Customer Reviews

Small Town Odds

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of those books you just can't put down. I was taken back to my small hometown and loved the images that the book brought to life. This all too often fact is that those high school heroes have a difficult time transitioning into "real life", what ever that is. Look out Pat Conroy, Jason Headley has left his mark and I'm anxiously awaiting ro learn more of "Eric's" life with Tess.

Twenty-four-year-old Eric Mercer is a good guy, but he copes with the disappointments of a life that hasn't quite gone according to plan by drinking too much. Weekdays find him working two jobs--assisting alternately at a bar and a funeral home--and sharing in the task of raising his five-year-old daughter, who lives full-time with her mother. Weekends he is more often than not drunk and belligerent to the point of exciting police attention. Jason Headley's debut novel follows Eric's life in the present, a chapter a day, through one unusually eventful week, from a Sunday morning hangover endured in the local jail to the following Saturday, when everything--and nothing--has changed. The seven chapters devoted to Eric's present are interspersed with chapters detailing slices from his past: his liberation of a Playboy Magazine from someone's stolen stash when he was twelve; the big game against his town's arch-rivals that Eric won more or less single-handedly during his senior year; the birth of his daughter. Gradually the pieces of Eric's life, related out of sequence, recombine to explain the mystery of his character: how a top student, a hero on the gridiron, a man whose innate goodness is plain to see--despite the darker side that reveals itself when he drinks--how such a man came only seven years after his high school triumphs to be squandering his life in a kind of hopeless holding pattern.

Jason Headley's Small Town Odds is an elegant, gorgeously written novel. And it is well plotted, the various elements of Eric's quiet drama lining up as they are meant to and leading inevitably to the book's denouement, but not in such a way that one notices mid-read what the author is doing. Only afterward does one appreciate the story's structure, how a funeral and a football game and the baggage of Eric's past lead finally to resolution. Like Richard Russo, the Pulitzer-winning author of Empire Falls with whom he has been compared, Headley offers readers a charming exploration of life in small-town America, where the cast of characters tends to remain unchanged, and people bump into one another's lives at various points, passing time together and sharing histories and resentments: the sort of aging that makes for complex relationships. And like Richard Russo, Headley is able to create from these elements some very fine fiction indeed.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Live in Ancient Greece

Despite having grown up in San Diego, I found myself relating to Eric, the protagonist, from page one. If you have ever wondered about the "one that got away"...or if you are that "one"...if you've ever faced a reunion that filled you with dread...if the plans you made for your life in high school are vastly different from the life you now lead...if you've ever sacrificed your dreams...or if you just enjoy an funny, warm, insightful book that leaves you wanting more and sad when it's over, then this is the novel for you. "Small Town Odds" is set in Virginia, but the life experiences portrayed (and very humorously so) are easily translatable no matter where you come from. Told in chapters that alternate from Eric's childhood to present-day adulthood, the bittersweet transitions of his life are both heartbreaking and, strangely, somewhat inspiring.

I've long felt that the highest praise you can pay a book is to not only recommend it to friend, but also purchase an additional copy as a gift. I've done both and I hope other readers will as well. In a time when only tired thrillers and sappy novels about dating seem to get read, it's refreshing to find a book of this caliber and one so deserving of an audience.

This sweet, well structured novel has a likeable loser at its heart. It smoothly flows between the present week before homecoming and the past decade, while not being a slave to the format. The portrayal of small town life --its limitations and its community is fantastic. Great dialogue and characters. Often and with good reason compared to the novels of Richard Russo.

This outstanding book reminds me of so many stories I have heard oh so many times before. Never once have I seen them put to paper, but have seen them lived-out by the people with whom I grew up, and have experienced/enjoyed/barely survived some of them myself. I was raised in the wonderful state of WEST(not -ern) Virginia just up the road from where the talented Mr. Headly grew up, which made it enjoyable to picture the fictional Eric Mercer living his life in Pinely, WEST Virginia.
This is such a wonderful book, that should be acclaimed by many and read by all who want a true picture of what life as a young person growing up in West Virginia is, not the same old story of "grow up and live in the mines" that it seems like everyone wants to write about West Virginia. Every detail of small-town life has been accounted for, all the way from the only real roads out of West Virginia (an education or football) to the rituals of twelve-year old boys sneaking dirty magazines through the woods and arguing over who is the hottest girl they know (oh the memories).
The storytelling is wonderful, blending together Eric's past and present seamlessly. I could not put this book down, and can't wait to read the next book by this young, talented author. I can't say enough good things about this book - a must read for anyone who has grown up in a small town like Pinely, WEST Virginia (yes, it's a whole state, not a portion of another, inferior one).

Being a child of a small town, I could appreciate the position in which Eric finds himself in this book. This is a great read...I couldn't put it down. The author hits his mark immediately and doesn't lose it throughout the book. The only thing missing is that the story doesn't necessarily flow really well.

Jason Headley has written a wonderful debut novel about one young man's struggle to come to terms with the way his life has turned out so far. It is a very enjoyable read that will have you nodding with recognition and cringing with sympathy for Eric as he makes his way through this one very important week in his life. A great book from a very talented new voice in fiction......I'm eager for his next one!!!

I knew nothing about this book when I first heard about it. My English teacher had gone to school with Jason Headley and said he'd be home in April and would like to speak with kids that read it. Since I love to read, I decided to go ahead and give it a try, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. It turns out that this is a really GREAT book! I loved it, totally couldn't put it down! I loved how Jason described the Ohio Valley, I knew the places he was talking about & I thought that was really neat!

This book is a great read about small town life, lost love, and changes life brings to the plans you've made for yourself. I would definately recommend this book to anyone!

I read Small Town Odds while at the beach on vacation, unfortunately while setting in a chair in the sun. I was so engrossed in the story that I ended up burning myself, staying out far too long. I just could not put the book down. It is a story that flows easily from one chapter to the next, always engaging, and filled with the charm of the small town in which it is set. The characters are rich, not just sketches, but well developed with a humor that makes you want to meet them in person. Fantastic job! Worth the tan.

This is an engrossing story of the plight of a young man in a small town coming to terms with the way his life has unfolded. Dreams are dashed and hope is found in unexpected circumstances. I got into the story so much, I almost missed my train stop, which would have been bad, but it made my one and a half hour commute seem much shorter, which is good. I look forward to more titles by the talented Mr. Headley.