Customer Reviews

Reap

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This was a very good debut. It reminded me at timesofTwain, and at other times of Lewis Nordan. Sad and tragic, yet funny in a dry way. The cast of characters range from the depraved to the endearing.Some of the peripheral charcters were my favorite. The setting was beautiful. I could see and feel this novel. I would recommend it.

This is an excellent story of a young man growing up the hard way in a dead-end logging town in northeastern Vermont. The book captures the desolation of the surroundings, and I appreciated the genuineness of the characters. Reg Cumber, the pot-smoking, ne'er-do-well race car driver is a character you are unlikely to ever forget! Highly recommended reading.

I agree with the TIMES and KIRKUS. The characters apparently have no inner lives, and their thoughts are cliched and trite. The author does reference long-lost fathers in an attempt to provide some complexity to the characters, but unfortunately, this fails to give them true and honest depth--depth that would give the book's action much-needed resonance. The dense descriptions and long-winded prose dilutes the dramatic tension. Several minor characters could've been cut (especially since the author felt compelled to change pov for almost every scene) which would've enabled the author to create more fully realized major characters and ultimately provide a stronger foundation for the overly plotted action. I truly looked forward to reading this book, but came away disappointed. REAP is uneven and doesn't showcase the writer's talents. Although his descriptions are lovely at points, they don't make up for a severe lack of characterization.

The first thing I thought when I got done this novel was that I wished I'd not found it until summer! It would be a great book to read in the safe warm daylight. Dark and humorous and brooding and exciting! A character driven thriller/noir of sorts, with a splash of old time anti-hero in the way of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. The carnival scenes reek of summer adventure and danger. Get it for summer and read it in the sun so it doesn't keep you awake too much!

Most of the reviews here, though very positive, seem to emphasize the darker and violent side to this book. But what struck me is that it also is very touching and poignant and FUNNY in places. Some scenes had me laughing one moment than nearly crying the next. REAP is a marvel of emotions and suspense. And I agree, very well written.

Reap is one of those books you'll finish in a hurry! It starts with a slow, almost elegiac pace as the two main characters move towards their first encounter. But once they meet and their worlds become inextricably drawn together, you won't be able to put this book down. (With more than half of it left, I had to finish it in one night.)

Rickstad's descriptions of his characters and the environment in which they live -- both beautiful and yet somehow dark and threatening -- are vivid and wonderfully evocative. His plumbing of their inner workings creates sympathy and interest in folks that one would ordinarily not give much thought to.

This is a wonderful first novel! Buy it!

Rickstad has a good grasp of some of the gritty realities and characters that can exist in rural Vermont and a flair for bringing them to life. Further, knowing the Lamoille County area myself (having grown up in Vermont with ties to that area), - I have to complement Rickstrad - I could see and smell Vermont in its reality and hear the words of real people. He's a gifted story teller and I look forward to his future works.