The Map of Time a novel by Felix J. Palma

I picked up this book because it had great cover art and an interesting title.  These seemed to promise a grand adventure of some kind, perhaps fantasy or science fiction, with a strong dash of steam punk and some interesting characters.  Does selecting a book this way make the reader shallow and unthinking?  When the book becomes something completely unexpected, does the reader have reason to be angry or disgusted?  In truth, friends, when was the last time that you read something that induced so much introspection and self-doubt?  If you knew that the subject was time-travel and the book’s characters included H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker and Joseph Merrick, wouldn’t you expect a bit of a romp?  A quick glance at the readers’ comments on Amazon show that some folks hated this book for the very reasons I have mentioned here: it wasn’t exactly what they expected.

 At first, the pace of this novel is so slow that one is tempted to abandon the book.  A young man contemplating suicide on the opening page is still alive and still suicidal on page 75.  The book is 600 pages; you may begin to question your stamina.   Suddenly, the perspective changes, the pace quickens, the story focuses on new characters, and the narrator steps out of third person voice to make sly jokes.  What is the author doing?  Well, dear reader, he is toying with you.

All authors manipulate their audiences.  This is why we come to fiction.  We allow someone else to temporarily direct the narrative, to bend our perceptions in a particular direction and perhaps even to subtly affect our values.  Mr. Palma insists on underlining that fact, yanking back the curtain that ordinarily conceals the writer to show you the man behind it, pulling levers and turning gears.  Why does he risk alienating the reader?  He is showing us the very heart of his novel: the complex relationship between what we experience, what is real and where our imaginations take us.

If you are patient and willing to take the journey the author proposes, you will be rewarded.  There is adventure, true love and yes, time travel.  Mild-mannered and unassuming, H.G. Wells emerges a hero.  Palma has said of his book:

Apart from entertainment, I would like to leave the reader with the idea that the imagination can make our lives more beautiful.

The more I read, the more riveted I became.  Will The Map of Time have the same effect on you?  As it says on page one:  “Your emotion and astonishment are guaranteed.”

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

      A fascinating and unexpected debut novel that examines the dark nature of humanity in the face of illness and loneliness. The book describes the rich landscape of 1907 Wisconsin and delves into how the harsh winters can affect the people of a small isolated town. Ralph Truitt, the wealthiest man in town, is surprised when Catherine Land steps off the train. He has placed an ad in the newspaper for “A Reliable Wife” and Catherine does not match the photograph she sent.

     The book chronicles the uneasy start of Catherine and Ralph’s marriage and the reader comes to find that Catherine is certainly not the pure, faithful woman she claims to be. Ralph, too, proves to be more than he appeared at first sight and encourages Catherine to help him locate his estranged son. The story escalates when Catherine begins poisoning her husband slowly and we are allowed insight to the tortured thoughts of a conflicted woman.

     A Reliable Wife is an interesting character study where each player is deeply developed. They may not be entirely likable, but each character is real with histories and intricacies that make them both believable and endearing. I also enjoyed how Goolrick turned color into a character all its own, with beautiful descriptions. Woven into the main plot are fascinating vignettes of how easily “cabin fever” can turn to madness when a small town is cut off from society. This book is not for the faint of heart; it is dark and sometimes sad, but the conclusion is satisfying. I would recommend this title for the reader who doesn’t mind desperate and truly flawed characters.

The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart

 

     You might look at the cover image, think Western, and pass this one by and, most times, I would be right there with you.  (Forgive me if Westerns are a favorite genre).  What gave me pause were the words of high praise from Tim O'Brien on the back cover of the book. And,  at the time the book cover caught my eye, I was looking for something out of my comfort zone.  I was intrigued with the idea of reading a masculine book, a book about men and the relationship between fathers and sons.
     Set at the turn of the century, this is a harsh story that matches the hardscrabble landscape of a Texas farm owned by an embittered, and, at times, cruel farmer, Vaclev Skala, who drives his sons hard, to the point of harnessing them to the yoke to plow his fields.  Valclev is land hungry and, at heart, a gambler and he therefore accepts a challenge from a wealthy Mexican landowner, Guillermo Villasenor, also avaricious for more land.  Villasenor offers his three daughters in marriage to three of Vaclev's sons, should his horse win, thus laying claim to Valclev's landholdings or ceding over his own considerable land holdings should he be the loser.
     The outcome of this race, ridden by Vaclev's youngest son, Karel, causes a powerful rift between him and his three brothers, from whom he is already alienated and which endures for years until a near tragedy creates the circumstances for forgiveness and a chance to overcome the past.
     The language is perfectly matched to the landscape and the characters are complex and sympathetic. Though completely out of my reading bailiwick, I loved this book.  I was completely transported to another time and place and my heart ached for these men and the circumstances of their lives.  In the words of Tim O'Brien, "The prose is polished and evocative, the physicality of rural Texas in the year 1910 shimmers with loving exactitude, and the story of Karel Skala is a gripping American drama of misplaced guilt, familial struggle, and a search for identity.  What a fine, rich, absorbing book."