Coiled in the Heart

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Change of Pace
Review: "Coiled in the Heart" sweeps the reader along with its melancholy nostalgia -- the Big E's lyrical passages are worth revisiting again and again. Elliott builds his wonderfully poignant story of loss and penance to an ending that is both hopeful yet enigmatic; we hope for the best for our hero, yet we can't help fearing the worst.

Told in a series of flashbacks from the present day to events in the distant and not-too-distant past, Tobia's story is one of struggling to overcome several obstacles -- the weight of family history, the adoration lavished on a sports hero who doesn't feel the same love for the game, the hurdle of his own potential, and, worst of all, the crushing guilt of a dirty trick gone horribly, horribly wrong. At times almost paralyzed by fear and self-doubt, Tobia seeks for his true calling and is always asking the deep question -- is this what I am meant to do? Fortunately for the reader, Tobia is suffuciently opaque that what often appears to be the easy answer just isn't enough.

"Coiled in the Heart" would have received five stars, but Elliott made two of his less-than-admirable characters, the Goodhopes, Carolina and Duke grads, and as any Southerner knows, some things are just unforgiveable.

Rating:
Summary: New American classic
Review: Elliott's characters are rich with emotion and detail without being overwrought. Not only is this an entertaining read, but it has something important to say about being human. A must read!