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A Boot in Motion
Ellie is approaching her ten-year wedding anniversary, but she doesn't feel like celebrating.
Her once handsome, happy, athletic young husband has stuck in a job he despises, Jack is irritable, lethargic, and obese. A clean split now would give Ellie time to find a new partner to start a family with. She wishes her mom were still around; she had once said that Jack "just needs a boot in the right direction." Believing she's tried everything, Ellie is ready to give up. Then a mysterious woman says she has the power, with some help from Ellie, to restore Jack to his former self. Is her promise too good to be true? Skeptical but willing to try anything, Ellie agrees to put the plan in motion--and suddenly feels something that's been missing for a long hope.
Join Jack's journey of discovery as his wagon train crosses the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Nevada, navigating brutal conditions, hunger, sickness, and other obstacles. Barely able to keep the pace as they set out from Independence, Jack wonders how he'll make it to California--and whether Ellie will be waiting for him at the end of the trail.
Her once handsome, happy, athletic young husband has stuck in a job he despises, Jack is irritable, lethargic, and obese. A clean split now would give Ellie time to find a new partner to start a family with. She wishes her mom were still around; she had once said that Jack "just needs a boot in the right direction." Believing she's tried everything, Ellie is ready to give up. Then a mysterious woman says she has the power, with some help from Ellie, to restore Jack to his former self. Is her promise too good to be true? Skeptical but willing to try anything, Ellie agrees to put the plan in motion--and suddenly feels something that's been missing for a long hope.
Join Jack's journey of discovery as his wagon train crosses the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Nevada, navigating brutal conditions, hunger, sickness, and other obstacles. Barely able to keep the pace as they set out from Independence, Jack wonders how he'll make it to California--and whether Ellie will be waiting for him at the end of the trail.
201 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 18, 2023
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December 9, 2024Admittedly, I hesitated to read this book since it was written by a friend and self-published. However, I was happily surprised to discover that, even though this is his first book, he wrote well and told a good story. There are some interesting twists and a good message. Additionally, I enjoyed the story since it takes place in the area I live and so I recognized many of the places.
Basically, this is a story of the importance of living life well and making decisions that are live-giving and loving, and what happens when bad decisions are made. Regardless, there is hope for change despite daunting challenges. With effort and with determination, change for the better can happen.
Basically, this is a story of the importance of living life well and making decisions that are live-giving and loving, and what happens when bad decisions are made. Regardless, there is hope for change despite daunting challenges. With effort and with determination, change for the better can happen.
March 27, 2024
Easy to read and heartwarming. It reads as a young adult novel. The premise is a contemporary couple having marriage issues. Then the story, to not gives spoilers, moves a character back in time to traveling the Oregon trail as a means of personal redemption, and then brings us back to present day. Living in the town the contemporary part was set in was fun to recognize landmarks and such.
Most of the novel can be seen as basic piece of historical fiction. The novel is somewhat simplistic in it massages and plot, but uses it well to give a sense of what the journey n the Oregon Trail in the mid 1800s might have been like. However, the novel is also a lot about the personal redemption of the main character, about taking responsibility for oneself, but even more so, helping others as a way of finding fulfillment. It avoids for the most part politics and larger soical issues, though does allude to them tangentially.
Most of the novel can be seen as basic piece of historical fiction. The novel is somewhat simplistic in it massages and plot, but uses it well to give a sense of what the journey n the Oregon Trail in the mid 1800s might have been like. However, the novel is also a lot about the personal redemption of the main character, about taking responsibility for oneself, but even more so, helping others as a way of finding fulfillment. It avoids for the most part politics and larger soical issues, though does allude to them tangentially.
May 20, 2024
A mixed bag; some well-executed aspects and some areas which grated on me.
First, the plot overall: A sort of magical literary device is used to have a figure help a woman in a bad marriage. She longs for the man he used to be, and this mysterious figure has a way to help change him to more of that again, so the figure says. This part is set in modern fairly current times, in California.
Then, the setting goes to a story of emigrants from the Eastern and Midwest USA going west on the Oregon trail to settle in California and Oregon. Readers will early on find out how this relates to the above aspect; I want to offer no spoilers.
The writing was good, and there was clearly a great deal of research and very interesting knowledge about many aspects of the journey on the Oregon Trail, and all that it entailed.
The parts that were hard for me were:
1) A lot of emphasis on the woman's perfect figure, even to the point of men cat-calling her, and on the obesity of her now devolved husband. I understand that the author was trying to communicate how she was keeping healthy, and he was no longer trying, but this old-fashioned fatphobic and also sexist emphasis on weight and appearance, rather than health or lack of motivations, really got old fast and made me angry every time I encountered it for either figure.
2) The story is told in a simplistic, glossed-over manner insofar as the trials of the white settlers are the focus, and the various Native Americans who helped or harmed, but no further discussion of the incredibly horrendous atrocities that white California settlers had upon the area, Native tribes, and others. I realize the focus of the book was actually before that time mainly (before they settled), but seems to me that a sentence or two could have been said about the future that didn't make it seem all roses and rainbows to come.
3) Characters are two-dimensional, though I give the author that perhaps wasn't the main thrust of the story.
3) The end part when things come back together was overly simplistic.
I will say again that the writing was mainly decent, and there were definitely some bright spots. The idea of the book and what happens was inventive. I enjoyed his awareness of what it takes to teach elementary school. I did love the parts about organic farming.
I honestly think this author has it in him to write another interesting book, even better, taking into mind any feedback and criticism of this debut.
First, the plot overall: A sort of magical literary device is used to have a figure help a woman in a bad marriage. She longs for the man he used to be, and this mysterious figure has a way to help change him to more of that again, so the figure says. This part is set in modern fairly current times, in California.
Then, the setting goes to a story of emigrants from the Eastern and Midwest USA going west on the Oregon trail to settle in California and Oregon. Readers will early on find out how this relates to the above aspect; I want to offer no spoilers.
The writing was good, and there was clearly a great deal of research and very interesting knowledge about many aspects of the journey on the Oregon Trail, and all that it entailed.
The parts that were hard for me were:
1) A lot of emphasis on the woman's perfect figure, even to the point of men cat-calling her, and on the obesity of her now devolved husband. I understand that the author was trying to communicate how she was keeping healthy, and he was no longer trying, but this old-fashioned fatphobic and also sexist emphasis on weight and appearance, rather than health or lack of motivations, really got old fast and made me angry every time I encountered it for either figure.
2) The story is told in a simplistic, glossed-over manner insofar as the trials of the white settlers are the focus, and the various Native Americans who helped or harmed, but no further discussion of the incredibly horrendous atrocities that white California settlers had upon the area, Native tribes, and others. I realize the focus of the book was actually before that time mainly (before they settled), but seems to me that a sentence or two could have been said about the future that didn't make it seem all roses and rainbows to come.
3) Characters are two-dimensional, though I give the author that perhaps wasn't the main thrust of the story.
3) The end part when things come back together was overly simplistic.
I will say again that the writing was mainly decent, and there were definitely some bright spots. The idea of the book and what happens was inventive. I enjoyed his awareness of what it takes to teach elementary school. I did love the parts about organic farming.
I honestly think this author has it in him to write another interesting book, even better, taking into mind any feedback and criticism of this debut.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews