Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing and Intense, a Great Novel...
Review: I can see why Oprah said this novel would ruffle some feathers! Harley's tale kept me glued to the story, whether or not I was actually reading. I felt so much sympathy for the family and at the same time, I felt repelled. Days later, I am still haunted. Great job, Ms. O'Dell!
Rating: 
Summary: Backroads
Review: This book takes an intense journey into the mind of a psycho. I found the scenes in this book disturbing and pervertic. The book grossed me out considerably and should not be available to anyone under the age of 30.
Rating: 
Summary: A gutwrenching book!
Review: I am torn between feeling sorry for Harley and being repulsed. Being inside his mind for so long was completely engrossing. The inner struggle he experienced was so painful to read! All his feelings came across so clearly, the good, the bad and the ugly. The writing expsoses how people have dark secrets that they can't even reveal to themselves. Excellent book!
Rating: 
Summary: I liked it and I was disappointed at the same time...
Review: I like dysfunctional family books (lots of experience growing up! - :), especially with the psychology aspect of it thrown in. This book was right up my alley and I rushed out to buy it. Read it fast, too. It had a lot of potential, but was murky in the character development, I thought. I had trouble bonding with any of the characters (the only one I liked was the 6 year old little sister). I think that would have helped me care about the outcome of the characters more. The incest storyline seemed thrown in to me and could have either been left out or written to make more sense. All-in-all it was an interesting read but could have been a lot more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Democracy has no bounds, life has no limits
Review: Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell is a virtual tornado that rips through the strip malls and drive-throughs of lowerclass America. The main character, Harley, is less of a individual that a post-modern summation of all that is flagrantly and despicably pawned off as "white trash." Even the name Harley (Davidson? Get it?) connotes the anger and violence of biker gangs and rednecks all across this country. O'Dell is not really telling a linear structured story here. Instead she wraps up all that American society has tossed off as the sins of the lower class (i.e. incest, domestic violence, shoplifting, cow tipping) and ably demonstrates that these flawed and angry people remain the backbone of this great country. O'Dell has a message here and she's screaming it from the tops of trailer parks everywhere: God Bless America, warts and all.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Disturbing
Review: This book really caught my attention about half way through, although I liked it from the beginning. Dealing with incest, or multiple abuses would seem difficult at best to get into these characters heads, but not too difficult for O'Dell. She did a first rate job of developing these people; so that the reader left a kinship with them. Of course we deal with these kind of issues in our real lifes, this read left me deeply distrubed for all the members of this family. It stayed with me for several hours after finishing the book. To touch someone that much; I would think it takes one heck of a writer. I have read all of Oprah's picks, and this is by far the best one yet.
Rating:
Summary: BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN
Review: Such a tragic story, but beautifully written. A very quick read. Since I am an avid reader, it is really hard to find a story that holds my interest, and this definately did it. If you enjoyed the book by Wally Lamb "I know this much is true" and "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch this is almost as good, sort of on the same dramatic and sad storyline but much shorter. An amazing 1st great novel; hope for more novels like this to come from Tawni O'Dell. Keep up the great work Tawni!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh the melodrama! Poor, poor dysfunctional us!
Review: Oprah pick or not, this book was a waste of money. The author seems to have some talent, but there was only one sympathetic character in the whole book (the woman with whom Harley is sleeping), and even her behavior was odd at times. This is a family with some serious problems, and it seems as if they just whine and mope and feel sorry for themselves. Harley comes across as some kind of half-wit without sense enough to realize that his sisters need the care and guidance of someone much more mature and stable than he is. I was very disappointed by the ending, because with all the melodrama and carrying-on, I was hoping for a better resolution.
Rating:
Summary: A challenging read.
Review: O'dell's book is raw and edgy. The main character,Harley,is such a very sad person and you can hardly believe he hasn't lost his mind with all the atrocities he has seen in his short life. Yet he is a survivor at heart and along with the drive to care for and protect what is left of his family, that is his three sisters, he also longs to live the life of a regular nineteen year old. Basically to be with a woman and drink beer as much as he wants. As you read and the horror of the actual truth unfolds, you just want to rescue him and allow him to not have to deal with such horrible truths anymore. A young man his age just cannot possibly withstand the pressure he is under. All in all, BACK ROADS is an eye-opening novel for the typical sheltered American (myself included) who cannot imagine the terrible things underprivileged families experience day-to-day. My emotions went from hope to despair to deep sympathy. I hope someday I can meet a child like Harley and adopt him.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: This first novel from Tawni O'Dell is so powerful that I am cannot imagine how she will ever follow it up. It's a lot to live up to. Harley is a modern-day anti-hero if there ever was one, but he doesn't really fit the mold of an anti-hero because he does SO MUCH for his sisters and to keep the family together even though he doesn't even realize himself why he's doing it. There's a passion in him that remains always under the surface, hidden under the guise of a PennDOT cap and his father's old hunting jacket. The passion is for something but even he doesn't know what it is -- it's not for a beautiful girlfriend or for sex or for money -- it's not even the TRUTH that he so craves. It's completeness in a way he has yet to realize he will never achieve, because the completeness he's searching for would necessitate a "do-over" of his whole life. READ THIS BOOK.
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