Return to Suicide

Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly beautiful
Review: Allison Alexander's novella Return to Suicide is a hauntingly beautiful piece of literature. So many things work together in these 100+ pages of natural writing. It is the stuff of classics. Alexander tells a tale so tragically poignant it begs an emotional reaction from its reader; and certainly gets one. I actually burst into tears at one point. The author has written a story about the "unwanted" and the "searching" that is set in the Great Depression. Return to Suicide is reader friendly and yet has a sophisticated style. I will be affected for quite some time by this amazing book. Author Alexander's future in writing is one to keep track of. She is enormously talented.

Rating:
Summary: Rich in plot, but poor editing
Review: Allison Pollack Alexander has a unique and powerful voice. Her premise is strong, her story rich in plot. But due to what appears to be extremely light editing, the story loses a lot. I believe Return To Suicide would make an excellent screenplay, the dialogue sizzles and there are many very strong scenes.

Rating:
Summary: Midwest Book Review - I congratulate this author
Review: With simple dialog and stark passages reminiscent of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Ms. Alexander takes us into Addie Myers' life. Neither story nor setting is pretty, but somehow this reader was enriched by the telling.

Addie Myers is a scrawny ten year old orphan, dumped off on a brutish uncle in the early years of the dust bowl and depression. Uncle Ira offers no creature comforts, no hope, and very little food to keep an unloved child alive. And the good folks of Suicide Oklahoma prefer not to get involved. Staunch Christian souls that they are, they know Addie's history and that her future will no doubt be as suspect as her past. The hand of friendship is extended only by Miss Eleanor at the general store, and an awkward boy named Tom.

What little hope Tom has for a promising life away from Suicide is shattered in his youth. And Addie lives a bare existence, trying to stay out of her loutish uncle's reach as she comes of age. With nowhere to go and no one to guide or protect her, Addie silently seeks acceptance in the fields, birds, and animals, the prairie winds and skies.

Spare blessings come in the form of Tom's love for a wild girl and her blossoming to the only tenderness she's ever known. Not even the revelation of dark secrets or the shocking end of Return to Suicide negates the sweetness Tom and Addie share for a brief time. I congratulate the author for making this story work, for bringing a sense of beauty out of hopelessness and dust.

Rating:
Summary: Midwest Book Review - I congratulate this author
Review: With simple dialog and stark passages reminiscent of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Ms. Alexander takes us into Addie Myers' life. Neither story nor setting is pretty, but somehow this reader was enriched by the telling.

Addie Myers is a scrawny ten year old orphan, dumped off on a brutish uncle in the early years of the dust bowl and depression. Uncle Ira offers no creature comforts, no hope, and very little food to keep an unloved child alive. And the good folks of Suicide Oklahoma prefer not to get involved. Staunch Christian souls that they are, they know Addie's history and that her future will no doubt be as suspect as her past. The hand of friendship is extended only by Miss Eleanor at the general store, and an awkward boy named Tom.

What little hope Tom has for a promising life away from Suicide is shattered in his youth. And Addie lives a bare existence, trying to stay out of her loutish uncle's reach as she comes of age. With nowhere to go and no one to guide or protect her, Addie silently seeks acceptance in the fields, birds, and animals, the prairie winds and skies.

Spare blessings come in the form of Tom's love for a wild girl and her blossoming to the only tenderness she's ever known. Not even the revelation of dark secrets or the shocking end of Return to Suicide negates the sweetness Tom and Addie share for a brief time. I congratulate the author for making this story work, for bringing a sense of beauty out of hopelessness and dust.