Reviewed:
TL:DR A glimpse of ordinary life bookended by slice of painful reality, around a slow burn love story, interspersed with harsh reality. But the writing, and editing, is of a quality that immerses the reader and drags you towards the ending gently. Recommended.
It is not often that I find an established author (on SOL) none of whose work I have seen or read before! But since finding the authors latest serial, in my preferred Sci-Fi genre, I have been determinedly binging their back catalogue regardless of subject matter. I have found they all deserve, and reward, reading.
This story covers under a year in the life of a young man, Doober, his best friends (spoiler: not for long), and his family and acquaintances. Starting with the catastrophic event that will underpin the rest of his life, and moving into growing up recovering from trauma, facing facts, and finally mature relationships/friendships. All this, and more, framed in a small town microcosm where everyone knows everything about anything, and mothers stay involved.
The story starts hard, and fast, and blunt. The bulk of the tale is about the difficulties of being forced to grow up unexpectedly, and reality of learning about how adult relationships work while trying to make sense of the senseless.
A small but key bit-part is handed to the local reverend, and a sub story on the place church (note lack of 'the', and a small 'c' are intentional) and faith play in the life of the protagonists and their mothers/families. I don't think I have seen any better writing around this subject on SOL at all. It's not preachy at all, but highlights the care and consideration that underpins what is left of 'western cultural values' in small town USA. This value judgement is very much my opinion, is probably not 'politically correct', and the quality of the writing means, I suspect, that everyone will have a hook for their opinion as well.
At its heart, this story is simple, but has real depth. It is in turns funny, depressing, somber, uplifting and sobering, mixing the mundane realities of life, with the confusing paths of attraction in a very real and relatable way. For me, the story ends with life-affirming promise I found immensely satisfying. From the comments, others have different opinions, but I do wonder if they read the whole story: it works very well read as a whole... maybe not so well serialised.
Well worth investing an afternoon. IMO, obviously.
Myth
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Four friends, living in a cabin down by the bayou, kicked back and taking life easy. Doober volunteered to go on a beer run when everything changed. He lost three friends and his will to carry on.
Fick Suck has written an eye-opening story about dealing with death and its effects on those still alive.
Doober is dealing with the traumatic way life sold him in this tremendously moving story titled 'Crooked Trees' by Fick Suck.