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Song of the Mockingbird
I m reading this. Enjoying it. I was drawn to it because it was about a writer who had lost the ability to write his next book so he has psychoanalysis and the therapist suggests that he seek for answers by going home and asking his father about his childhood.
Unknown Binding
First published February 20, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 27, 2015
Wonderful! Powerful! Page Turner!
Wow! I had this on my kindle for a while. I don't know why I waited this long to read it. This is a book I could read over and over. A beautiful and powerful story with strong characters and never a dull moment. I am glad to see there is part two. Highly recommend!!!
Wow! I had this on my kindle for a while. I don't know why I waited this long to read it. This is a book I could read over and over. A beautiful and powerful story with strong characters and never a dull moment. I am glad to see there is part two. Highly recommend!!!
January 17, 2015
This is a beautifully written book following the soul-searching of 48 year old writer, Jack McNamara. Shocked by his serious consideration of suicide, he seeks the help of a counsellor who advises his problems are rooted in the events of summer 1961, when he was 14. The narrative moves forwards and back between 1961 and the present time (1995) as Jack re-investigates the harrowing experiences of those few months of his childhood.
"...I knew that the keys to unlocking my own emotional prison lay within the folds of those memories."
I loved the sections of the book based in 1961 and how personal events were intertwined with Earnest Hemingway's experiences and suicide. The author did a brilliant job of capturing the ambience of the time, viewing the adult behaviour through the innocent eyes of a sensitive fourteen year old and his first experiences of the highs and lows of love. Jack's relationship with his parents and half-sister are fully explored with sensitivity and great insights.
The deceptively simple style of writing made this book a pleasure to read. Dialogue flowed naturally and moments of magic were added to the simple prose to evoke emotions and nostalgia.
"I brushed the sand from my shorts and wished I could brush my current hurts from my heart as easily... the house was silent. I searched for Mother..."
I didn't enjoy the adult Jack quite so much. As a reader, it seemed clear he was an over thinker, yet missing many of his problems related to his relationship with his father. The final confrontation with his father, indicated to me, he hadn't grown as a character. He hadn't learnt to accept responsibility for his own reactions, but simply shifted the blame for his woes from one person to another. There was a section in the book, where Jack explained he wrote characters by trying to see the situation through their eyes. I therefore found it strange, Jack didn't attempt to view things through his father's eyes or the ethos of the times and be more accepting of his 'mistake.' Jack may have discovered the truth behind what happened and re-connected with old friends,but he, himself did not change substantially, making the ending not as satisfying as it could have been.
Overall, very impressed with the outstanding writing of this interesting, sensitively told tale of depression (pre-Prozac), creativity, sexuality,love and betrayal.
"...I knew that the keys to unlocking my own emotional prison lay within the folds of those memories."
I loved the sections of the book based in 1961 and how personal events were intertwined with Earnest Hemingway's experiences and suicide. The author did a brilliant job of capturing the ambience of the time, viewing the adult behaviour through the innocent eyes of a sensitive fourteen year old and his first experiences of the highs and lows of love. Jack's relationship with his parents and half-sister are fully explored with sensitivity and great insights.
The deceptively simple style of writing made this book a pleasure to read. Dialogue flowed naturally and moments of magic were added to the simple prose to evoke emotions and nostalgia.
"I brushed the sand from my shorts and wished I could brush my current hurts from my heart as easily... the house was silent. I searched for Mother..."
I didn't enjoy the adult Jack quite so much. As a reader, it seemed clear he was an over thinker, yet missing many of his problems related to his relationship with his father. The final confrontation with his father, indicated to me, he hadn't grown as a character. He hadn't learnt to accept responsibility for his own reactions, but simply shifted the blame for his woes from one person to another. There was a section in the book, where Jack explained he wrote characters by trying to see the situation through their eyes. I therefore found it strange, Jack didn't attempt to view things through his father's eyes or the ethos of the times and be more accepting of his 'mistake.' Jack may have discovered the truth behind what happened and re-connected with old friends,but he, himself did not change substantially, making the ending not as satisfying as it could have been.
Overall, very impressed with the outstanding writing of this interesting, sensitively told tale of depression (pre-Prozac), creativity, sexuality,love and betrayal.
March 28, 2018
Heavens, but this book was repetitious and wordy. The switching back and forth between the present and the past was annoying and often took me out of the story. I am not sure I bought into the narrator’s reason for depression, and the big secret seemed a letdown to me.
Not a bad story... just not a great one.
Not a bad story... just not a great one.
May 26, 2015
1 one star says it all
March 1, 2019
Jack is a successful novelist, but now he cannot write a word. His counselor has suggested he needs to find the reasons for his hatred of his mother. And he is transplanted back to his youth. His stepsister is forced to leave the house. Jack wants to write, it he is told he will be unsuccessful and be depressed and commit suicide.
As Jack delves into the history he learns many surprising things.
As Jack delves into the history he learns many surprising things.
July 17, 2019
Good book
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
April 7, 2022
Truly marvelous
I swear this could be a great movie. The characters and locales would be great. I truly loved this novel.
I swear this could be a great movie. The characters and locales would be great. I truly loved this novel.
August 11, 2014
Books are like people, in my experience, in that either there is an immediate rapport that can lead to falling in love by chapter 2 and an affair of the heart you never want to end, or a slow burn affection that grows steadily throughout its pages. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, it can be a combination of both. Those are the books you best remember, even many years after having read them. I so wanted Bill Cronin’s book to be one with which I fell in love. The promising subject matter was all there, guaranteed to entice me: the blocked writer with a troubled present and a dark past, scarred with secrets to be uncovered in order to release him from his spell of depression. But it didn’t quite happen for me. About three-quarters of the way through the book there was a moment when I thought it would, when the narrator, Jack McNamara, spoke of the “one true sentence” that he strived for, just as Hemingway had. I believed then that the one true sentence would emerge, either in the dialogue or the interaction between the characters, or in my relationship as a reader with the main protagonist – but although it came close, it somehow missed the mark.
This is my subjective take on it, however, and I am not declaring the book less because of it. I have given it 4 stars, which I think it merits. It would have earned 5* for me if there had been a greater depth of characterisation, and that alchemical magic that occurs between novel and reader that brings about emotional involvement. There were opportunities to expand on the relationship between Jack and his mother, for instance, and although the book was psychologically well observed I never quite connected enough with the central character. The slow burn effect was there, and I warmed to him, and to his half sister, as more of each of them and their history was revealed, but ultimately I remained unconvinced by the emotional veracity of their relationship. I wanted to know more, and to really feel along with Jack as the trickiest aspects of the truth were uncovered. To elicit genuine emotions in the reader is a skill, and I would like to read more of Bill Cronin’s books, as I believe he can do it. As it is, this undoubtedly literary novel is well crafted, well written, and tackles without flinching difficult subjects and those sticky, inexplicable dynamics that fester on in families throughout generations.
The story begins by describing Jack’s dilemma – as a successful well-established author who has been paid a large advance for his next novel, he finds himself unable to write. Whether this creative hiatus has been caused by his slippage into depression, or the other way round, it has become an inescapable cycle of despair. His marriage has been badly scuppered by the lack of attention he has felt able to pay it and as a result has now floundered on the rocks. His wife Emily leaving him is the catalyst for Jack to begin a serious interrogation within himself as to the reasons for his angst, the roots of which seem to be firmly anchored in the various traumatic events that took place during the summer when he was an impressionable boy of 14. This was the time of the inauguration of his career as a writer, when his first short story was published. By then Jack’s mother’s long-time obsession with the work of Ernest Hemingway had transferred itself to him, and with his mother’s encouragement he had continued to identify with Hemingway in the years since. Jack’s journey of self-contemplation in present time continues both inwardly and outwardly as he sets out to track down his long lost half sister, Billie, hoping she will provide the answers to past secrets which have remained locked away since his mother’s death. As we journey with him, we learn much about Jack’s relationship with his judgmental, disparaging, emotionally closed off father, with whom Jack aches to connect. Is Jack’s current inability to write something to do with the fact that his father has never valued writing as a career, and thereby by extension Jack himself? The long undeclared tension between them reaches a climax towards the end of the book. Piece by piece we build up the picture of Jack’s blocked emotions, and by then we have come to hope for some kind of catharsis to release him, not knowing to the very last whether this will bring his wife back or free him into a future in which his anger and confusion about the past have been resolved. You will have to read the book yourself to find the answer – a reading experience you will not regret.
I felt throughout that Bill Cronin dealt with this potentially hazardous psychological material well, and he certainly knows how to tell a tale. His descriptions of the city and country landscapes were superb. So why not give the novel 5*? I suppose I was left wishing this had been a longer, richer and more emotionally and psychologically satisfying novel. I think he has such a book in him, and I’m looking forward to reading his next book, which I understand from his website is already work in progress.
This is my subjective take on it, however, and I am not declaring the book less because of it. I have given it 4 stars, which I think it merits. It would have earned 5* for me if there had been a greater depth of characterisation, and that alchemical magic that occurs between novel and reader that brings about emotional involvement. There were opportunities to expand on the relationship between Jack and his mother, for instance, and although the book was psychologically well observed I never quite connected enough with the central character. The slow burn effect was there, and I warmed to him, and to his half sister, as more of each of them and their history was revealed, but ultimately I remained unconvinced by the emotional veracity of their relationship. I wanted to know more, and to really feel along with Jack as the trickiest aspects of the truth were uncovered. To elicit genuine emotions in the reader is a skill, and I would like to read more of Bill Cronin’s books, as I believe he can do it. As it is, this undoubtedly literary novel is well crafted, well written, and tackles without flinching difficult subjects and those sticky, inexplicable dynamics that fester on in families throughout generations.
The story begins by describing Jack’s dilemma – as a successful well-established author who has been paid a large advance for his next novel, he finds himself unable to write. Whether this creative hiatus has been caused by his slippage into depression, or the other way round, it has become an inescapable cycle of despair. His marriage has been badly scuppered by the lack of attention he has felt able to pay it and as a result has now floundered on the rocks. His wife Emily leaving him is the catalyst for Jack to begin a serious interrogation within himself as to the reasons for his angst, the roots of which seem to be firmly anchored in the various traumatic events that took place during the summer when he was an impressionable boy of 14. This was the time of the inauguration of his career as a writer, when his first short story was published. By then Jack’s mother’s long-time obsession with the work of Ernest Hemingway had transferred itself to him, and with his mother’s encouragement he had continued to identify with Hemingway in the years since. Jack’s journey of self-contemplation in present time continues both inwardly and outwardly as he sets out to track down his long lost half sister, Billie, hoping she will provide the answers to past secrets which have remained locked away since his mother’s death. As we journey with him, we learn much about Jack’s relationship with his judgmental, disparaging, emotionally closed off father, with whom Jack aches to connect. Is Jack’s current inability to write something to do with the fact that his father has never valued writing as a career, and thereby by extension Jack himself? The long undeclared tension between them reaches a climax towards the end of the book. Piece by piece we build up the picture of Jack’s blocked emotions, and by then we have come to hope for some kind of catharsis to release him, not knowing to the very last whether this will bring his wife back or free him into a future in which his anger and confusion about the past have been resolved. You will have to read the book yourself to find the answer – a reading experience you will not regret.
I felt throughout that Bill Cronin dealt with this potentially hazardous psychological material well, and he certainly knows how to tell a tale. His descriptions of the city and country landscapes were superb. So why not give the novel 5*? I suppose I was left wishing this had been a longer, richer and more emotionally and psychologically satisfying novel. I think he has such a book in him, and I’m looking forward to reading his next book, which I understand from his website is already work in progress.
June 10, 2014
This is the story of a writer and his motivations. Jack has writers block, or perhaps more specifically, he has lost the motivation to write and create. His agent asks '"How are you feeling Jack?" a veiled reference to my current inability to perform to her expectations.' The problem is he isn't writing and when he has been paid an advance for a book he has not written this becomes a problem. Add to this anxiety, depression, his wife is leaving him. 'This isn't happy. This is you miserable while everyone around you walks on eggshells. This is bimonthly sex and romantic starvation.' Emily's accusation is particularly savage and shows how much their relationship has deteriorated.
He sees his counsellor looking for help 'I submerged myself into an ocean of feelings and searched for the key to unlock my emotional prison. The odds were better winning the lottery.' The counsellor thinks it may be something in his past and the story flits back to his mother's funeral, to give the reader an insight into family life, his relationship with his parents and his half sister Billie. His parents form great contrasts, the encouraging artistic mother who cultivates his love of Hemingway and this is a strong theme throughout the book. His father is the cold, repressed, ordered, practical man who says you will never make a living out of writing. As a writer he longs to connect with his father on an emotional level. This is shown by the way that he envies Emily, his wife, who gets on much better with is father than he does, saying she never understood what the problem was. His father is the typical, go getting American, who believes depression is only in the mind and you can just snap out of it. Jack defends his mother's feeling and by extension his own, by saying 'She needed help, and mostly she needed someone to talk to. And all you gave her was all this crap about "pulling herself up by her bootstraps."' He says he always feels he has to defend himself with his father.
In order to discuss his relationship with his mother and sister the writer goes back to 1961. She is the one who submits his short story to the competition and where he gets his first taste of success. The Doorman is Malcolm's story and he uses this to show that people's lives are not all they seem. Malcolm's reaction to his writing is really interesting. 'There are doers and there are talkers. That is the difference between you and me.' This is ironic as he isn't doing any writing at the moment. Compare this to his father's reaction where he states writing is not a proper career. We learn of his mother's upbringing and the mistake she made getting married the first time, although we do not learn the full story until he speaks to his aunt, Glory Jean, much later.
Jody is his teenage sweetheart whose mother is a magazine writer. Again there is the reinforcement of the theme that all writers struggle with their emotions, even to the point of depression. Towards the end of the novel she will become the driving force that gets him back to writing again.
It is not until the end of the novel that we see things from Billie's perspective and why she had to leave. Jack confronts his dad about his behaviour towards her. The novel ends with his writing, his reconciliation with Billie and an opportunity to do something that will help her.
We are told a lot about his mother's background in order to tell us where Billie fits in. Do we need to know all about his mother's background? Would it be better to concentrate on showing his relationship with his mother, through interaction and dialogue? I think as an indie writer this is one of the problems we have, what to put in and what to leave out? Do we need Glory Jean's story?
This is essentially a psychological novel, in the sense that we are allowed to see what Jack is feeling, his relationships with other people and how he is coping with the difficulties in his life. This is where the strength of the novel lies. From a character point of view, this is what draws the reader in and makes us sympathetic to Jack's plight.
He sees his counsellor looking for help 'I submerged myself into an ocean of feelings and searched for the key to unlock my emotional prison. The odds were better winning the lottery.' The counsellor thinks it may be something in his past and the story flits back to his mother's funeral, to give the reader an insight into family life, his relationship with his parents and his half sister Billie. His parents form great contrasts, the encouraging artistic mother who cultivates his love of Hemingway and this is a strong theme throughout the book. His father is the cold, repressed, ordered, practical man who says you will never make a living out of writing. As a writer he longs to connect with his father on an emotional level. This is shown by the way that he envies Emily, his wife, who gets on much better with is father than he does, saying she never understood what the problem was. His father is the typical, go getting American, who believes depression is only in the mind and you can just snap out of it. Jack defends his mother's feeling and by extension his own, by saying 'She needed help, and mostly she needed someone to talk to. And all you gave her was all this crap about "pulling herself up by her bootstraps."' He says he always feels he has to defend himself with his father.
In order to discuss his relationship with his mother and sister the writer goes back to 1961. She is the one who submits his short story to the competition and where he gets his first taste of success. The Doorman is Malcolm's story and he uses this to show that people's lives are not all they seem. Malcolm's reaction to his writing is really interesting. 'There are doers and there are talkers. That is the difference between you and me.' This is ironic as he isn't doing any writing at the moment. Compare this to his father's reaction where he states writing is not a proper career. We learn of his mother's upbringing and the mistake she made getting married the first time, although we do not learn the full story until he speaks to his aunt, Glory Jean, much later.
Jody is his teenage sweetheart whose mother is a magazine writer. Again there is the reinforcement of the theme that all writers struggle with their emotions, even to the point of depression. Towards the end of the novel she will become the driving force that gets him back to writing again.
It is not until the end of the novel that we see things from Billie's perspective and why she had to leave. Jack confronts his dad about his behaviour towards her. The novel ends with his writing, his reconciliation with Billie and an opportunity to do something that will help her.
We are told a lot about his mother's background in order to tell us where Billie fits in. Do we need to know all about his mother's background? Would it be better to concentrate on showing his relationship with his mother, through interaction and dialogue? I think as an indie writer this is one of the problems we have, what to put in and what to leave out? Do we need Glory Jean's story?
This is essentially a psychological novel, in the sense that we are allowed to see what Jack is feeling, his relationships with other people and how he is coping with the difficulties in his life. This is where the strength of the novel lies. From a character point of view, this is what draws the reader in and makes us sympathetic to Jack's plight.
June 13, 2014
Excellent smooth writing style that carries you into the story
Bill Cronin shares a name with one of Britain’s most celebrated writers, A J Cronin. Whether he is related to A J, I don’t know, but if he is that explains why his story is so mesmerising and captivating: perhaps an inherited talent. The warm cosy style reminded me of F Scott Fitzgerald, and the hero, Jack McNamara, is quite a conundrum. A bestselling author who has come to the end of the road. Why? Because he cannot write another word. Right from the start you want to know the reason why.
We meet Jack and warm to his problems. Jack had a specially close relationship with his now deceased mother, a would-be writer who was too self critical to step into the author arena, but was instrumental in her son’s choice of career. His father, a bitter, unimaginative jealous kind of man, always decried Jack’s writing ambitions, warning him it would end in depression and suicide.
Is his father’s prediction coming true? Jack wonders.
At rock bottom, he seeks help and realises that there’s no way he can go on unless he faces up to some big mysteries in his own life, things he has bottled up for years, and which, he surmises, he has to face up to if he is to survive.
The book is about how he delves into his family history and finds quite a few surprises, some good, some bad, but all pretty life changing.
The pleasure of reading this is Bill Cronin’s friendly yet masterful writing style, you feel as if you’re sharing a late night cup of coffee with a close friend, who is pouring his heart out to you, telling you all his secrets, and trusting you to try and help him. This is the kind of writing skill that no one can ever teach you, it has to come from within. In fact I think you have to be born with a talent like this.
This is the type of book that you’re sad when it ends, because you want it to go on: it’s a friend over a lunch break, or during a railway journey, a companion to wile away ten minutes before bed. Why? Because you can like Jack McNamara, and like the good people he comes across on his travels and you want good things to happen to him and them. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll have to read the book to find it. But I promise you it’s worth it.
Bill Cronin shares a name with one of Britain’s most celebrated writers, A J Cronin. Whether he is related to A J, I don’t know, but if he is that explains why his story is so mesmerising and captivating: perhaps an inherited talent. The warm cosy style reminded me of F Scott Fitzgerald, and the hero, Jack McNamara, is quite a conundrum. A bestselling author who has come to the end of the road. Why? Because he cannot write another word. Right from the start you want to know the reason why.
We meet Jack and warm to his problems. Jack had a specially close relationship with his now deceased mother, a would-be writer who was too self critical to step into the author arena, but was instrumental in her son’s choice of career. His father, a bitter, unimaginative jealous kind of man, always decried Jack’s writing ambitions, warning him it would end in depression and suicide.
Is his father’s prediction coming true? Jack wonders.
At rock bottom, he seeks help and realises that there’s no way he can go on unless he faces up to some big mysteries in his own life, things he has bottled up for years, and which, he surmises, he has to face up to if he is to survive.
The book is about how he delves into his family history and finds quite a few surprises, some good, some bad, but all pretty life changing.
The pleasure of reading this is Bill Cronin’s friendly yet masterful writing style, you feel as if you’re sharing a late night cup of coffee with a close friend, who is pouring his heart out to you, telling you all his secrets, and trusting you to try and help him. This is the kind of writing skill that no one can ever teach you, it has to come from within. In fact I think you have to be born with a talent like this.
This is the type of book that you’re sad when it ends, because you want it to go on: it’s a friend over a lunch break, or during a railway journey, a companion to wile away ten minutes before bed. Why? Because you can like Jack McNamara, and like the good people he comes across on his travels and you want good things to happen to him and them. Does it have a happy ending? You’ll have to read the book to find it. But I promise you it’s worth it.
June 30, 2014
A story of a writer who has lost his "juice" seemed to me at first to be a book that I'd have to struggle through to finish. Wow! Was I pleasantly disappointed! Right from the beginning Cronin began hitting on personal issues that the protagonist had throughout his childhood, issues with which I found I could personally identify. Sure, the fictional character, Jack McNamara, was a highly successful author of 25 novels, a level at which I can only dream. And no, I didn't have a surprise older sister show up in my life when I was 14, nor did I have a father who stomped on my dreams every time I turned around. I'm not even a big Hemingway fan. Still, I couldn't help but feel akin to Jack and the turmoil he was facing 34 years after the emotional firebombs of his youth. From chapter to chapter I just kept reading, finishing in a couple of days what normally would take me a week.
In public, I am not an emotional person and even in the presence of my wife I usually keep my manner pretty level, however, in the privacy of my reading device it is not unusual to find myself producing a tear or two if the story is really good. There were times with 'The Song of the Mockingbird' when I was gushing; not easy to accomplish with this old guy. There were also times when I was angry; angry at Jack's father for being such a bastard to him and Jack's mother, especially at the end of the book when I found out what a true selfish bastard he was; angry at Jody's mother–Jody was Jack's first love– who murdered her family before taking her own life, angry at the general selfishness and ignorance that causes so much heartache and turmoil in good people's lives.
I don't care who you are, a writer, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, or someone who aspires to be the best of any of those, this is a book worth reading. 'The Song of the Mockingbird' was truly a powerful story.
In public, I am not an emotional person and even in the presence of my wife I usually keep my manner pretty level, however, in the privacy of my reading device it is not unusual to find myself producing a tear or two if the story is really good. There were times with 'The Song of the Mockingbird' when I was gushing; not easy to accomplish with this old guy. There were also times when I was angry; angry at Jack's father for being such a bastard to him and Jack's mother, especially at the end of the book when I found out what a true selfish bastard he was; angry at Jody's mother–Jody was Jack's first love– who murdered her family before taking her own life, angry at the general selfishness and ignorance that causes so much heartache and turmoil in good people's lives.
I don't care who you are, a writer, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, or someone who aspires to be the best of any of those, this is a book worth reading. 'The Song of the Mockingbird' was truly a powerful story.
September 4, 2013
I found myself unable to put this book down, the twists and turns where woven seamlessly into the plot. The author has a good understanding of the greyer areas of life and the darkness that resides within the human character. He understands pain, compassion and love and portrays them beautifully.
Jack is a writer who can’t write and is in a deep depression. He is a best-selling writer who received a huge advance for a three book deal. Now, if he does not produce a book, he must return the advance. After returning from a torturous meeting with his agent, he finds his wife leaving him.
His agent suggests counselling and as he wants to win his wife back, he agrees.
Jack’s counselling suggests that issues from his past are affecting him in the present day. He starts to examine the past and embarks on a journey, that’s takes him to places he does not want to go. Jack has to examine his relationship with his parents and find out why his sister Billie, left home suddenly when he was a child.
To get to the truth Jack needs to face the things that scare him most. He must dig and dig, until he has uncovered every last detail. Will Jack be able to get past the things he discovers and return to normal life? Or will the past destroy him?
Jack is a writer who can’t write and is in a deep depression. He is a best-selling writer who received a huge advance for a three book deal. Now, if he does not produce a book, he must return the advance. After returning from a torturous meeting with his agent, he finds his wife leaving him.
His agent suggests counselling and as he wants to win his wife back, he agrees.
Jack’s counselling suggests that issues from his past are affecting him in the present day. He starts to examine the past and embarks on a journey, that’s takes him to places he does not want to go. Jack has to examine his relationship with his parents and find out why his sister Billie, left home suddenly when he was a child.
To get to the truth Jack needs to face the things that scare him most. He must dig and dig, until he has uncovered every last detail. Will Jack be able to get past the things he discovers and return to normal life? Or will the past destroy him?
October 28, 2014
I know that many readers in the US object to wordy books and over descriptive text, but I am an Englishman and I haven't lost my patience nor my taste for suspense. Bill Cronin has written a book which as writers, we all have to love, because it is about a writer and the familier dilemma's many of us face in life, which - in the case of Jack McNamara - is writer's block. But it is more than that, because his problem stems from his childhood and the many influences that his family and his past have had on this fiction writer, to strangle the muse and whilst at it, to put the final mockers on a onetime successful marriage. This book travels backwards and forwards from 1961 to 1995, from childhood to the middle age of this successful fictional author, who mind locked, has to comb through the ambiguities of his early life which somehow mirrors the life of Ernest Hemmingway, his death by suicide and a writer who Jack greatly treasures. Bill Cronin meticulously retraces the life of this troubled author and finally discovers the source of his problem as being his unimaginative and hard nosed father, with whom he has always had a love hate relationship. Beautifully written and thoughtfully constructed, this is a book designed for writers of all genres and intelligent readers alike!
June 8, 2015
49 of 75 for 2015. Isn't there a famous saying about all unhappy families? Boy does this book reek of unhappy families, but why has Jack McNamara hit a brick wall and been unable to write even a sentence. At the lowest point in his descent into the depression his father foretold, Jack is saved from himself by an unwitting Highway Patrolman. Lots of local Florida color bring light to what could be a very depressing story as Jack swings back and forth between the present and one summer in his early teens--the summer he met his half-sister, met a young girl, fell in love for the first time, and then lost it all. Now looking back he blames his long-dead mother for all of his misery, and his shrink suggests he get to the bottom of that anger. His father, however, refuses to help him, telling him to stop being a wimp and, in essence, man up. After all, way back when father told him he would end up this way if he insisted on being a writer. There's a lot of misery to get through in this book, but thanks to Cronin's excellence as a writer, the reader doesn't get lost in the despair of the characters. I found this book very hard to put down, and actually finished it in one reading. Now I want more of Jack McNamara's story.
June 7, 2016
I was transported by Bill Cronin's writing, feeling I had stepped back in time when I read this book. He captivated me from the first chapter with his beautiful prose and I could not put the book down until I had finished it In fact so captivated by the spell he was weaving that I found myself re-reading parts so I could lose myself in the lyrical style of this gifted and talented writer.
He belongs up there with the literary giants and I am sure he will soon be picked up by one of the giant traditional publishers. They would be crazy to miss the chance.
The main character in this book idolizes Ernest Hemingway whose writing his creative mother has introduced him to and I found myself wondering if he had reincarnated into the body of this author, hopefully without his tormented persona.
The compelling story would make a great movie and the clarity of his writing would make a screenplay a snip.
He belongs up there with the literary giants and I am sure he will soon be picked up by one of the giant traditional publishers. They would be crazy to miss the chance.
The main character in this book idolizes Ernest Hemingway whose writing his creative mother has introduced him to and I found myself wondering if he had reincarnated into the body of this author, hopefully without his tormented persona.
The compelling story would make a great movie and the clarity of his writing would make a screenplay a snip.
May 23, 2015
best I've read in a long long time
This remarkable book pulled me in and kept me captivated until the last page. I didn't want it to end. I read daily for years and this is the first book to capture my own feelings precisely. It is beautifully written with captivating characters who take you on an emotional roller coaster of emotions. I seldom read a book twice, but this one I will. Do yourself a favor and read a book that defies a review it deserves! Incredible in every way.
This remarkable book pulled me in and kept me captivated until the last page. I didn't want it to end. I read daily for years and this is the first book to capture my own feelings precisely. It is beautifully written with captivating characters who take you on an emotional roller coaster of emotions. I seldom read a book twice, but this one I will. Do yourself a favor and read a book that defies a review it deserves! Incredible in every way.
February 24, 2015
There are parallels to Hemingway in this story, that sneak up on the reader and go beyond the obvious passages directly in the book. It's pretty drawn out, but that is the same technique used by Ernest Hemingway to write "The Old Man and the Sea." It drags to give the reader the same feelings McNarmara is experiencing. The end is sewn up a bit too neat and quickly, but at the same time I was glad to see the journey come to a close for the writer.
June 22, 2014
Bill Cronin captures the sense of personal struggle we all travel at some stage in our lives. He writes a powerful, evocative novel that holds you spellbound to the final page. Excellently crafted plot and characters with powerful writing and well-crafted emotions. A memorable journey not easily forgotten. Certainly a writer to watch out for. Well done Mr. Cronin.
August 20, 2015
A good story and a good read
The fear of the main character is that his life is like Hemmingway's and in many ways it is. But after a struggle spanning twenty years he is finally able to write again. A dysfunctional family, a sister that he didn't know that he had, a first love, and a wife that leaves him and encountered along the way. Five stars and very Hemmingway!
The fear of the main character is that his life is like Hemmingway's and in many ways it is. But after a struggle spanning twenty years he is finally able to write again. A dysfunctional family, a sister that he didn't know that he had, a first love, and a wife that leaves him and encountered along the way. Five stars and very Hemmingway!
October 28, 2015
Beautiful. This author had me hooked from the very beginning with his beautiful prose and understanding of character. I picked this up free on Amazon and will now happily pay for his entire works. Very few writers grab me as Mr. Cronin did with this one, and I was so sorry when this lovely journey ended. I can only aspire to write like this.
March 10, 2016
A new author I really like! A great story about a writer who needs to discover what in his past is resulting the slow but sure destruction of his life, career, and marriage. The author is gifted in writing convincingly from the perspective of an adult man and a 14 year boy. I'm eager to read the next one in the series.
November 19, 2013
This was a powerful and thought provoking read. I found myself caring deeply for the characters, sharing their sadness and pain, as well as their happiness. A hard book to put down, I found myself consumed with needing to know what happened to the characters. An extremely well written novel!
December 20, 2014
Avoiding Hemingway's fate
This novel was a well-written glimpse into a writers soul. I enjoyed The privilege of observing his process and felt empathy for his writers block and depression. Unlike Hemingway, his demons are not victorious.
This novel was a well-written glimpse into a writers soul. I enjoyed The privilege of observing his process and felt empathy for his writers block and depression. Unlike Hemingway, his demons are not victorious.
July 3, 2015
An easy read because of the author's style of writing and yet the book has depth as it explores the hurt and anger between family members usually perpetuated by secrets. I am looking forward to reading another book by this author.
February 23, 2016
I'm really unsure of how I feel about this book. On one hand I couldn't figure out what was going on so I wanted to read it, but then on the other hand, I just didn't feel engaged in the story. It felt bland to me
October 22, 2014
Heartfelt
I'm usually a murder mystery fan and this book wasn't anything like that but it was a good feeling, sometimes a heart wrenching story that was worth reading.
I'm usually a murder mystery fan and this book wasn't anything like that but it was a good feeling, sometimes a heart wrenching story that was worth reading.
October 26, 2014
So insightful into human pain and suffering and how all of our lives are interconnected. It has a little bit of language but not too much. Really appreciated the book and what it taught me.
June 5, 2015
needed tighter editing
June 22, 2015
Great read!
Great characters and storyline. Jack is a lovable, normal guy making his way through his colorful life.
I highly recommend.
Great characters and storyline. Jack is a lovable, normal guy making his way through his colorful life.
I highly recommend.
February 16, 2016
Loved the story, difficult to put down.
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