Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick narrated by,
Norman Dietz
Produced by: Highbridge Audio
Time: 9 Hrs 30 Min.
Synopsis: An attractive an engimatic stranger -- Charlie
Beale, a longer recently home from the war in Europe -- wanders into the town
of Brownsburg, a sleepy village of only a few hundred people nestled in the
Valley of Virginia. He brings with him two suitcases: one contains all his
worldly possessions, including a set of butcher knives; the other is full of
money.
Charlie quickly finds a job at the local butcher shop and
through his work there meets all the townspeople, most notably Sam Haislett,
the five-year-old son of the shop's owner, and Sylvan Glass, the beautiful,
eccentric teenage bridge of the town's richest man. What no one anticipates is
how the interaction of these three people will alter the town forever, and how
the passion that flares between Charlie and Sylvan will mark young Sam for
life.
Told through the eyes of Sam, now an older man looking back
on that time, this much-anticipated second novel from Robert Goolrick is an
exciting, erotically charged, and altogether unforgettable story of love gone
terrible wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could happen.
My review:
Robert Goolrick is a great writer he knows how to turn a
phrase and his descriptions are always lush. I read the Reliable Wife when it
first came out it was an odd story but well written and a book that stuck with
me much longer than I expected it to and I actually liked The Reliable Wife the
longer I was away from it and I think this one may end up the same way. So, I
had high hopes for this book expecting and getting Goolricks fantastic writing
but the story was a much slower simmer than I expected it to be, it made me sit on the edge of my seat not
from the story really, but in the waiting for the other shoe to drop, you just
know something bad is coming.
I am not sure how I felt about Charlie dragging this little
boy along with him on his trysts, I don’t understand why he took him along it’s
not like it was his child. I think what
he put the little boy through was worse than anything else Charlie did. Another
story from this author that I think will stick with me awhile and probably will
end up liking more the farther away I am from it. But I think that is the
genius of Goolrick he is an amazing writer but his books are never easy but
they will touch you and stay with you even if you didn’t totally love the book.
Norman Dietz is the narrator of this one and I’m just not
sure what I thought of him; all of his voices sounded like old men, including
the little boy and the women. But he fit the book well, so I am not saying he
was awful it was just his variations on voices weren’t that different. I hope
that makes sense.
If you haven’t read Goolrick’s biography – “The End of the
World as we Know It” you won’t see how biographical Goolrick’s work is. I think
to really “get” his fiction you should read his biography.
3 ½ Stars
I received this book from Audiojukebox Solid Gold Reviewer
Program for a fair and honest review.
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