The Milagro Beanfield War

Rating:
Summary: Overkill on the sarcastic innuendo. Diarrhea of the pen
Review: This is just an all around fun story. Lots of details that make it come alive. The characters are so interesting I wanted more of them. He does a great job describing the town. The plot and subplots keep you interested through out the full book. It is just a good book.

Rating:
Summary: An Infectious Good Time
Review: To be the 4000th reviewer of this book and to say something worthwhile is a challenge. However, Mr. Nichols is having such a good time writing this book that his enthusiasm for the characters and his humor are infectious in a good way. He faces several challenges. In the first third of the book, the author has to populate the stage with a whole town full of interesting characters. He does this by scattered anecdotes about each of them that give the reader a flavor for the persons, and their interactions with other characters. During this time, the reader does wonder where all this is going, since the story line seems a bit fractured. Mr. Nichols does do a masterful job of creating a whole town for you. Then in the middle third of the book, the characters begin to be involved with the main thrust of the book. The last part of the book, the characters really begin to move around and a partial resolution of sorts occurs. Many authors work hard to create a single believable character. Mr. Nichols does this for a whole town, and is to be praised for that. The book is very funny but my criticism is that it is mainly situational humor, such as in a Bugs Bunny cartoon or a "sitcom" on television. The humor in the language is limited and is mainly ribald or in the use of Spanish words. My other criticism is his extreme use of the run-on sentence style. My English teacher would have failed me for such sentences! Granted, it puts a lot of information before you and moves the story along. However, whole sentences ramble into paragraphs. These are minor criticisms. If you relax and "go with the flow", it is good fun and may show you a new perspective on land development and water rights in the Southwest also.