Customer Reviews

Ride This Day Down Into Night

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The way I see it, "Ride This Day Down Into Night" has all the elements that make up a good story: Sex, murder, love, family, small towns, social classes, moral gray areas, and lobster bisque. If you are not intrigued by any or all of these, I suggest you turn back now. If you are, brace yourself for a very, very good read.

"Ride This Day Down Into Night" is told from the perspective of (relatively) young teacher Tim Rich, and set against the backdrop of a once-rural community by the name of Califon, which is a real place, and which apparently has a much more interesting history than this reviewer ever gave it credit for. Right off the bat we are treated to a very interesting account of the town's origins, and how it came to be what it is today. And in the center of it is Tim Rich: poor, poor Tim Rich. Hapless high-school teacher, happily (?) married, expecting a child, who all of a sudden finds himself tangled up with a troubled highschool student from the other side of the tracks, and caught up in a whole heap of dysfunctional and morally complicated trouble.

This is a really interesting story in terms of how it plays around with ones preconceived ideas about morality. If you go in with very clear ideas about right and wrong (as I have), you might quickly find yourself re-examining them in terms of the events of the novel (as I did). I started out more or less thinking "Why am I reading this. These are all terrible people" -- but by the halfway mark, as I began to understand these characters and their motivations, it started to become a lot less simple than I had originally thought. Shade upon shade of gray, layer upon layer of moral ambiguity, and by the end I realized I had begun cheering these characters on in some genuinely backwards behavior. I had actually gone so far as to sympathize with a murderer, and genuinely see where the perpetrator was coming from -- and I may have even uttered the words "Good riddance" or even "...well, he needed killin." Whoops! Well-played, Gerald Lee Dodge.

Stylistically, there is very little to complain about here. I will say that the prose is a *bit* choppy right off the bat, and the first section of the book is in dire and unyielding need of an editor. It is definitely worth it to ignore this and continue reading, however. The author hits his stride right right around part two of the novel, and it just keeps getting better from there. The language keeps elevating, and the prose gets smoother and more poetic and more beautiful, culminating in a few choice scenes that were so well written that they actually gave this reviewer goose-bumps. And it takes a *lot* to give this reviewer goose-bumps. Ever heard of "Prose-shivers?" Probably not, because I coined the phrase -- but they are rare, and they are here, and you really just need to see for yourself.

Overall this is a very smart, complicated, well written little piece of fiction that drags a bit at the start, but that is definitely worth the read. And at its current ridiculous low price, you would absolutely be cheating yourself if you were to pass it up.

This tale is rich in realistic dialogue and in its spare use of language to describe profound experience. The basic story of forbidden love is seen from the often naive eyes of the male teacher for his student. No sympathy is gratuitously given to any of the characters. All make clear choices. What makes this book so compelling is the depth of understanding in why people choose to take a path that is almost certain to lead to the ruin of everything they hold most dear. Although there is confession and forgiveness of a sort, there is no real redemption. This is what makes it rise above what might otherwise have been a soap opera of murder, forbidden love, and the acceptance of the inevitable loss that comes with maturity.

Plot/Storyline: 2 Stars

This book is an echo of a modern day Lolita with an older, but still enticing young lady, Olivia Buford, and a younger, but still too old, teacher/protagonist, Tim Rich. With a murder to draw the two together, and rip them apart, it offers a plot rich with intrigue.

The storyline follows Tim as he battles with a dead marriage and subsequent affair with his student, Olivia, whose father is accused of murder. The murder, while seemingly at the center of the novel, is really handled more as a side plot.

Unfortunately, the storyline meanders into the mundane too often for total immersion into the story. Long pages of flashbacks interrupt interesting dialogue. Town history is pounded into the reader to the point of extreme boredom. There were even several paragraphs devoted to explaining why Tim does not follow college football; this was added because he happened to turn on the television and a football game was on.

The book has an extremely slow start prior to even introducing the main characters, which almost caused me to put it down before I even started. While I understood the need for some context, I felt this could have been accomplished more within the storyline.

The author spends too much time trying to justify Tim's actions, even though most will agree that there is really no justification for breaking the student/teacher trust. Tim never really comes to understand that his actions were wrong, defending himself to the bitter end.

When Tim meets someone new and decides to tell his tale of woe, the reader must sift through pages and pages of his retelling everything. The author could easily have skipped this with a simple summation.

About half of this novel should have been edited out. With the half left, the storyline would have been intact, concise, and much more enjoyable. As it was, I had to force myself to read through many passages with my finger itching to hit the "Next Page" button to get on with the story.

Character Development: 3 Stars

Tim was a somewhat sympathetic character in the beginning. You can feel his pain with the problems in his marriage. However, as the story progressed, he showed no real growth. He came across as being far more emotionally troubled than even Olivia. He professes his undying love throughout, yet sees nothing wrong with a meaningless `fling' or falling in love with someone else.

Olivia is an extremely sympathetic character. She is portrayed not as a nymphette, but a smart, young woman in bad circumstances. She is definitely my favorite character in the novel as she continues to grow even though shown only through the eyes of Tim.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

The writing style of Mr. Dodge is excellent. His sentence structuring, beautiful descriptions, and tact in handling the sex scenes show true talent.

The dialogue was very character oriented. I especially enjoyed the pieces from Olivia. Her colloquial speech added a certain flair to the work.

Editing/Formatting: 5 Stars

Both were of professional quality.

Rating: R for somewhat Graphic Sex, Language, and Adult Situations

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Gerald Dodge draws from his many and varied personal experiences in small town America to create a background for his favorite genre. With a compelling story and a quick pace, this book is positively one of the best I've read.

Gerald Lee Dodge creates in "Ride this Day.." a vivid canvas of the human experience, centered in a small, quaint, American town. The novel is adult in nature because maturity is needed for the reader to become immersed in the complex storyline. Mr. Dodge tells a powerful, ultimately affecting tale of passion, loss and consequences...themes that affect our lives. His firm grasp of setting, his understanding of human vulnerability and his sense of drama all combine to make this a compelling read.

Though the student-teacher affair plot line could easily become trite in the hands of a lesser writer, this story is certainly a compelling read. Each character is intricately crafted to the point where they cease to be characters at all, but flesh and blood human beings whose fates are of pressing concern. Olivia Buford's characterization is handled especially well. She is not simply a one-dimensional object of obsession, but a truly sympathetic and charming woman who elicits genuine compassion not only from her lover, Tim Rich, but from the reader. Morality is shown not to be a matter of obvious motivations on the side of good or evil, but a thin line that can be, even should be, shifted or erased.

This is a good book that will keep you entertained throughout the entire read. It's an interesting story, and the characters seem like they could be people you know, or perhaps are people that make up your own community. The main character is a man that has a seemingly good life, and a series of events that start out innocently enough (homeschooling a student) completely change his world. Events and issues that come up amongst the characters are issues many of us face in our own lives, and it makes the people in the story that much easier to relate to. For those who have never had to deal with ethical or moral issues that arise in this book, you will get a feel for what the characters are going through due to the detail the author uses to describe such events. There are a few editing errors throughout the story, but they can be overlooked due to the intrigue of the story.

This novel is absolutely sumptuous and brilliant. The characters are so carefully drawn, and the story is seductive and compelling because it never postures any one ideology or pedantic truism as 'gospel' truth. It's quiet and original, and yet the salient themes consist of the most provoking, timeless thoughts which people of every generation have. I don't think it will take long for you to see the value, merit, and potential in Ride This Day Down into Night, and I don't think it will take long to make its way through to the top of Kindle's list. A beautifully crafted tale.