The only reason this isn't 5 stars is because there was a definite bit of dragging and over reaching going on here... even so I might change my rating to 5 stars once I've processed...
I don't think I've ever quite experienced writing like this. It was like language transcended... transformed and transforming what I used to associate words and feelings and emotions with. Damn it was beautiful... I kept finding myself rereading a phrase, savoring it and squeezing it for all it's juices. This author has an amazing talent, and I don't know why more people haven't been talking about her... or this book.
Which brings us to the story. I felt a definite To Kill a Mockingbird vibe, but it was also more. There was a lot going on, which is kind of why I feel she over reached a bit. It was almost like she took every single fad of the 80s and stirred it all together in a big, messy black cauldron. She did it justice though, and took her time unfolding it piece by piece... In the end everything pulled together... a little frayed maybe, but more or less whole.
After finishing... I felt emotionally drained, and my heart ached just a little. So much of what we thought had been left behind is resurfacing again. Will humanity ever learn?

Fielding Bliss is an old man telling his story of the summer that changed everything. When you finish reading his story, you’ll completely understand why he’s now one of those nasty “Get off my lawn!” old guys. And you’ll also probably feel like crawling in a deep dark hole and never returning to planet earth. At the very least, you’ll likely give those old cranks a pass the next time they holler at you or your kid.

This story is cruel, it is bleak and it is beautifully descriptive and impossible to put down. You might not want to start it for your own well-being but then you will never know what you are missing.

It is the summer of 1984, a simpler time in many ways and also a just as complicated time. It’s the summer of hair spray and the beginning of AIDS and all the fears and prejudice associated with it. Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer” could be the soundtrack for this one. In a little town called Breathed, Ohio the heat relentlessly blasts thirteen year old Fielding and everyone around him. When his dad, for some reason, decides to send out an invite to the Devil, well, no one is all that surprised when he actually accepts. What better circumstances for the devil to come a-calling than this brutally hellish summer?

The devil arrives in the form of a young black boy the Bliss family name Sal. Being kind folks, they take him in. Dad did invite him, after all. Sal is an old soul and makes fast friends with Fielding but soon a series of very unfortunate events occur around Sal. Prejudice, fear and heat induced madness start to take over the residents of Breathed as more terrible things occur over the tragic summer. And that’s all I’m going to say about the plot.

The descriptions in this book are a thing of pure beauty. It was truly an experience, this book. It brought me back to that time in the 80’s when I could spend all summer under a weeping willow tree reading while Corey Hart and Madonna serenaded me from an oversized boom box. The summer just before tragedy struck my family, altering it forever. This book hit a nerve in me and reading it was a bit cathartic. As painful a read as it was, I will never regret reading it.

This is one of those books that will break your heart even if you think you don’t have one and could easily leave you in a funk, so do yourself a favor and find yourself a nice, sunny spot outside and get to reading it.

These are the books I plan to read in September. I've been averaging 3-4 books a month, but I think I will be able to read these five. I'm hoping for seven by months end as these should be fast reads. 

 

My next post will be anticipated September releases. I'm hoping to choose two from that list.

 

Happy September everyone!

Wow, this book is a thing of beauty. It's hard to believe it's a debut. I don't want to stop reading but I have to go back to work :(  

Better than I initially thought.
It was Chapter 23 when I finally got it and started to enjoy the story. It was like six degrees of separation, with much separation in between. And by separation, I mean, confusion.
Oh, how I was confuzzled for most of this read. At times, I was lost at to what age the narrator was, it did flip around a bit. I was even lost as to who it was. Man, at times I was just lost. 
Then a blip of something fascinating would happen, and it flowed so well, that I had to keep reading.
I'm glad I did too, and didn't give up. Chapter 23 saw me with my mouth wide open as the pieces started to fit and make sense. Frankly, I even got choked up, and that's hard to do. 
So this is one of those reads that has you thinking. Has a huge amount of build up, and like I said, it's got six degrees of separation. Y'know, a full circle moment.
I think many of you will really like this read. So definitely give it a go if you think that it sounds up your alley.