First, let me say that I will certainly read another book by this author. My reason has to do with authenticity and personal creativity. This is one of those rare books that the author didn't use a tried-and-true fiction template, which is often spoon-fed to newbie authors. More often than not, as soon as I sense their existence, any one of those templates signal to me what is going to happen in the story.

By the same token, I first thought that Miranda was the protagonist because throughout most of the beginning and middle sections of the story favored her. Sometimes protagonists get killed, that's true, but this story continued with Dix, Miranda's original love interest, before she lost her mind and self to a commune. This meant that the story itself was the center and not any one specific element of it,that is programmed to be used in a specific fashion. To me, this is real storytelling at its ultimate form.

The story begins with Miranda, a sheltered and pampered young woman from a well-to-do family, who finds herself alone with her brother and father killed in two separate accidents and her mother going senile. At this point, not only has she lost her family but also her family’s assets are wiped clean. When the family’s handyman Dix offers Miranda his guest house as well as his heart later, she willingly agrees. Yet, she feels she still hasn’t found a meaning in her life as she is still depressed. Her search for meaning leads her to The Source, which is a nature-worshiping commune with an inept guru and characters with disturbing experiences. The story becomes even more complex with unexpected twists and turns from here on.

As to the characters, as much as they have been competently portrayed with all their quirks and traits, I couldn't find one character I could identify with. Not the saintly Dix, or the lost and confused Miranda and Sally, or the villain Darius (aka David) with the Messiah complex. Still, these people made the story what it is. None of us can fault an author for her perfectly drawn characters even if we can't relate to them.

Then, yes, this story's plot is a dark one, even though a tiny ray of light shines at the end of it, which I thought was wrapped up with haste, but I am guessing the author didn't want to counteract the general tone and mood of the book too strongly.

All in all, the craft of the author--as to her use of the language and her just right amount of descriptions of the place and character presentation--make this story well-worth a reader's time. I am glad I read it.

is Laurel Saville,an award-winning author of numerous books, articles, essays, and short fiction. Her work has appeared in the LA Times Magazine, the Bark, NYTimes.com, and other publications. She holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and lives and writes near Seattle. She is also a corporate communications consultant and has taught and spoken at a variety of colleges and writing conferences.

Her memoir, Unraveling Anne, won the memoir category of the 2011 Indie Book Awards and was a runner-up to the grand prize winner at the Hollywood Book Festival. Her first novel, Henry and Rachel, a fictionalized account of her great-grandparents’ lives, was a finalist for a Nancy Pearl Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers.

I neither recommend nor not recommend this book because most people who have read it complain of its depressive quality, but I enjoyed reading it. I felt that the author was highly capable and she wasn't out there to entertain only. She wrote something heavy and literary. Most writing with a literary quality might turn off the readers who are used to lighter stories.

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Created May 30, 2020 at 6:34pm • Submit your own review...