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Alex Miller Coal Creek

 

I am not one to judge a book
by its cover. In most cases I don’t even notice the cover, as I’m too eager to
see what’s inside. But for some reason I did look at the cover of this novel
sent to me by Real Readers and immediately Brokeback Mountain came into my
head, the short story not the film. And whilst I am not offering a comparison
between this writer and Annie Proulx there was a similar ambience cast
throughout as I read this.

 

I enjoyed it very much. I
found it a well-constructed novel with clearly defined characters. Initially I
found the style of writing a little stilted until I came to realise that the
narrative was the protagonist’s written account of events. It was a simple
enough story but rendered complex by the acknowledgement of the intricacies of
human emotion and behaviour. There was a very strong feeling of how different
the events might have been if different courses of action had been taken. And
the particular courses of actions that unfolded were mostly all fuelled by
human emotion not necessarily understanding the true situation. Except for
Bobby who seems extraordinarily perceptive and knowing about people, animals
and their place within the natural order of things and what happens when that
natural order is contaminated.

 

The ending did have a little
of the ‘happy ever afters’ in it but as a reader it gave me a satisfactory
conclusion to the book. It wasn’t sugar coated but, like the entire novel,
stated as a fact of what happened.

 

I can see this making a good
movie if there’s anyone out there looking for some material with potential?

 

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