|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book filled with life's honesty, passion and brutality!, May 3, 2001
It's novels like "My Father's Scar" that are the most moving to me. In reading from front to back in a single day, I found myself captivated by its masterful storytelling, its heightened yet subtle suspense, and the ways in which it works its reader with its sudden twists and turns, while never losing focus on the themes and lessons of life that it embodies in its main protagonist. Andy Logan is a freshman in college plagued by memories of his childhood and development into a man; some of these memories are painful, while others provide him a glimpse into happier times that shaped his life in a positive manner. There are memories of his father and grandmother, both tyrannical and unrelenting, his mother, who has no choice but to side with his father, his uncle, whose vast interest in books sparks an interest in young Andy's mind, and Evan, the sole homosexual to come out in the entire town, but not the sole homosexual to reside there. Evan becomes a pinnacle of fascination for Andy, which seques into feelings of love and wanting once Andy realizes what these feelings are. There experiences Evan goes through will shape his and Andy's life, and Andy will come to realize, right up to the novel's poignant ending, that there is a fine line between love and hate that sometimes goes unseen. I valued the many nuances of this novel not for its simplicity, but for its ability to tell a story in such an involving way. Author Michael Cart uses present participles to tell the present-day sections of the story, while the memories of Andy's childhood and teenage years are told using past participles, enhancing the fact that these are experiences that have already happened as opposed to going on at that moment. This brings us more into Andy's mind as he takes his own, sometimes unavoidable, trips down memory lane. And simple the novel is not, by no means. The writing may seem a step down from the throes of Hawthorne and Shakespeare, but it certainly does not take on a juvenile feel. The phrases and the syntactical elements used by Cart are marvelous in their underlining of the feelings Andy goes through during his childhood. Cart especially pays close attention to the feelings of the boy, as well as the relationships, be it friendship or boyhood love, with such devotion to the feelings and emotions that anyone, gay or straight, can relate to. Cart must also be praised for his ability to hide the identity of the ending, keeping us at bay as to whether or not it will end on a high or low note. There are small hints which lead us to believe that either avenue is possible, and these will continue until the very last pages, leading us to an ending that (without giving it away) remains true to the rest of the material and is completely satisfying. For me to be able to read this book as fast as I did is the mark of a truly interesting and satisfying read for me. I loved the characters of this novel and could relate to them on so many different levels. I wanted Andy to find the love he had been wishing for; I wanted to see him taken away from the oppression of his childhood, and while he was able to escape it physically, the novel examines the fact that, emotionally, there is no escape from our past. "My Father's Scar" is a novel that has the look and feel of a teenage romance and coming-of-age story, but underneath everything, there is a powerful and complex message which rings true for people of all genders and orientations. The themes are well-presented and easily understood, while the characters are people we can care about and identify with in different ways. I loved this novel!
|
by Eddie De Oliveira
by Diana Wieler
by Alex Sanchez
by Mark Hardy
See all Editorial Reviews
