and you truly feel as if you "know" Finbar and Maggie. You can picture the setting and feel the emotions. You can't put it down, but you want to save it for later. It's like a delicious dessert that you eat slowly, savoring every morsel.

Ransom Seaborn is a brilliantly crafted novel about life and death, love, madness and ultimately, the gift of seeing through. In reading this, it's hard to believe this is Bill Deasy's first effort at writing a novel! I highly recommend this beautiful work and can't wait for the next one!

You know how sometimes you have a music CD and play it through to the end, and then purposely let it start over at the beginning again? You even look forward to the first song, which seems to flow perfectly from the last song? You never seem to be able to take it out of the CD player because it continues to make that wonderful "loop" back around and you are hooked, over and over? Well, that's how this book will make you feel at the end. You will want to go right back to the beginning again to start over, to read what you missed the first time through.

Ransom Seaborn is a must read. I could not stop reading the book. Bill Deasy has a way of bringing the characters to life, as well as, making the reader feel the emotions of these characters. Bill Deasy is a talented singer/songwriter, who has also become a talented, new author. I highly recommend this book. If you like J.D. Salinger, you will enjoy this book.

I read Ransom Seaborn back in August and immediately wanted to write a "5-star" reveiw...I made several attempts and failed. Anything I wrote did not do the book justice. It is now December and I have finally found the words that accurately express my feelings about Bill Deasy's Ransom Seaborn. However, they are not my words, but J.D. Salinger's. Holden Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye says: "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author was a friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though." A huge "Thank you" to Bill Deasy for writing this incredible novel. I have gifted it and recommended it to many.

I loved this book. It beautifully captures that time in a young person's life when first love can grab you so hard that you ache all over; when everything--or nothing--can be drenched in meaning; when a book or a song can change your life. Bill's writing, like his music, gives you a heightened sense of the world around you. This is the type of book you buy for all your friends and family.

UPS delivered my copy of Ransom Seaborn as I was in the middle of a "real" dinner preparation... and I compulsively read snippets while making the veggies, boiling the potatoes, mashing them, setting the table, etc. I did NOT bring the book to the table to read while eating with my family, however I did refuse to clean up afterwards and DID spend the majority of the evening reading it from front to back.

Yes, I finished it already and had trouble pacing myself as I just couldn't wait to read the next line.... It was worth every disgusted look my family gave me as I roamed from room to room in my home looking for solitude and some quiet in order to relish every word.

This book is truly a "keeper".....

I read a draft of this book more than five years ago and thought it was excellent. The college in the book was a little too close to home in terms of where Deasy and I went to school, but the characters were incredible. That's a Deasy strongpoint, though, if you are at all familiar with his songwriting.

I've ordered my copy and am looking forward to seeing how this published version has changed from the original. Can't wait to meet Finn again.