Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A very thoughtful review

Unusually thoughtful, 5 stars for Emil ...
I am not the intended audience for Deemer's books - I'm an avid reader who enjoys the depth and development of the novels I read. The short, clipped passages here are somewhat frustrating for me. In a way, EMIL'S LAST ADVENTURE reads like the treatment for a movie (Deemer is a professor of screenwriting, after all), leaving me wanting much more. But in another way, I appreciate what Deemer is able to do in just a few pages, and there's no doubt his characters come alive for the reader in just a few words.

Two things I will remember most about EMIL'S LAST ADVENTURE: 1) the Goosenecks of San Juan River, in Utah (I had never even heard of them before reading this, but the images I found on Google were so breathtaking I'm determined to make the trip!), and 2) "Song of the Turkey Buzzard," by poet Lew Welch ("Not the bronze casket but the brazen wing, soaring forever above thee, o perfect, o sweetest water, o glorious wheeling bird"). This is a satisfying and thought-provoking story that is definitely worth a read.

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