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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
There's nothing I would NOT read by Karen Siplin!, May 30, 2008
This review is from: Whiskey Road: A Love Story (Paperback)
Pros: I love Karen Siplin's novels. She always makes me reevaluate my own perceptions of people, be it from race, culture, or background. She has a reputation for writing about interracial relationships, and I like it because I don't come across too many African American fiction authors who delve into this topic. Nowadays it's also hard to find an African American fiction author who presents a love scene without it turning into pornography without the pictures, and I respect her SO much for doing that. Readers get a flirting session of the sex scenes but not all the graphic details. The dialogue is always realistic, and her descriptions are so dead on that I feel like I might bump into one of her characters while I'm reading. I looked at every single white guy I saw on a motorcyle to see if he could be Caleb if this was a movie. Nobody looked cool enough to be this dude though. That's what I love about her male characters. They are the epitome of cool. Even the metrosexual characters seem like a woman should fall to her feet. Karen knows how to make a reader love the men in her books, and I love to love 'em! This novel is about a Black woman who gets into a fight on a trip riding her motorcyle from L.A. to the East Coast, but along the way, she meets a black eye, a wounded ankle, and a man who makes her ponder where her real traveling expedition should be. Caleb, the man she meets, has been content in his small town with the country lifestyle he leads up until she comes around. Both start taking a hard look at their lifestyle, hometowns, and future while trying to stay out of trouble from family and friends who make their lives even more colorful. This was a fast-paced read, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Off the top of my head, Siplin is the ONLY author that I enjoy enough to reread her books, which I usually do to see if there was something I missed. Cons: When I think of Brooklyn, I think more Jay-Z than I do the Huxtables (Cosby Show), but it seemed like Jimi was not really a city girl. Caleb kept saying she was, but she kept doing strange things like believing she can go around the country on a motorcyle without dealing with "backwoods" attitudes or having to worry about her safety. I wouldn't ride a motorcyle all over Chicago, never mind going to another state. But judging from her family owning property in different places and her It-was-mine attitude, I got the impression that she was a well-to-do city instead of an around-the-way girl the way I thought she was at the beginning. Siplin summed it up best when she said, "[Jimi] can acknowledge and regret her mistakes, but her mistakes are a product of bad choices, not from being a victim of circumstance." That is actually a good summary to understand elitism. I highlighted it in the book when I read it. As for the Publishers Weekly review, I don't understand how the characters were deeply stereotypical. The Black woman was the one with no street smarts, riding a motorcycle, fighting men with her bare fists, and had elitist relatives while the white guy was very down to earth, a whole lotta thug, and his relatives were a colorful bunch with a brother fresh out of jail. In my opinion, Siplin went AWAY from the usual stereotypes.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Same, Differences?, December 2, 2008
This review is from: Whiskey Road: A Love Story (Paperback)
Whiskey Road by Karen Siplin is a complicated love story about how opposites can attract. Also, it explores how similar people can be inside, though they are from different places. Jimi Hamilton has been one of the most sought after celebrity photographers for years. She earns well for her photos and loves the rush that comes from pursuing her subjects. She also loves the highbrow world in which she lives. However, one job causes her to reassess what she is doing and to take off for a different life. On her journey she is brought down by a violent attack that forces her to at first, pursue her attacker and then to flee from him. Her running leads her to Frenchman's Bend and into the life of Caleb Atwood. Caleb Atwood is a local man with a small contracting firm. Caleb has spent his entire life fighting his enemies and spending time with willing female partners. He has also recently become estranged from his wife Sally, and is unsure about what he wanted from life. What he does know is he is tired of fighting, of his well-earned reputation as a bad boy, and being alone. He is not sure what he is looking for, until he runs into Jimi. Though she is battered and bruised he feels drawn to her. The fact that she is black and he is white seems to matter least of all to either of them. What does matter is that she feels she can trust him and for the first time he wants to know more about a woman than what she is like in bed. Ms. Siplin takes us slowly into an unfolding and unlikely romance between Caleb and Jimi. There is nothing about the two that should make for something lasting or that works. It is made particularly difficult by the fact that the locals in Frenchmen's Bend do not approve of the interracial relationship, including Caleb's convict brother, Morgan. Jimi's, sophisticated and urban brother, Troy and sister-in-law, Sienna, would not be pleased if they knew. The complication of the differences is what makes the love story work. There are no simple formulas or easy ways out. It is simply a boy meets girl and boy wants girl and girl wants boy, no matter what, story that clicks. I recommend this novel to those who love interracial romance or any readers who simply enjoy romantic fiction. Angelia Menchan APOOO BookClub
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and Odd..., January 1, 2009
This review is from: Whiskey Road: A Love Story (Paperback)
This is my first time reading a book by this author. Other reviews tell you what this story is about, so I'll provide another perspective. What immediately struck me as odd as I began reading is that this story is told in third person omniscient, so it's more from the author's all knowing perspective of everyone's opinions, thoughts, and actions... like a transcript of her observations of the characters. While this makes the author's writing style unique, I found it a bit distracting because it felt like the author told us more about the characters, than showed us through their dialogue and actions. Overall, the story was interesting enough to see it thorough. I was more than curious as to how it was going to end. Though the ending left me with much to be desired. We get the impression that the characters will end up together, but the ending is so casual and abrubt that it's disappointing considering all of the drama that ensues at the end of the story. I don't know if I'll read another book by this author... I had just hoped for more based on the synopsis on the back of the story.
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