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A Run of Bad Luck in Reading

© Robert Powers

I have been writing about books for more than four decades. My initial book reviews appeared in the Sunday editions of The Herald-Advertiser in Huntington, W. Va. in 1958. I find that writing about books is almost as much fun as reading them.

And then there a periods when I can't seem to find a good book, despite a tall stack of new releases brought to my door by the postman and the UPS lady. That's been the case recently.

Rosanne Daryl Thomas's second novel, Awaiting Grace (Picador USA, $22) supposedly is a comic romp in which God Himself acts as the narrator. The problem with the book is its wacky characters and their sad situations hardly are the stuff that would elicit chuckles.

David Treuer's second novel (maybe that's what's wrong with these books: the curse of the sophomore slump) is a grim visit to American Indians in Minnesota. The Hiawatha (Picador USA, $24) examines struggles with poverty that create a downbeat defeatism that can't be overcome by Treuer's mastery of language and deep knowledge of the plight of the Ojibwes who are portrayed in these tough pages. Gloomy stuff, no matter how well written.

Ella Leffland's new novel, Breath and Shadows (Morrow, $24) is being labeled a masterpiece (by its publisher) and received a rave notice from Publisher's Weekly. The book follows three generations of the Rosted family across centuries, continents, and the span of human destiny. (I stole that from the press release.) I tried, but found it impossible to get caught up in the narrative. So much for the masterpiece.

When Carrie Brown's Rose's Garden came out a while ago, I was so entranced by its magic that I interviewed the author for one of my columns. Brown's second novel, Lamb in Love (Algonquin Books) possesses none of the magic so abundant in the unforgettable pages of Rose's Garden. This is one of those love stories that isn't wrapped up until the final pages, but I had lost interest in these dull characters long before the end of their slow-paced adventures. A major disappointment is this one.

Newcomer Robert Clark Young has a potentially powerful story in One of the Guys (Cliff Street Books, $24). The unconventional plot has a porn shop attendent assuming the identify of a customer who died on the premises. That leads to some unexpected adventures when his new identity is that of a Navy chaplain who was a closeted gay man. Some interesting situations develop, but the book never moves beyond the obvious. Again, this one is getting some good reviews within the booksellers' trade magazines.

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