Rating: 
Summary: Nice prose: story a little over-done
Review: First, I did like the writing in this book. Tawni O'dell has a great future. Someday she may shudder when she rethinks Back Roads' contrived plot twists and pirated themes (Sexy older woman seduces virgin lad as in The Graduate, Summer of 42, etc). Inside the dust jacket the reader is told the main character (Harley) is a "loveable...endearing hero...who in the end with his bumbling heroics, redeems them all". And who, I ask, was "redeemed"? Each character was portayed as a loser and remained a loser in the end. There was nothing "uplifting" or humorous about the situation. It's about denial, adolescent selfishness, blame shifting, adultery, patricide, incest. About as far from loveable and endearing as you can get but perhaps that reviewer didn't actually read the entire book. The end of the book ends really creepy which was a big disappointment. I could see it coming about 3/4th the way through but kept hoping O'Dell would maintain control of the story and not let it evaporate into a mindless spray of melodrama. Unfortunately, the final scenes were way over-the-top and the entire story lost credibility. I would like to read more of Tawni O'Dell's writings because she is a talented writer. I hope her plot developments mature and are more original.
Rating: 
Summary: it looks like it is back to the roads for O'Dell
Review: one word, AMAZING! Not only did i comprehend the novel on a standard reading level, but also on a much deeper psychological manner. All the cahracters were so uniue yet led similar lifes. It was beautiful written, and had me turning page after page until none were left to turn. The twisted ending left me irritated and stupid because i htought for sure the book ended in a different way. ALso, i can alwasy tell the ending of a book. Howevr, with this novel i had no idea what would happen next. Eventualy, i just stopped trying to guess, and just read what happened next. The interchanging pattern from the pschological views to the actions happening right then and there made the book very captivating. I hope that O'Dell continues to write amazing books like this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark
Review: This book was well written and the characters fully developed, however, I found the story to be a bit over the top for my taste. I did not see one thing funny or sexy (as portrayed in some reviews) about incest, adultury, or murder. The story is dark and disturbing, without redemption. The character's extreme dysfunction was not quite believable (even in our present day society where this behavior seems to be rampant, their behavior was bizarre). Although incest, murder and adultury occur everyday, the sequence of events in this book impacted me as though I had witnessed a bad accident. The senseless wreck of lives has, unfortunately, lingered in my mind.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tale of a Dysfunctional Family
Review: A selection of Oprah's book club involves a family of four mixed up kids and their parents living in Western Penna. among the woods, hills, small towns, abonded coal mines, tipples and railroad tracks. Harley is the only boy and at age 18-20 is trying to work 2 jobs and keep the family together. Mama is in jail for killing her husbnd but she is innocent...who's she protecting? Jealousy and incest are involved in a complicated story of real love. I grew up in that area but never saw any thing like this...not your average family yet the story had a certain appeal as each family member jockied for a place of their own for comfort and security in an unusual family structure.
Rating:
Summary: Is Harley the New Holden?
Review: Back Roads is an amazing coming-of-age novel. I've described it to others as Catcher in the Rye on acid. It examines family ties, mental illness, abuse, sexuality. . .and puts these issues in the perspective of a 20 year old male, caught somewhere between awkward boyishness and responsible manhood. This has become one of the few books that I will not lend out! (But I have bought three additional copies as gifts)
Rating:
Summary: Back Roads...WOW!
Review: This book is not the typical book you might expect. It's a story about a young man who is suddenly thrust into the position as head of the household when his mother is taken to prison for killing his father. The entire book is written from the point of view of Harley Altmeyer, the protagonist. I would never have expected a woman to be able to get into the mind of a man, but Tawni O'Dell has written this book exceedingly well. She portrays Harley as a troubled teen on the verge of adulthood who has had to grow up too fast. Ms. O'Dell's descriptions of how Harley blanked out his early life with his mother and father, only to remember it in snippets during his sessions with a psychiatrist and during stressful times is intriguing. You feel as though you can see into this young man's mind as he's remembering things. There are several things that caught my interest--his relationship to Jody, the baby sister, his sister Amber and his sister Misty. Amber and Misty have unique personalities that comes out in the shocking ending. I was not able to put this book down for the last 3-4 chapters. I absolutely HAD to finish it, it was that compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Truly engaging!
Review: I couldn't put this novel down...I kept wanting to read further before I would go on with the rest of my day...When I was finally able to finish the novel I didn't want it to end...I was hooked on the character of Harley...he just seemed so real and I wanted to reach out and help to ease his pain...I found this book very real which added to its beauty...I would recommend this book to anyone searching for a good read...You won't be dissappointed...
Rating:
Summary: I did not want to put this book down!
Review: Amazon recommended this book to me, and I'm extrememly excited that they did. This is an Oprah's book club book, and sometimes I read the books of the month, and like them, but I usually stay away from them. The novel takes place in Pennsylvania, and I live somewhat near the area that the author describes in her novel. I have visited these rural areas out in PA. This book was not overly descriptive in the least, and I was amazed it kept my interest. I usually read novels that are rich in description. I found O'Dell's writing style to stray away from the norm, and it made the novel more interesting to read. The story is centered around a destroyed family that has had to endure abuse and even murder. They are 3 girls between the ages of 16 to maybe 7ish. Harley is the big brother, and has to take care of his sisters so they will not be sent to foster care. The children's mother shot their father and was sent to spend the rest of her life in jail. Through this novel the reader is able to look into their ownself, and see if we make the same mistakes the characerts do.Do we hide what we do not want to see? How we lie, and do no see the truth that stares us in the face. We remember what we chose to remember, and the rest we like to forget to save ourselves from heartache or pain. O'Dell takes you into the mind set of children who were abused by an overly aggressive father. Throughout the novel, Harley ponders why is father hated him, and what caused him to be abusive. Was it because his own father abused him, because he married so young, or because he never had the closure he needed in life? These are the type of questions O'Dell makes throughout her novel. She looks into the Harley's sisters as well. Without clearly stating how abuse affected them, she writes about their characteristics that were caused by the abuse. Harley struggles to make a life for his sisters, working two jobs and struggling to be appreciated by them. He begins a distasterous affair with a married woman, that will utimately bring a demise to everything Harley struggled for. This is a witty novel that combines humor with power emotions and extremely sensitive issues. Who we are? How we learn to cope with abuse, and the need to feel love? The need we all feel to know the truth. This is a must read novel for anyone that has a heart, and understands the bounds that bind people together.
Rating:
Summary: Downward Spiral of a Family
Review: Tawni O'Dell's Back Roads presents a portrait of a family falling apart. The cover would lead one to believe that this is simply a small town coming of age story but the plot goes much deeper. This is a story ripe with incest, murder and family disfunction to rival anything in today's tabloids. The story's protagonist is 20 year old Harley Altmyer. He is the sole provider for his family of three younger sisters after the the murder of his father. The problem is that Harley's life is falling apart. While the book does give one an interesting read the ending is extremely contrived and leaves something to be desired. While I would recommend it in general, it is not one of the best books that I have read this year.
Rating:
Summary: Ash's Review ~ Backroads~
Review: This is my review over the book Backroads. I think it is a great book. I would recommend it to almost anyone,except the little ones. This book is very expressive and descriptive. It does show the reality of life and what some people in the world go through. This shows how many kinds of different people there are in the world. Harley, the main character, happens to be a strong person for what he has went through. Harley has had his downpoints which was about everyday, but he stuck through. His sisters also did give him a hard time also. He loved them a lot, but that was one thing he was afraid of was love. Love because his father was very abusive and no one was ever there for him emotionally so he just feels a little threatened. His sisters are very young and were not to understand. At least in my opinion. They lived in a smaller town so everyone knew everything that went on in that family. I feel bad because if you think about it everyone in society today judge everyone by what they hear, what people look like, it is very hard to fit in to the higher class these days. Harley tried his best and just lives every day as best as he can.
| 
