M.O. Walsh

from Laura:

This one got a little too self-reflective for me. Important scenes had entire chapters between them, which made the action drag. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the reader's performance, though. I was well into the fourth disc before I realized that the narrator didn't have a name. He remained unnamed throughout the rest of the book.

Favorite quote:

But for every adult person you look up to in life, there is trailing behind them an invisible chain gang of ghosts, all of which, as a child, you are generously spared from meeting...The lost loves, the hurt friends, the dead: they follow their owner forever. Perhaps this is why we feel so crowded around those people who we know have had hard times. Perhaps this is why we find so little to say. We suffer from an odd brand of stage fright, I think, before all those dreadful eyes.… (more)

dnf p. 12o Feb. 2021

As reviewer Susan says, you gotta go into this knowing what it is. It is not about all the quirky characters of a small town and their humorous & poignant adventures when a fortune-telling machine gives them the motivation to turn their lives around.

It is southern Literature. It is for John Prine fans.

It is about people I would rather not spend time with.

I might skip to find out if Douglas uses the machine and what it tells him and what he does about it, and since another reviewer mentioned the payoff ending I might check that out. But Douglas is the only character I actually care about.

What does it actually mean when a book is about redemption? It seems like there has to be something to be redeemed from, eh? Sin, or just general f*upery?
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Ok, I did it.

I read a little further and found out Douglas' encounter with the machine.

And then I carefully skimmed the last 60 pp.

And I actually kinda like the ending.

I'm just very glad I skipped the long middle half of the book. It was totally unnecessary, I'm confident.… (more)