5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, February 29, 2000
Finally! A writer in his/her 30s who can write a novel, a real novel, in 3rd person... I was beginning to think that the only thing a Gen X (Gen Y?) writer could muster for material was old televison scripts and first person angst ridden self referential pablum about how mean their yuppie parents were to them by buying them a used car for high school graduation instead of a new one, or how cruel their hunter boyfriends are, all while product name dropping more than Ann Beattie in the mid eighties.... For a real read, with in your face edgy dialogue great outdoor and inner landscapes, and characters with actual LIVES, though sometimes violent and grim ones, this book does it. The author is a smart enough to get out of the way of his novel, for the betterment of it. Refreshing. Read it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the picture postcard version of Vermont., May 18, 2000
I was going to stick with 4 stars but I believe it was my own "Vermont" that generated that feeling. This is an exceptional young writer who I look forward to reading again.
"The boy ran a hand over a buzz cut that looked like a skim of mold covering his skull".
Great metaphor! Also indicative of the work. An accurate description, but an uncomfortable, queasy, description. Mr. Rickstad makes dozens of acute observations about people and their thoughts, often unpleasant, but very real, and very well written.
Another reader at Amazon suggested this book, I would thank the person by name but I didn't get permission, so I will just say thanks "AA".
There is not much of Vermont I have not been to, the State also happens to be my favorite place to spend time. Mr. Rickstad clearly knows his material, from geography, to speech patterns, to the dirt racetracks hidden amongst the Mountains of the Green Mountain State.
What was particularly well done was the County Fair. I have been to a few in that state, and the Author clearly has spent his time there as well. I did not find the humor that others said they read. I found the book to be as dark as the dirt logging roads along which much of the great dialogue between characters takes place. Or perhaps as dark as Reg or his home-painted black Camino.
There is an enormous story told in a relatively short 284 pages. The book is an extremely abrupt corruption/coming of age experience for one young man, and the stories and often-personal tragedy of a host of other people that are hard to like, but you feel for them as the book progresses.
There was a detail that I did not see in the other reviews that I thought was a brilliant bit of irony. Now I may have misread it, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for other readers. However if I understood the detail correctly it was brilliant.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Trainspotting for Rural America!, April 20, 2000
Despite the language being significantly different than that of Trainspotting, (Trainspotting being very phonetic) and the landscape being rural America, REAP still reminded me of the Brit book in its great depth of character and its knowledge of the seedy side of a drug culture (in REAP it's marijuana). It's a romp of a story, the characters are recognizable to anyone who grew up in smalltown USA, whether in the south or northe, or anywhere. At the same time, they are separate from us, their lives desperate and circumstances unforgiving. This book IS violent, and dark, and (I thought) frightening, but it is also compelling. It makes you look, despite not wanting to! It's a beautiful sad first novel.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
