Rating: 
Summary: Great book--Keeps you coming back for more!
Review: I read this book in a matter of days. (For me, that's pretty good! :0) I was horrified at some of the events that happened in the book to this poor family, and it greatly sadened me. Harley, the main character, given what he had to deal with, did a good job. You couldn't help but love him. At times it felt that I was right there in the middle of it all. This was a book that was certainly hard to put down. The author, Tawni O'Dell did a fantastic job in writing this book! Everytime I had this story figured out, it turned on me again and I was thrown more into the story. The ending shocked me and was completely unexpected to me. At the end, this book left me wanting the story to continue going on. This is a great summer read for anyone wanting something that will keep them thinking. This is a book you'll remember!
Rating: 
Summary: Stop!! Don't waste your time on this book.
Review: I was terribly disappointed with this book. I read it because I have lived in western PA all my life. There are very few local references, and they aren't really part of the story at all. This book could be set anywhere. It was full of depressed, violent, angry people who are overlooked and manipulated by "the system". The characters in this book are very shallow, and their decisions are predictable. I enjoy a wide variety of books, but this one is one I wish I hadn't wasted my time on. This is the first "Oprah's picks" book I have read and I doubt that I will read anything she recommends in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Best read in 10 years!
Review: On a scale of psychological dramas ranging from Franny and Zooey to Family Pictures this is a 10. Never a dull moment and the story unravels in the last fourth of the book deliciously.
Rating:
Summary: A very good pick for Oprah's Book Club.
Review: "Back Roads" was both humorous and sad, but very well-written. The story takes place in the backwoods of western Pennsylvania. It centers around the life of a college-aged guy named Harley Altmyer, whose left caring for his three unruly younger sisters, after their mom is convicted of killing their dad. While Harley is working two jobs to support his poor family, he yearns for the typical life of a college-aged guy. This includes having a good sex life. Harley has been having trouble finding a girl that he would like to sleep with. Then Callie Mercer, who lives up the road, enters the picture. She is considerably older than Harley, and is married with two young children, who play with Harley's little sister, Jody. However, both Harley and Callie become interested in one another, and start having a secret affair. In the meantime, secrets regarding the Altmyer family and the events surrounding Mr. Altmyer's death start surfacing, which Harley must come to terms with. "Back Roads" is fairly quick to get through, and the reader will not be left bored.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting & Intense
Review: In her riveting debut novel, Tawni O'Dell tells the intense and unforgettable story of Harley Altmyer and his family's quest for survival and sanity. Harley's voice is so honest, authentic, and true making him a truly endearing character. He is bitter, violent, loving, wise, resigned, frustrated, intuitive, and innocent all at the same time. Harley is thrown into adulthood to care for his three sisters after his mother goes to prison for killing his abusive father. "One day you're an 18 year old guy and the next day your assigned a social worker and a therapist and given the choice of either being a LEGAL ADULT with 3 DEPENDANTS or an orphan with NOBODY." Amber and her overwhelming sex-driven need to be loved; Misty who withstands all the family secrets and bears the most tragic one of her own; and the endearing little Jody with her "to-do" lists and collection of fortunes which reflect her world of make-believe and an attempt to bring order to the continual chaos erupting around her. Through each tense, gut-wrenching ordeal, the gruesome and exquisite sensory details of sex, violence, lust, and crime will stay with you long after the book is read.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: Back Roads was one of the best books I read this summer. I was really pulling for Harley and his sisters. I wish it ended better for them though.
Rating: 
Summary: Different perceptions
Review: Funny? An enjoyable read? Not hardly. Engrossing? Disturbing? I think these adjectives are more appropriate. This story of 19 year old Harley who is suddenly the head of a family caught in the middle of murder, incest, poverty and dysfunction (to put it midly) is dark and riveting. As other customer reviewers have indicated, Back Roads is a difficult book to put down. O'Dell does an excellent job of writing in a male first person voice - something that I think takes a particular talent for writers depicting characters of the opposite sex. However, the continuous trauma suffered by the children in this family only results in more pain. Just when you think there is a flicker of normalcy for them, the candle once again blows out. As the end of the novel drew near, I was looking forward to some redemption, some promise, some hope - and found none. O'Dell has an eviable way with words in her descriptions and dialogue. I look forward to giving her next effort another try.
Rating: 
Summary: A Slice of Life
Review: Wow! Call me naive but I was shocked by the goings on in this book. Harley, Amber, Misty, Jody and Callie. These - for the most part - are well drawn characters, each with their own idiosyncracies, beliefs and secrets and while this is an obvious strength of the book perhaps it leads to a glaring weakness. Harley is an obvious charmer. He has the great ability to communicate what seems logical to him to us even when there is very little logic there. And that is where I had the problem. The situations he describes - the many sexual ones with Callie for example - mostly seem rushed and for the first time in a long time I came away thinking that this 300+ page book should have been about 200 pages longer. There seems to be something missing the first time the encounters start with Callie. What possessed her to become involved with him? Nothing in the book tells us. The situations aside, Back Roads is a likeable book. I struggled with the frankness as I failed to see where the story was going - Amber's involvement at the end however was far too obvious - but as I reached the end I became acutely aware of the film Boys Don't Cry. What seems glorified suddenly becomes horrifyingly real as everything is put in context and we see this family once again torn apart by acts of violence. O'Dell's Back Roads is a solid read. It is easily read, introduces you to characters you'll probably remember, and tells a story that many of us will find foreign. That is what books are all about. Not a must read but one that many will get a lot out of.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding first novel
Review: I've just finished reading Tawni o'Dell's novel and I must say it's one of the best books I've read. The main character Harley finds himself caught in a situation where he is suddenly the legal guardian of his three little sisters. The three of which have their own unique personalities and who all contribute to the overall flavor of the book. Harley, just like anyone who grew up with little brothers and sisters obviously loves and cares for his siblings. Nonetheless that doesn't stop him from fantisizing about inflicting serious injury on them at times. You love him, then hate him, then love him some more. I found Jody to be so lovable, Amber at times unbearable,and Misty downright frightening. A must read to you book affectionados.
Rating:
Summary: Tragedy and Trash from Oprah's Book Club
Review: I bought this book primarily because it was an Oprah Book Club selection. The comments on the dust cover indicated it was a humorous story of a teen age boy rearing his younger sisters. If a mom in prison for killing the dad, incestuous goings on, adultery and the boy being nabbed the for murder of his lover is humorous, I guess I have become something of a prude. For the same amount of money, I could have had the latest book from John LesCroart, John Grisham, Steve Martini or David Balducci. We live and learn, don't we?
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