White Crosses

Rating:
Summary: Larry Watson will get there, eventually. Still a good read.
Review: Larry Watson could be one of the best American writers alive today. I say could be. He's easily one of the most accessible authors when it comes to fiction about the western US. And he comes up with intriguing stories that really make you want to open the book to find out what happens.

But Watson has a problem with characters, particularly women. (Perhaps he should hook up with Robert Hellenga who wrote "The Sixteen Pleasures" to get an idea of how to present a female character.)

In "Laura" Watson depicts multiple negative female stereotypes. In "Justice" and "Orchard" the females are rather bland. Of the five Watson books I've read I'd say that "Montana 1948" is by far his best by a million miles. It's short, to the point, and packs a wallop. Perhaps that's because he focused on the pov of a young boy. Because of the set up we give him allowances. We don't expect a boy to know and understand the feelings and motivations of adults, especially women. So it works. Superbly in fact.

In "White Crosses" we have yet another intriguing story. Why was the principal in the car with the young girl? You open the book and you want to find out more.

"Crosses" is a good read. And I disagree with those who say the character asides are besides the point. Watson is not some Dean Koontz who wants us just to care about the plot. He wants us to get into the hearts and minds of his characters. To do that we need their thoughts and memories.

But still, as pointed out by a female reviewer here, Watson just can't handle those female characters. They're either beautiful or ugly. They're inexplicable. They're unaccessable. They're just not human.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ending. You'll say aloud "No!" when you finish the tale. It's frustrating and tragic. Does it work? Yes, I think it does. Too often we get stuck on that unrealistic merry-go-round of happy endings. We forget reality, we forget that life is messy. Here, Watson reminds us that things don't always work out as planned.

Overall, a good book that could have been great. But I'm crossing my fingers for Larry Watson. Someday he'll get both the story and the female characters right. Someday he'll give us a female character with all those "annoying" asides with real thoughts and memories.

Rating:
Summary: Larry Watson will get there, eventually. Still a good read.
Review: Larry Watson could be one of the best American writers alive today. I say could be. He's easily one of the most accessible authors when it comes to fiction about the western US. And he comes up with intriguing stories that really make you want to open the book to find out what happens.

But Watson has a problem with characters, particularly women. (Perhaps he should hook up with Robert Hellenga who wrote "The Sixteen Pleasures" to get an idea of how to present a female character.)

In "Laura" Watson depicts multiple negative female stereotypes. In "Justice" and "Orchard" the females are rather bland. Of the five Watson books I've read I'd say that "Montana 1948" is by far his best by a million miles. It's short, to the point, and packs a wallop. Perhaps that's because he focused on the pov of a young boy. Because of the set up we give him allowances. We don't expect a boy to know and understand the feelings and motivations of adults, especially women. So it works. Superbly in fact.

In "White Crosses" we have yet another intriguing story. Why was the principal in the car with the young girl? You open the book and you want to find out more.

"Crosses" is a good read. And I disagree with those who say the character asides are besides the point. Watson is not some Dean Koontz who wants us just to care about the plot. He wants us to get into the hearts and minds of his characters. To do that we need their thoughts and memories.

But still, as pointed out by a female reviewer here, Watson just can't handle those female characters. They're either beautiful or ugly. They're inexplicable. They're unaccessable. They're just not human.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ending. You'll say aloud "No!" when you finish the tale. It's frustrating and tragic. Does it work? Yes, I think it does. Too often we get stuck on that unrealistic merry-go-round of happy endings. We forget reality, we forget that life is messy. Here, Watson reminds us that things don't always work out as planned.

Overall, a good book that could have been great. But I'm crossing my fingers for Larry Watson. Someday he'll get both the story and the female characters right. Someday he'll give us a female character with all those "annoying" asides with real thoughts and memories.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding...
Review: This was a book I could not put down. There are very few books that make me feel like I was there, and this is one of them.

On the surface, one can cheer Jack Nevelsen for what he wants to do - save the reputations of the two involved in the accident and spare their families the pain. But when he starts blurring the line between moral and immoral, it makes you want to smack him around a bit and tell him to get back on the right track. Was the town better off knowing what had actually happened? With the ending this book has, probably so... even in 1950's Montana.

It's one of the few books worth leaving work early for... and definitely worth more than what I paid for it.