The Borders of Life

Rating:
Summary: Not Everyone's cup of tea!
Review: I was stunned by this fantasy. Why in the world did I find this book in a remainders bin? It is excellently written, well plotted, and totally absorbing. It should have many more readers than it apparently had! I've put G.A. Kathryns on my 'authors to watch for' list. This is an extraordinary fantasy well outside the standard fantasy-type plots. The book might almost be classified as mystical realism.

This is the story of a woman, Alma Montague, who comes 'home' to Lee Corners to retire and live out her life in peace. She left town when she was a young woman, and never returned until her retirement. Part of the intriguing aspect of the novel is the question of what is 'real' Vs what might or might not be the imaginings of the heroine.

Spend some time with this book, I found it to be a lovely elegy and a bit of comfort in grieving about a friend.

Rating:
Summary: Not Everyone's cup of tea!
Review: I was stunned by this fantasy. Why in the world did I find this book in a remainders bin? It is excellently written, well plotted, and totally absorbing. It should have many more readers than it apparently had! I've put G.A. Kathryns on my 'authors to watch for' list. This is an extraordinary fantasy well outside the standard fantasy-type plots. The book might almost be classified as mystical realism.

This is the story of a woman, Alma Montague, who comes 'home' to Lee Corners to retire and live out her life in peace. She left town when she was a young woman, and never returned until her retirement. Part of the intriguing aspect of the novel is the question of what is 'real' Vs what might or might not be the imaginings of the heroine.

Spend some time with this book, I found it to be a lovely elegy and a bit of comfort in grieving about a friend.

Rating:
Summary: The Borders of Nonsense
Review: I'm sorry. I just didn't get it. I'd like to think of myself as an intelligent person, but this book seemed to go beyond me. G.A. Kathryns seems to want to make a point that actions or inactions in our lives have consequences. True enough, however, some of the consequences do not take place in the living world, but in the "dead" world. Huh? Exactly. What does this all mean? Well, don't expect to find the answer in this book. The border between life and death apparently is a fine grey line that only a few people can venture between. One is the 77 year old protagonist Alma Montague and her often talked about and never seen Grandfather. In fact, he is the one who found the way (through a gate in the backyard). How he finds it or why he had to is never discussed, other than to say he did it (maybe) for his Grandaughter to use when she needed it. Now there's a sharp Grandpop.

Alma finds all her answers with the help of the mysterious Mr. Dark, a "colored" business man who likes to eat vanilla ice cream at noon everyday. Mr. Dark also knows about the gate and where it leads. He's helping Alma find all her answers while he is being butchered and killed by a racist and his bumbling sidekick (in another reality? who knows?). Got it.

Throw into all this a murdered young Mother. Why? I'm not sure why she was murdered. I think the description of her mangled corpse was too good not to use in the book. Should I go on? I cannot bear it. I am beginning to confuse myself. Again, it's probably me.

As an aside, this book contained the longest run-on sentences I have ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Bang-your-head-against-a-wall terrible!
Review: I'm the type who usually packrats books, but I finished this one and hurled it into the "sell" pile immediately. It had absolutely no point. The plot was beyond disjointed, with seemilngly completely unconnected characters leaping about in all directions with no purpose. The subplots are completely obscure, with about five unrelated and STUPID stories going on at once. We have the young mother who was raped and later murdered and everyone in the community knows it, but is ostracized because she had a child out of wedlock (as a result of rape) and "committed suicide." We have the old woman who's taking care of her son and the grandparents who want him back. We have the evil racist and the disinterested law enforcement. We have the curious and otherworldly "colored gentleman." Ant to top it all off, the main character's "forbidden love" with another woman, which consists of their meeting once and only speaking maybe five words to each other. I kept reading to the end in order to see how the author would tie all these threads together. She didn't.

To top it off, the writing was TERRIBLE. The longest run-on sentences I've ever read, and useless parenthetical asides so long you forgot what the original sentence said. I would only recommend this book if you need something to support the short leg on your coffee table.

Rating:
Summary: Bang-your-head-against-a-wall terrible!
Review: I'm the type who usually packrats books, but I finished this one and hurled it into the "sell" pile immediately. It had absolutely no point. The plot was beyond disjointed, with seemilngly completely unconnected characters leaping about in all directions with no purpose. The subplots are completely obscure, with about five unrelated and STUPID stories going on at once. We have the young mother who was raped and later murdered and everyone in the community knows it, but is ostracized because she had a child out of wedlock (as a result of rape) and "committed suicide." We have the old woman who's taking care of her son and the grandparents who want him back. We have the evil racist and the disinterested law enforcement. We have the curious and otherworldly "colored gentleman." Ant to top it all off, the main character's "forbidden love" with another woman, which consists of their meeting once and only speaking maybe five words to each other. I kept reading to the end in order to see how the author would tie all these threads together. She didn't.

To top it off, the writing was TERRIBLE. The longest run-on sentences I've ever read, and useless parenthetical asides so long you forgot what the original sentence said. I would only recommend this book if you need something to support the short leg on your coffee table.