W

by John Banks

A 1000-year-old Viking is discovered frozen on the slopes of Mt. Hood, Oregon – three thousand miles further west than any previously known European Viking-Age exploration.

While the world is focused on this remarkable discovery, Josh Kinninger’s world is falling apart. Three personal tragedies have left him bitterly angry and emotionally unmoored. Inspired by the Viking discovery, Josh plans a desperate western journey of his own to wreak a bizarre vengeance on the morally corrupt individuals who have piqued his ire.

Josh, however, isn’t the only Kinninger who tries to run away from his problems – and the problems of his country – by heading west.

By turns comic and tragic, W weaves several stories and styles into a rich literary fabric.

In addition to the story of how that Viking comes to reside in Oregon, there is the story of Josh’s ancestor, Jefferson, who in 1860 embarks on a journey by wagon train along the Oregon Trail to escape the violent strife preceding the Civil War.

And there is the story of Jefferson’s namesake descendant, who, one hundred years later, takes off westward to escape the racism of the Jim Crow South and to make a new life in San Francisco as a jazz musician.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

361 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2017

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was definitely in the minority with this one so far. Oh man, this book.
I'm sure where to begin. It was a mish-mash hodge-podge hot mess. I could not find any plot throughout this book. It was impossible to follow. There are numerous stories going on, which don't seem to have any purpose. The Norway story was my favorite and had that been the novel itself, I think I would have enjoyed it. I feel John Banks is definitely talented, but I'm not sure what he's doing with that talent. I don't find this to be anything like Mark Twain as others have suggested. I feel like the author took all his talents and abilities and wrote every random thought, poem, conversation that popped into his head. There was no order, the wording, style, characters all jumped from here to there without any explanations or meaning. I like to read for entertainment and fun and this did not fit the bill. I might consider this author again, but this book was certainly not for me.

[John Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heady novel to take on. John Banks mixes the ordinary challenges of life and everything and rolls it into a historical novel and a treatise on the relation between a man and his younger brother. To say that he hasn't read Pynchon would be a doubtful speculation, but he makes it his own, and I personally as a reader would recommend this to anyone.

[Russell Bittner · Rating 5 out of 5]

“So Cunnel, as I said, the Posson was in the puppet putting on his puffomance, if you’ll podden all that onnecessary alliteration on my pot” (p. 57).

I certainly don’t want to suggest that the above citation is typical of the entire narrative of this novel; if it were, I couldn’t bear to read more than a few pages. In fact, it’s just one little passage in a litany of passages, both prosaic and poetic. But after fifty pages, I think I can say with confidence that John Banks’s prose is the most inventive I’ve ever read since my attempts to read James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.

But then we have this—rather straightforward prose, even if written by a character to his dead twin brother, W(ill), on pp. 83 – 86. I could cite the entire thing—yes, it’s that good—but I don’t want to strain your patience or eyesight.

“Am I the next to die? Am I preparing myself for that now? Is that what this is all about?
“In addition to this recurring dream and this cockamamie plan I’m making that might get me killed, there are so many other things that lead me to the conclusion that I’m utterly fed up with life and ready to call it quits. I have no job and lack all desire to find a new one. I have no friends and feel better off without them. I would no doubt be diagnosed with depression if I cared enough to see a shrink(. Ye)t the way I see it(,) depression isn’t a disease to be cured, but an eventuality to be accepted, like death itself. If you aren’t depressed at my age, then you really need to have your head examined…. Forget mass media. Whenever something new comes along with revolutionary potential(,) it is quickly commandeered by mediocrity. I’m thinking specifically about television, and now the internet, but I might as well be talking about the printing press, or the invention of writing itself… As a society, we are incapable of sustained greatness…. We have met the enemy and it, indeed, us….

“And if I’m disgusted with my life and all its accoutrements, I’m doubly disgusted with this country. So sickened by America that reading a newspaper makes me physically nauseous. We are a nation of Neros, fiddling maniacally while everything burns to the ground.”

Mr. Banks and I can obviously agree to disagree about punctuation, but I have no argument whatsoever with his ideas or how he posits them in this novel. If you read nothing more of this novel and don’t wish to invest in a dare, go to the library, find it, and read p. 83 through the top of p. 88. If you like it, buy the novel. If you don’t, may I suggest that you give up reading—and thinking. For life.

On pp. 164 – 165, we find a simple enough passage, but a memorable one—especially, given the larger context. “Hours later, as we retraced our steps to Bruce, it was almost dark. As we walked once again across this grassy field(,) I saw the old football off to my left, looking like a large dark stone in the near ( ) darkness. Without giving it any thought(,) I trotted over the four or five steps to the ball, picked it up, whirled around quickly and threw it much harder than I had expected toward Catharine, the ball in a tight spiral. She didn’t see the ball (coming) and must not have been looking at me, for she made no effort to catch it. It hit her below the chest and she fell to the ground. I ran to her apologizing. She winced and groaned, but said she was okay. After a couple (of) minutes(‘) more of apologies(,) she stood uneasily, assured me that she was fine, and we resumed our walk in darkness and silence. I think we were afraid to say what we were (both) thinking.

“Three days later, Catharine called me sobbing. The baby was gone, she said.”

“We should all seize the day and squeeze the night” (p. 186) is a great little line and is taken from one of the main character’s letters to his brother, Will. These letters, by the way, are central to the novel—not only letters to Will, but also letters to Constance, the main character’s love in life.

Here’s another citation from one of the principal character’s letters to Will. A good one, I think, even if a little long: “(a)nd then there was the media and all their bull***t. Pop being compared to Josef Mengele. War-font headlines at the New York Post – “OMGYN!” The one thing we have completely run out of in this country is restraint. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to show even the slightest hint of restraint, taste, humility, reason, forbearance, reflection, self-questioning, forgiveness, empathy – just to name a few of those rare qualities quickly becoming extinct. It would be nice if reporters were human beings first and journalists second, but I suppose that’s too much to ask when ratings and jobs are on the line. And it’s so easy for one reporter to justify her egregious actions when everyone else is doing the same thing. It’s hard enough to find just one person who’ll live according to the highest principles, so what can you expect from an entire industry? And we wonder how fascism, genocides, and all these little daily abominations can occur? We’re all such good little Nazis, committing a hundred tiny atrocities every single day so we can continue to carry out our orders and keep our jobs. And if you choose not to degrade yourself(,) then you’re gawked at like a circus freak. Our world is rotten to its core – how else can you explain why doing the right thing means nine times out of ten being treated as if you’ve just done the wrong thing?”

I really don’t know what to say about the little story about a country bumpkin father and his son from the top of p. 286 through the end of the first paragraph on p. 289. But one thing I can and will say is that I’ll never forget it—and hope never to see or hear anything like it in real life. This story is every bit as dramatic, in its own way, as the best of Erskine Caldwell. And no one tells ‘em better than Erskine Caldwell—at least stories about how human beings can behave like savage animals towards one another. The dénouement to this little story, by the way, is on pp. 313 – 319.

Do I have any reservations about W? Yes, I do. I never managed to find the plot-line. That said, the prose alone is worth every painstaking paragraph. Yes, it’s that good. There are unforgettable moments in this novel—and consequently, moments and paragraphs that I will never ever forget.

If you’re like me, this novel will take you into dark places—some of them new and quite alien, but many of them merely reminiscent of personal experiences. This is what a good novel should do. And by God, John Banks does it.

RRB
Brooklyn, NY
11 March 2018

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads giveaway

[Hugh Centerville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Channeling Twain

John Banks, the author of W, is audacious enough to do some things most writers of fiction would be advised to stay away from. One, he uses a minimal (cleverly concealed) plot and trusts his characters will be strong enough to carry the reader across the finish line, and two, he writes sometimes as if he were channeling Mark Twain.

First, the Twain thing because it’s so delicious.

It’s three entertaining chapters interspersed throughout the book, a mid-eighteenth century Southerner retelling a Sunday morning in church, an encounter with a rattlesnake, and a steamboat race between two jacked-up captains who thrown caution (and everything else) to the wind. Our Southerner skewers humanity, not with invective or derision but with amused astonishment, and while Mark Twain crafted the crude dialogue of folks along the Mississippi River, John Bank’s character speaks with the urbane drawl of an educated tidewater gentleman.

You’ll want to bookmark these sections.

Regarding the plot and the rest of the book, Norwegians are trekking west. Early on, it’s a Viking saga, men who dare sail into the unknown, passing through many lands and many generations. There are scenes of battle and of individual combats, all well done, but what stands out is the impulse that drives explorers to risk their lives to see what’s out there, and their reward, a world more magnificent (and deadly) than any of them could have imagined.

After the Vikings have vanished into the North American wilderness, never to be seen (by us) again, we’re in good hands with the Kinningers, a family of Norwegian-Americans picking up where their ancestors left off, heading across America, some by Conestoga wagon, some by car and airplane. These are intelligent and perceptive men (whose biggest fault may be thinking and caring too much.) All of them are as adventurous and impetuous, in their own way, as those Vikings. Their idealism brings trouble – violence, murder and near-murder, and with our protagonists sometimes as victims, other times as perpetrators. Not everything they do is admirable, some of it is downright bizarre, but salute them for refusing to remain silent in the face of all of what they see as being wrong with the world. We may doubt their wisdom but never their courage.

This is a book about sadness and hope, loss and regret, the road taken, or not, and finally and at the end, and after focusing almost entirely on the Kinninger men, it’s the women who will haunt us long after we put down the book.

There’s Flop, a young woman lost in America who brings to mind the tattoo drifters used to wear on their arms – Born to Lose. Uncle Jeff wins her, loses her, searches for her, and ultimately and for the rest of his life, pines for her. Even as he desperately searches, we’re far enough along in the book to know there aren’t going to be any miracles, no happy endings. All we can wish for is for things to turn out alright for her but without much reason to believe it will. Uncle Jeff will get on with his life but with a longing that will, we suspect, be mostly dormant but that will flare up painfully.

And there’s poor Mrs. Kinninger. We don’t see much of her throughout the book, but we get to know her. All she ever wanted out of life is what most moms want, to preside over a happy household, not a perfect family, just a good family, a happy family. She had it for a time, the good more than the happy, and when it all comes crashing down, leaving her alone, despondent as the last of her family departs, we feel her pain.

[oohlalabooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quite intrigued with the blurb and cover! I’ve always been fascinated with the Vikings, so I did a lot of google search. It’s a bit slow but it picks up in the middle. Thanks to the author for an ebook copy. This is my honest review.

[Amy Gennaro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher, the author and netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This book has such potential. But did not make it.

The story was comprised from of at least 5 different storylines. None of the speakers were given a name. The stories seemed completely unconnected. I was confused as to who was who most of the time. Perhaps with better editing this might have been a good book.

I really only persevered in finishing this book for 3 reasons: 1) I feel very committed to NetGalley to finish and review the books that I have been allowed to read; 2) I feel a personal defeat to not finish any book that I start (I can only remember not finishing one book in the past 20 years, and finally 3) I kept hoping that the book would make some sense.

In some small way, the book came around to loosely tie things together, but itis not a book that I would recommend.

i

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting story spanning generations.

[Linda (Book Sniffer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Stephanie Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

W is both an imaginative literary novel and work of historical fiction that explores the human impulse to transcend the past through a journey to a new frontier. It is a weave of five narratives, each told with a unique literary style, resulting in a tapestry of pursuits for the limitless opportunities of westward expansion.

The novel opens with an excerpt from a Viking saga referencing the construction of “wooden effigies” to insult a man who refused a duel. In Viking times, wood forms were used to publicly dishonor someone who broke the social contract. This excerpt sets the stage for Banks to elucidate Viking culture through the actions of contemporary characters he develops throughout the novel and explore common human experience across time and culture. The Viking story, with a most intriguing storyline, explains how frozen Viking remains are discovered in modern-day Oregon.

The main character is Josh Kinninger -- a southerner who struggles with the sins of his father, the loss of his brother, and his anger and frustration with the injustices he sees everywhere. His story unfolds through emails to his dead brother, Will, written in an occasionally raw, conversational style. For example, Josh writes: “So, welcome to the Great American Dilemma, little brother. You came a bit late to the party, and you decided not to hang around to collect the empties, but here’s the question we must ask ourselves: How are we supposed to get rid of all this shit that’s inside of us?” After the loss of his brother, the discovery of depraved practices by his gynecologist father, then losing his job, he treks west to visit his Uncle Jeff and to attempt to leave behind the anger and bitterness of his past. Josh’s letters to Will from college are particularly engaging. He shares what he learns from his roommate in what he calls the “Jerome and Cracker show,” and includes delightful bathroom poetry which echoes Old Norse verse – very important to the social and religious world of the Vikings.

Intertwined with the Viking story and Josh’s letters to Will are three other stories. In the refined prose typical of the upper class in the mid 1800’s, we learn about Jefferson’s journey on a wagon train caravan from Omaha to Oregon. One hundred years later, we follow his descendent Jeff, a pony-tailed musician of the 1960’s as he embarks on a similar journey West with a trumpet in the trunk of his Rambler American and dreams of jazz and life in California. Unfortunately, neither is able to escape the violence, greed, racism, or sadness they see in their rear view. Finally, Banks gives us Mr. Carlyle – a southern gentleman storyteller of the 1860s who weaves witty tales of steamboat races, stagecoach rides, and the race for gold, written in the diction and cadence of the southern tidewater dialect. Banks’ use of stylistic norms from a number of literary traditions adds depth to the structure of each unique story, helps distinguish the narratives for the reader, and situates the themes in their historical context.

W needs to be digested. If you take time to engage with the characters and literary styles, you will be rewarded with a rich, complex weave of the stories near the end of the novel. The last few pages will have you smiling through tears, as Banks shows us that Josh, in spite of his past, has hope for the future -- thus that this hope is there for us all.

W is a welcome addition to contemporary Southern American Literature, as it is artistically troubled with issues of race, religion, and southern identity. Banks embraces the cultural imaginary of the Great South and offers a social and political critique of southern morality and social progress. He has made his mark as a modern voice of the American South.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Goodreads First Reads copy*

I'm trying to decide where to begin in this review. I suppose I will begin by saying this story seemed to have way too much going on that was not connected. The Norse part of the story was what first drew me to this giveaway. Quite honestly, this had almost nothing to do with the rest of the story. It felt like the author should have made this into a small prequel novella. I would have enjoyed this one alone, though I found the giving of new characters the same name to be confusing. This was compounded in the main storyline by having several characters from different generations in the family sharing the same name. I understand this does happen in life, but in a story, it can make it confusing for the reader.

Secondly, the various storylines should have been written from the same point of view. Going between third-person omniscient, first-person journal, and first-person action just made it hard to follow the storyline.

There was one storyline that I found added nothing to the main storyline at all. The crazy town rushing to Oregon in a gold rush seemed completely random. The only reason I could see for it was to add some 'comedic' element to the story. Worse, I found the use of spelling to indicate accent horrendous. I couldn't decide whether it was to try and make the character seem uneducated, in which case the correct use and spelling of words like alliteration were completely inappropriate, or it was to create a stereotypical minority from the south. In most of this part, I thought the viewpoint was being given in a letter, which would compound the idea of ignorance. When the character stated that they were an attorney at law I finally figured out it was a conversation, but still could not really understand the need for the accent to be shown this way. None of the other characters had their accents spelled out. This part of the story could have been completely left out and the effect would have been the same, without some of the confusion.

At times I found the story to be jumping back and forth in time within each of the stories. I felt it should have been more linear. I also found the idea of having the different storylines combined within the same chapters, though the author tried to alleviate this by putting character names in bold when the story diverged, to be unnecessarily confusing. If your changing the storyline, change the chapter. It will assist your readers.

I found most of the characters to be horrible. To me, they seemed to be caricatures of the worst parts of society. I loathed each and every one of them. Usually, for a book to capture my attention and imagination, I need at least one character to relate to, or at the very least not actively dislike.

Quite honestly, I nearly added this book to my tiny did-not-finish list. The only reason I didn't was my stubbornness. Seeing as I had won a free copy, I felt obligated to finish and review it. I cannot recommend this story to anyone.

[Shelby Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so unlike anything I expected but I'm so happy that I read it. It's so painfully relevant to today's issues with racism being a heavy topic throughout this, along with many of life's other problems. It was told from several different perspectives through several different time periods, and as you read you discover how each of these lives decades apart are woven together and interconnected.
The writing was phenomenal and even the dialect of the person speaking was evident through intentional grammatical and spelling errors.

This book deserves abundantly more recognition that it has. I'll leave this passage here from it, one that felt as if it were written in the last week:

I’m so angry and frustrated and disappointed with my fellow man – how is one supposed to express such deep disenchantment with the world? Violence only begets more violence because, though its perpetrators may feel justified, its victims never feel they are deserving of retribution. Participating in nonviolent protests seems futile because I no longer believe meaningful change is possible. There certainly comes a time when things – physical objects – are damaged beyond repair, but can societies be described in the same way? Is it justifiable to give up all hope? Did Dr. King produce real healing or merely apply a band-aid? Did he build something that will last forever or simply rearrange the furniture? Racism, like water, will seek its level; like electricity, it will follow the least-resistant path. If blocked, it will detour; if exposed, it will slink into the shadows; if rooted out, it will grow elsewhere.

[Mike B · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I rate a book, I take into account its literary construction, not whether I enjoyed reading it. Most times enjoyment equals a high rating, but not in this case. This was a one-star enjoyment level.

I think the author was over ambitious and could have used a professional editor. The writing was decent, but there was simply too much of it. It was tedious to wade through. And switching between the several story lines was confusing.

There didn't seem to be an overall theme or purpose to this work. This is a work of fiction, and because the stories were co-mingled there should be a common element bringing them together. Simply highlighting the letter W just wasn't enough. The individual story lines would have worked better as complete longer stories or novellas instead of bouncing in and out of them.

The comparison to Mark Twain makes no sense at all. Twain wrote with a sense of optimism. His humor was not mean-spirited or cynical. That is not the case here at all. Each of these story lines involved pain, anger and violence. Very dark and not pleasant to read. Maybe they reflect life in America today? For some, sadly. But not everyone, despite what the nightly TV news would have us believe.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
W was an engaging and enjoyable read, filled with compelling characters and a story that kept me hooked from start to finish. The writing was immersive, and I loved the way it made me feel completely transported into its world!

[Charleen Stroup · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing

But it's difficult to follow when it jumps time from chapter to chapter without dates or reference points. It all comes together at the end which is nice, like solving a good mystery.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed the storyline and read

[Carmen]

I own this on ebook but it honestly doesn’t sound like anything I want to read…

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little tough to start and remain engaged in. A good book but not a favorite

[Joy Rosales]

DNF @ 5% I received a copy of this ebook in a Goodreads giveaway.
I was immediately confused when I started this book and it didn’t get better the more I read.

[Mike Heyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

W is part family saga, part historical fantasy, part anti-racist rant, part love letter to jazz, part meditation on family relationships. The narrative moves easily between love and loss, heartbreak and hope, fond memories and regrets. Running all through it is a sense of connectedness between people and their world, between family members, and between the past and the present. There is some wonderful writing in this book, including the laugh-aloud episodes in Josh's letters to his brother and one of the best renditions of a Southern gentry drawl I've ever had the pleasure to read. John Banks moves deftly between narrative styles and personae. If this novel has any shortcoming, it is its structure. The episodic way in which the story unfolds works well to establish the aforementioned connectedness but sometimes challenged this reader's powers of concentration in this time of pandemic anxiety and social unrest. It's a timely tale, especially in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers which, in an eerie coincidence, happened the day before I finished reading it.

I received my Kindle edition of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway. To anyone intrigued by the descriptive summary I recommend it.

[Melon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reserving my rating and review until this is slightly more widely read.

[Mark]

I'm reserving my rating and review until this is slightly more widely read.

[Clipinchick]

I received this book for free from the author/publisher in response for an honest review of the book. I have not had the opportunity to read this book at this time. I will add my
review of this book once I have read the book. Thank k you for allowing me the optometrist review your work. I look forward to reading this book.