Write Letter to Billy

by Toby Olson

A wonderful story of what family means, of the flesh-level pain of sibling rivalry, and the discovery of love. It is a fantastic and beautiful tapestry of some of the most imaginative and precise prose writing going on in America today. Toby Olson stands tall among the handful of writers I most admire and respect.—Richard Wiley

Write A Letter to Billy is a delectably complicated maze that kept me spellbound from start to finish. Only the most sophisticated of writers could manage to combine the seriousness of a quest for identity and meaning with the intensity of a thriller, not to mention an excursion into deep-sea diving and the resort life of southern California. Once again, Toby Olson has written a terrific novel full of peril and surprise, offering startling revelations and sudden expansions of the heart and mind."—Lynne Sharon Schwartz

United with a long-lost teenage daughter, a retired Navy underwater repair specialist investigates a mysterious list his father had written just before his death. Some of the items are crossed off, but one of the unfinished tasks haunts "Write letter to Billy." What had his father planned to tell him? What he learns changes his life forever.

Influenced by D.H. Lawrence, William Faulkner, and Charles Dickens, Toby Olson’s pointed examination of memory and consciousness illustrates how the unraveling of external mystery leads to self discovery.

Toby Olson , winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, has published eight books of fiction and twenty-two books of poetry. His work has appeared in over two hundred newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. Olson’s novels include At Sea , Dorit in Lesbos, Utah, and The Woman Who Escaped from Shame. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and North Truro, Massachusetts.

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Toby Olson (born 1937 Chicago) is an American novelist.
Through high school and his four years in the Navy as a surgical technician, he lived in California, Arizona, and Texas.
He graduated from Occidental College and Long Island University.
Toby Olson has published eight novels, the most recent of which – The Blond Box – appeared from Fiction Collective-2 in 2003; and numerous books of poetry, including Human Nature (New Directions). A new novel, The Bitter Half, is forthcoming. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts, Olson’s novel Seaview received the PEN/Faulkner award for The Most Distinguished Work of American Fiction in 1983. Toby Olson lives in Philadelphia and in North Truro, on Cape Cod.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book for $1 at a book sale. The story was a little far-fetched at the beginning and by the end it was really pushing the limits for being within the realm of possibility.

Plus it would seem that the author didn't remember that a human pregnancy lasts 9 months. (The main character ends up fathering a child shortly after his parents die. In the book the daughter turns 16. However, the main character repeatedly refers to events that happened around the time of his parents death as 16 years ago.)

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It sounded intriguing, a man finds a list his deceased father has made and included is the entry "Write Letter to Billy". But the writing bogs down the plot, and frankly I had a hard time following what the heck the characters were thinking, or talking, about. Even when the climax of the story occurred, I was still a little confused. So, eh, just okay.

[IAmTheHolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book even though it was kind of slow paced. The plots of father meeting daughter and father figuring out what father wanted to tell him before he died are not two separate plots but one distinctly intertwined story. The ending took a total twist that is not remotely what I suspected and a vast amount of the story seems fixated on one specific item on the list that has to do with an unsolved body that washed up on shore in California many years ago, but the story does all come together in the end.

I’ll give this book a 7.5 out of 10 for entertainment and 2 of 5 for readability. Pretty long and fairly slow at times, with confusing sections in there that I’m not sure did ever really make sense…but overall an interesting plot that was not two distinct stories but one and pretty entertaining overall.

-Holly

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