Las Vegas is not a setting that intrigues me. Nor am I a big
fan of stories that document terrible events for individuals, especially for children.
I would have set this book aside if I wasn’t writing a review and that would
have been a mistake.
I cried at the end. I was enthralled with the author’s
character development. McBride crafts four characters who don’t appear to be
connected to each other. As their individual stories unfold, all of them
dramatically, the connections are woven together with great sensitivity and a
realistic eye to human nature’s joys, sorrows, and foibles.
There are two underlying storylines: cultural isolation as
seen through the eyes of a 10 year old Albanian boy whose parents have no
community connection; and two Iraq war veterans, each left with emotional
and/or physical challenges that severely impact how they make sense of returning to
their Las Vegas worlds. Various supporting characters that develop the
entwining stories include a caring school teacher, an insightful principal and a
court appointed special advocate.
The tension grows as the individual stories deepen and
merge. Towards the end of the novel a character states: “But if, sometimes, an
unspeakable horror arises from the smallest error, I choose to believe that
it’s possible for an equally imaginable grandeur to grow from the tiniest gesture
of love. I choose to believe that it works both ways. That great terror is the
result of a thousand small but evil choices, and great good is the outcome of
another thousand tiny acts of care. “
To enhance the read, I would have liked further editing in
the early part of the novel as the various roles are introduced. I felt
confused, at times, about their potential co-involvement which caused me to
flip back and forth to see what I might have missed.
In addition to the entertainment of being engrossed in a
world crafted by a talented writer, I appreciated standing in the shoes of
people so very different from me in culture, age and upbringing. As a result, I
feel better able to appreciate some of the challenges of those living in
different contexts from mine. I have deepened my understanding of the trials
for young veterans returning from recent war horrors. I feel more inclined to
read novels that are outside my comfort zone.
Laura McBride’s first novel is an amazing accomplishment.
Jennifer
Mackie has lived in Guelph for over 40 years, is a business consultant
with never enough hobby time for reading, sports, online puzzles and
quilting. She reads for entertainment and
to discover the world of ‘curious’. Along with finding value in the
story, she enjoys experiencing different writer’s styles and methods for
how they entice one into their made up worlds.
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