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A Juniper Through The Cracks
Ambrose Vidal is an average, everyday man, so how did he get mixed up in an Islamic terror plot? This is the question he asks himself even as his captors plot his execution live via the internet. Ambrose withdraws into his memory, some twenty years earlier, retracing his steps through the most traumatic moment of his family's history. Ambrose is surrounded by an eclectic group of family and his grieving mother, his cantankerous grandfather, his bullied best friend, his drug addicted uncle and psychic aunt. Together they learn the harsh realities of love, loss and perseverance through adversity.
438 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 17, 2011
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 9, 2011
"A Juniper Through the Cracks" is like an Oreo cookie. It is a hard-edged, tasty thriller, sandwiching a middle that is vastly different. Each section, while okay by itself, comes together to make a whole that is much more tasty than any of the parts. I’m not going to say much about the thriller portion except that the beginning whets your appetite and the conclusion is both satisfactory and sensible when you get there.
The middle portion is the meat of the book. It is an excellent coming-of-age story with some unique characters. Many of these characters feel like a stereotype when you first meet them. The big-man-on-campus-sports-star, the junkie, and the psychic are characters we’ve seen before. You’ve probably seen the bullied kid, cantankerous grandfather, and older woman, too. With each of these characters, Purdy has taken the stereotype and added more depth to each. In the end, your feelings about each change as you understand them better.
Although there are several different story threads that run through the middle of the book, Ambrose and his mother learning to deal with death being the most serious, this portion feels more character driven than plot driven. Yet when you reach the end, you find that many of those threads were positioning the characters for the conclusion.
"A Juniper Through the Cracks" isn’t an obvious title. It comes from a scene in the book that you’ll recognize when you come to it. The juniper is a symbol for surviving in the face of adversity, the overriding theme of both portions of the book.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
The middle portion is the meat of the book. It is an excellent coming-of-age story with some unique characters. Many of these characters feel like a stereotype when you first meet them. The big-man-on-campus-sports-star, the junkie, and the psychic are characters we’ve seen before. You’ve probably seen the bullied kid, cantankerous grandfather, and older woman, too. With each of these characters, Purdy has taken the stereotype and added more depth to each. In the end, your feelings about each change as you understand them better.
Although there are several different story threads that run through the middle of the book, Ambrose and his mother learning to deal with death being the most serious, this portion feels more character driven than plot driven. Yet when you reach the end, you find that many of those threads were positioning the characters for the conclusion.
"A Juniper Through the Cracks" isn’t an obvious title. It comes from a scene in the book that you’ll recognize when you come to it. The juniper is a symbol for surviving in the face of adversity, the overriding theme of both portions of the book.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
Displaying 1 of 1 review