Home for the Day: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing
Review: It's fair to say I had never heard of Anderson Ferrell before picking out this book, but afterward I had a new found respect for the man. More poetry than prose, if the truth were to be told, the text goes along slowly, romantically. The numerous memory and flashback sequences, not to mention the three "internal" stories of the mother, the grandmother's maid, and the neighbor, are a little tricky to follow at times, but the rhythm of the stories kept me reading. The only real problems I had with the book was the fact that the story begins with one issue, then flashes backward, forward, sideways, and every other way before finally resurfacing at the "present" (i.e.: where the book began in the first place) somewhere about 30 pages to the end. Many of the stories are very good, the rest mediocre. There are a few rather "adult" sections of the book where the narrator gets a little too blunt or says a little too much, but it is all done in the simple poetic flow that is characteristic of the work as a whole. The scene with the father at the cemetery if very upsetting, and the death of the boyfriend is heart breaking. Overall, a very good book worth reading and passing on to friends.