Undaunted

I'm not really sure why getting another positive review this morning impacted me so much. It might be due to fact that Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown has so far only received a handful of reviews in total, both positive & otherwise (six on Goodreads & two on Amazon).

As I've already mentioned, I'm fully aware that my recent novel is not an easy read for some, especially since it certainly wasn't an easy write for me. Complicating the issue is the challenge of assigning genres to it—is it disaster fiction, catastrophe, dystopian, small town & rural, biographical, or what?

But of course, Pearl's voice might be the most difficult aspect of all, especially for a reader who has never been graced with the presence of a gritty survivor of truly challenging times willing to share their painful, if sometimes narrowed, recollections.

I chose to restrict the point-of-view to Pearl's alone for personal not stylistic reasons, allowing her narrative to develop along an older style of storytelling much like grandmothers & my great-grandmother relished.

From beginning to end in this whole process, the story has always been an homage to those particular three women as well as to my great-aunts & their friends I was blessed to grow up around.

I couldn't count the hours I spent soaking up their own stories of survival that were invariably laced with undaunted humor and resilience in the face of what was at times—and still can be—a hostile yet not always heartless world.

Till next time,

Drew

Drew Faraday
Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown