Reunion [hc] Rick Hautala 9781848630291 Books
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Reunion [hc] Rick Hautala 9781848630291 Books
This book is a fine book for new Rick Hautala fans to enjoy a taste of a mature talent at its best. Hopefully, they will be drawn to read the rest of Rick's books to get a shiver. His voice will be missedProduct details
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Reunion [hc] Rick Hautala 9781848630291 Books Reviews
"Reunion" by Rick Hautala is an engrossing novella (a little over 100 pages). It is a very quick "coming of age" story that will also make you think.
The plot is mostly about two 13 year-old boys Jackie Stone and his best friend, Chris Hooper, who sneak out and have a night that they will never forget. They just want to have some harmless fun go spying on a party, maybe steal some food and possibly beer... but things don't always go as planned. That is all I am going to tell you.
Having a wild friend a lot like Chris growing up, and the conflicting feelings that Jackie goes through, made me really identify with Jackie. I was a lot like him when I was 13.
The book could be considered "genre" fiction for a few elements that it contains. But the underlying story is a universal story. Whether you can place it in a category doesn't matter. It is enjoyable and it definitely should not be pre-judged just because of an element or plot device.
Mr. Hautala tells his tale in a very easy to read fashion. It could easily be a book for Young Adults (and I recommend it to all young adults age 13 - 99+). The average reader won't find themselves scrambling for a dictionary or saying, "what the hey-diddle-dee does that mean?" There is a minimum of swearing that is used, but a heck of a lot less than most teens nowadays would use it. The book captures youth and youth remembered in ways that will keep the reader interested and thinking about their own times that have passed.
This is the kind of book that you could read as a teen, in your 30s, and then again at around age 60, and get a very different and enjoyable experience out of it. I plan on revisiting about 30 years from now myself (give or take 10 to 20 years) (I am in my 30s now). I also plan on letting my kids read it when they are teens.
Sadly, for those in the US, this book has been published only as a hardcover by PS Publishing (A UK publisher), and that makes it hard to come by for people in the US and other countries besides the UK. Of course, the Internet can make finding and ordering this book a lot easier (thank goodness). This Hardcover is available in a couple of different states A trade hardcover (for a SRP of £12.00, or around $20.00 USD) and a 100 copy signed, jacketed, limited hardcover (for SRP £25.00, or about $40.00 USD). I have the trade hardcover that I am reviewing. $20 is not a bad price for this book. After reading it, I cherish my copy and I plan on keeping it with me for the rest of my days (and letting people borrow it... with a blood signed promise to return it).
The cover art by Tomislav Tikulin is so spot-on for the story that it is some of the BEST cover art I have ever seen. The art wraps around the book, in other words, it continues to the back of the book also. There are a lot of interpretations of the art and of the story (and even of the title of the book too), and they all work.
This book can be read as allegory to life and it can be read as a fun and absorbing story. The deepness of it is up to the reader. Mr. Hautala pushes a couple of his points forward enough that you should be able to catch them, and that is enough. The rest, as I said dear readers, is up to you.
To be honest, I predicted most of the twists and turns that the story took, but this was mostly due to Mr. Hautala's great use of foreshadowing (maybe over-use in some cases... trust your readers Mr. Hautala). The story will take you on an emotional roller coaster, as any great story should, and it leaves the reader with a glimmer (that I didn't see coming) to contemplate long after the tale is told. If you are like me, you will be left continuing this tale in your own head long after you've finished. Many of my favorite books end like this... Not with room for a sequel, but room to reflect and imagine what may happen next... and knowing that the story, like real life, goes on.
If you liked this book, I highly recommend "Four Octobers" by Rick Hautala (Cemetery Dance Publications). It contains four remarkable stories/novellas, but "Miss Henry's Bottles" will blow you away. In some ways, "Reunion" has a similar nostalgic feel and could almost be connected to "Miss Henry's Bottles" with a couple of tweaks.
For the purposes of disclosure I received a review copy of this book for free.
As we grow older, we tend to think of childhood as a golden time, when the hours poured through our fingers like water, glistening and plentiful. Summers were especially wonderful, those days when school was out and there was nothing to do but play. But when we call up specific memories, they never seem quite so golden; our friends never seem quite such good friends; and there are terrors that we have worked hard to forget. Perhaps that's why so many books have been written about that time when we transition from childhood to young adulthood, the moment when we begin to regard our childhood fancies as childish.
For Jackie, the main character in Rick Hautala's Reunion, that "moment" comes in late August, just a couple of weeks before he is to begin attending junior high school. Jackie is camping out in his backyard with his best friend, Chris Hooper. Chris has a great plan after everyone's asleep, they'll steal away and head for the country club, where there's a high school class reunion going on. They'll swipe themselves a couple of steaks and have a great time. Jackie's not sure why he's so completely opposed to this plan; it's not that he's chicken, and he's no goody-two-shoes, either. It just doesn't feel right.
John is getting ready to attend the same high school reunion, but he is attending as someone who graduated forty years ago. He is scared to death of this gathering, for reasons he won't divulge. His wife doesn't understand it; why did they spend all the time and money to get back to Rockport, Maine from California if he's so reluctant to actually go to the party? And circumstances seem to be colluding to ensure that they don't get there at all a mechanical problem with the plane, no car at the rental place, a mixed-up hotel reservation, and then, to top it all off, a tire blows out when they're finally on the road. But John is determined to get to the country club despite how frightened he is, because he has a task to accomplish once he's there.
Jackie ultimately doesn't have much choice about going, because Chris insists. As they run up and over the bridge, Chris far in the lead, they pass through a strange fog. Isn't fog supposed to stick to lower places, not higher ones? And why does this particular fog seem so strangely greasy? Why does Jackie feel - changed somehow after that run through that cloud?
Jackie and John are about to collide, thanks to the fog. If I said any more, I'd spoil this lovely, nostalgic novella. The story has a mood that matches that of Robert McCammon's Boy's Life or Dan Simmons's Summer of Night, one that brings memories of climbing trees, roaming in the green woods, and doing stupid things that we should never have survived - but most of all, of that special moment when we started to recognize that childhood was ending. Hautala remembers the awkwardness of feeling betwixt and between, no longer a child but not yet an adult, and he conveys it with pitch-perfect dialogue, both interior and exterior. And Hautala also knows how to write about the yearning for childhood adults experience as they remember those long, lazy days before they were old enough to work, when summers stretched out almost endlessly. Reunion is a lovely story.
This book is a fine book for new Rick Hautala fans to enjoy a taste of a mature talent at its best. Hopefully, they will be drawn to read the rest of Rick's books to get a shiver. His voice will be missed
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