Swimming in Sky

Rating:
Summary: Sweet's Daughter's Misplaced Rage
Review: Anyone who has lost a loved one before their time is liable to feel violated when another trespasses upon their grief. What I think those close to "Sweet" need to remember, however, is that the character in the novel is a fictionalization of the real-life "Sweet," someone whom both the narrator and the author remember very fondly. The book is not about Sweet, it is about Jason Sayers, and in his own turbulent time, Sweet seemed to be more of a father figure to Jason than his own father.
When reading, we sometimes mistake a flawed character for one that is unsympathetic. It is important to remember that those flaws are what makes the characters real, the flaws are why we love them. Obviously, the reviewer's father was very important to Majors, and when Majors fictionalized this time in his life, he needed to include Sweet. To depict Sweet as two-dimensionally perfect would be an injustice to both the reader and the man. If, indeed, you want to view this book as being about Sweet (which it is not), it is a fond memorial, not a scathing expose. I only hope that passing time and a careful re-reading will help you recognize that.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet's Daughter's Misplaced Rage
Review: Anyone who has lost a loved one before their time is liable to feel violated when another trespasses upon their grief. What I think those close to "Sweet" need to remember, however, is that the character in the novel is a fictionalization of the real-life "Sweet," someone whom both the narrator and the author remember very fondly. The book is not about Sweet, it is about Jason Sayers, and in his own turbulent time, Sweet seemed to be more of a father figure to Jason than his own father.
When reading, we sometimes mistake a flawed character for one that is unsympathetic. It is important to remember that those flaws are what makes the characters real, the flaws are why we love them. Obviously, the reviewer's father was very important to Majors, and when Majors fictionalized this time in his life, he needed to include Sweet. To depict Sweet as two-dimensionally perfect would be an injustice to both the reader and the man. If, indeed, you want to view this book as being about Sweet (which it is not), it is a fond memorial, not a scathing expose. I only hope that passing time and a careful re-reading will help you recognize that.

Rating:
Summary: the REAL south
Review: For those of you that would like to read a modern book about the REAL south, not of the fried green tomatoes variety, get this book. Majors does an excellent job describing the south as it is today in all its small town, farm land, strip mall glory. Although the characters are uniquely Southern, their hopes and fears are not. Majors story transcends any region of the country and is one that everyone can relate to. What family has not been touched by divorce and illness? What family has not experienced the absurdities and madness that come with loving each other so much? Swimming in Sky is refreshingly honest and Jason Sayer's voice will stay in your head long after you put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful and moving story
Review: I found this a good, provocative book -- and encourage others looking for a good read. If you've read the other reviews, you know the details so I won't repeat (time, place, genre, etc.) This book simply made me think hard while I read, and along the way I was enjoying fine writing and 'turn of phrase' from Inman Majors. It's been too long since I've read a book that made me go real slow to catch the nuance and the deeper meanings. The vivid, descriptive language was enlightening, and charitably brief ("paved hell" to describe strip malls.)

Rating:
Summary: Identity crisis in Volunteer land
Review: Inman Majors has endowed his narrator with extraordinary storytelling powers. As the name suggests, Jason Sayer knows how to testify. He guides us through the landscape of an emerging "new Knoxville" with searing wit and a devastating insight that carries the hope and understanding of true compassion.

Say, as he's known by certain friends, is unsure what to do next. He's a Vandy grad, but only has a liberal arts degree to show for it. As the novel opens, he has informally moved in with his mother and her boyfriend, following a trip to Australia that failed to shed light on which path he ought to pursue. Further complicating this twenty-five year-old's identity quest is a recent bad acid trip that seems to have brought about the material realization of Sayer's own peculiar stock of nightmares. Having been reared with a family legacy of UT football heroism, he now feels the ubiquitous presence of a shadow following him around. Growing increasingly paranoid and suspcious in the company of the friends he grew up with, he's troubled by a comment one of them made about Judas. Paging through the Bible for spiritual guidance one moment, the next Sayer treads in fear of the very sky itself, worrying by turns that its birds are either messenger angels or Satan's avengers.

To top it off, this childhood jock now has a bum knee and no health insurance. The knee serves as the physical manifestation of what separates Sayer from other "slacker" protagonists. Unlike the paralysis we often encounter in that character type, here we have a protagonist that for the most part has retained his abilities of locomotion. He's just a little gimpy, which signals how hard he must work to cross the road his spiritual journey requires.

Through Sayer's thoroughly engaging voice, Majors leads us on an odyssey that provides a complex and stratified view of suburbia. It is not simply rendered as generic and bland, as it has been in other books, in less capable hands. Swimming Sky sharply delineates one type of subdivision from another, in a refreshing turn of attention to accuracy. Overall the sense of place Majors achieves is staggering, as he takes us to jock watering holes, alternative clubs and west Knoxville suburbia, just to name a few memorable locations.

I could say more because this is really good stuff. But check it out and find out for yourself. Majors gets it right.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Package
Review: Inman Majors' characters are caught in the peculiar place between suburbia, the Tennessee hills, and the dubious urbanity of Knoxville, Tennessee. Through the eyes of Jason Sayer, main character and narrator, they walk through the world with bewilderment, anger, and most importantly, senses of humor intact. In particular, Jason's (Say's) perspective on his sometimes nightmarish world is marked with a skewed, self-deprecating humor that renders him likable, intelligent, and trustworthy as a narrator. He is on a quest to come to terms with a universal inertia that many of us have felt, at different times of life, in different parts of the world. Major's achievement is that he's put us in a particular place by using vivid writing and great detail, from the description of the sluggish Tennessee River "running" through downtown Knoxville to the college punk bars of the 1980s to a nighmarish, drug-addled road trip to Atlanta. He creates a varied cast of characters (even the dog is great) that will stay with you long after you've finished the book. Strong characterization and sense of place, good pacing, strong narrative voice, compelling plot, "Swimming in Sky" is the complete package.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: Swimming in Sky reads like a beat generation novel - rhythmic and poetic, a wise-cracking underachievers trip through post-graduate malaise, his native South, and his soul. Through hero Jason Sayer, Majors reveals his talent for language and dead-pan observation. But this is a slackers anthem with substance - honest and wise, with a spiritual yearning that will make it a literary as well as cult classic.

Rating:
Summary: Swimming Through Life
Review: This book revolves around a 25-year old college grad with no money, no job, and no prospects, and how he spends the summer. This book has a nice flow, with a gradual redemption plot that reads very plausible.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful and moving story
Review: This is a great book. Majors has a talent for dialogue and enabling the reader to know and feel for the characters. Everyone who has experienced a difficult time in life from the death of a loved one, friendships lost to just getting older will enjoy Majors' telling of this story. I especially liked that the main character's mother, who is struggling with post divorce issues, family and finances, and her boyfriend coping with alcohol abuse and cancer help Sayers through a tough summer by their examples of real life courage, humor, dignity and love. It's a moving story that I've enjoyed re-reading. I look forward to future works from Majors.

Rating:
Summary: All Apologies...
Review: To those unfortunate enough to have missed out on this; one of the truly good books to come out in years. I did 't know anyone still wrote this well! No offense to other modern authors, but Majors has it all over you. He never condescends to us, but includes us instead. His characters act as people do, not as people in novels do. By the same token, he seems to have a genuine affection for the people and places he writes about. Say is one of the best narrators and characters I've read.

I don't just identify with him, I feel like I know him. He is blessed with keen perceptions but feels cursed by them. Adulthood is not particularly welcomed but is inevitable and he is scared. It is nearly impossible for a writer to portray the kind of youth that is no longer innocent but not yet wise. Majors was able to do this. Unlike his protaganist, he has harnessed his talents to produce a masterwork that should not be overlooked.