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Trouble No Man Lib/E
American War meets Into the Wild in Brian Hart's epic saga of one man's struggle to survive a hostile world-tracing his path from a self-destructive, skateboarding youth in the 90s to the near future as he journeys across a desolate, militia-controlled American West to find his missing family-perfect for fans of Edan Lepuki and Cormac McCarthy.
In the America of a near future, northern California and the Pacific Northwest have become a desolate wasteland controlled by violent separatist militias and marked by a lack of water and fuel. In a village outside Reno, a middle-aged man visits an undertaker and gathers the ashes of his dead wife to bring to Alaska. There their children await them-refugees from the destruction of the south. To reach his only remaining family, the man must cross the treacherous, violent landscape north by bike, his dog his only companion.
Thirty years earlier, we meet Roy Bingham. After a rough-and-tumble childhood, Roy is numbing himself with skateboarding, drugs, and sex, when he meets Karen. Sassy, soulful, and arresting, Karen pulls Roy into her orbit until she decides to give up their nomadic lifestyle to put down roots in her hometown of Loyalton, California. Roy's fidelity buckles under the commitment and after a boozy night in Reno he leaves Karen for the road and skateboarding.
Flashing back and forth in time across four decades in the life of a man who is lost even when he's found, Trouble No Man delivers a resonant story of survival, violence, and family, set against the tumult of an America on the precipice of becoming an unfree nation.
In the America of a near future, northern California and the Pacific Northwest have become a desolate wasteland controlled by violent separatist militias and marked by a lack of water and fuel. In a village outside Reno, a middle-aged man visits an undertaker and gathers the ashes of his dead wife to bring to Alaska. There their children await them-refugees from the destruction of the south. To reach his only remaining family, the man must cross the treacherous, violent landscape north by bike, his dog his only companion.
Thirty years earlier, we meet Roy Bingham. After a rough-and-tumble childhood, Roy is numbing himself with skateboarding, drugs, and sex, when he meets Karen. Sassy, soulful, and arresting, Karen pulls Roy into her orbit until she decides to give up their nomadic lifestyle to put down roots in her hometown of Loyalton, California. Roy's fidelity buckles under the commitment and after a boozy night in Reno he leaves Karen for the road and skateboarding.
Flashing back and forth in time across four decades in the life of a man who is lost even when he's found, Trouble No Man delivers a resonant story of survival, violence, and family, set against the tumult of an America on the precipice of becoming an unfree nation.
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First published January 29, 2019
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About the author
Brian Hart
118 books29 followersBrian Hart was born in central Idaho in 1976. He received an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers in 2008. He currently lives in Austin, TX with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 19, 2019
Trouble No Man surprised me in the best way possible. Most of the Goodreads recommendations I've read have been underwhelming, but this one, wow, knocked my socks off.
Protagonist Roy Bingham (variously referred to as R, M, Roy, & most often simply the man) is a free-spirited, independent, adventure-seeking skateboarder, surfer, and loner, and Hart often uses language specific to those lifestyles that is dense and may sometimes be difficult to decipher for readers, like me, who know nothing of those pursuits. Except for that quirk, though, the prose is lucid, fluid, and perfectly suited to the harsh environment and brutal lives the characters are forced to endure. Some of the blurbs I read compare Hart favorably with Cormac McCarthy, and that's apt, but Hart's writing is somewhat easier to follow. At least he uses punctuation and quotation marks to signify dialogue.
Few of the characters in Trouble No Man are innocent, but Roy himself, who ranges in age from <25 to >55, is a stubborn, mean, selfish, inconsiderate, confrontational, pill-popping, booze-swilling, commitment-phobic asshole who goes to great lengths to avoid being beholden to anyone else's will. Until he doesn't. After which he becomes single-minded in his determination to protect and provide for his family, not all of whom are related by blood, at all costs. He reminds me very much of myself; I didn't grow up until after I turned 35. I think that's the main reason I liked this book so much. Roy is me. Except a competent me who's able to survive in a deadly world that would probably kill me pretty quickly.
In addition to the language and the thoroughly-imagined, relatable, & realistic characters; dead-on descriptions of the post-catastrophe West; and the best damned dog, Pecos, since Rin Tin Tin, two things make Trouble No Man a great work of literature.
The first is its entirely plausible and realistic story of societal breakdown. Although I shelved it as post-apocalyptic, you'll notice I did not also shelve it as sci-fi. I have no trouble believing that this very scenario could happen here in America, possibly even within the next 10 or 20 years, which is when the book is set, and that this is almost exactly how it would happen and what it would look like.
Second is Hart's total avoidance of overtly blaming the apocalypse on the hot-button political arguments of our time and those who stand on either side of the Red/Blue divide. Trouble No Man is not conservative or liberal propaganda. It doesn't demonize or praise either group; it flat out refuses even to engage in a political argument. It's merely the brutally honest reporting of how those who live through such a catastrophe struggle to survive and carve out a niche for themselves in a depleted world that hasn't come to pass.
Yet.
I'm going to add this one to my Amazon wish list and hope someone gives it to me for my birthday or Christmas. And I'm damn sure going to read some more of Hart's work. If it's half as good as Trouble No Man, consider me a new fan.
Protagonist Roy Bingham (variously referred to as R, M, Roy, & most often simply the man) is a free-spirited, independent, adventure-seeking skateboarder, surfer, and loner, and Hart often uses language specific to those lifestyles that is dense and may sometimes be difficult to decipher for readers, like me, who know nothing of those pursuits. Except for that quirk, though, the prose is lucid, fluid, and perfectly suited to the harsh environment and brutal lives the characters are forced to endure. Some of the blurbs I read compare Hart favorably with Cormac McCarthy, and that's apt, but Hart's writing is somewhat easier to follow. At least he uses punctuation and quotation marks to signify dialogue.
Few of the characters in Trouble No Man are innocent, but Roy himself, who ranges in age from <25 to >55, is a stubborn, mean, selfish, inconsiderate, confrontational, pill-popping, booze-swilling, commitment-phobic asshole who goes to great lengths to avoid being beholden to anyone else's will. Until he doesn't. After which he becomes single-minded in his determination to protect and provide for his family, not all of whom are related by blood, at all costs. He reminds me very much of myself; I didn't grow up until after I turned 35. I think that's the main reason I liked this book so much. Roy is me. Except a competent me who's able to survive in a deadly world that would probably kill me pretty quickly.
In addition to the language and the thoroughly-imagined, relatable, & realistic characters; dead-on descriptions of the post-catastrophe West; and the best damned dog, Pecos, since Rin Tin Tin, two things make Trouble No Man a great work of literature.
The first is its entirely plausible and realistic story of societal breakdown. Although I shelved it as post-apocalyptic, you'll notice I did not also shelve it as sci-fi. I have no trouble believing that this very scenario could happen here in America, possibly even within the next 10 or 20 years, which is when the book is set, and that this is almost exactly how it would happen and what it would look like.
Second is Hart's total avoidance of overtly blaming the apocalypse on the hot-button political arguments of our time and those who stand on either side of the Red/Blue divide. Trouble No Man is not conservative or liberal propaganda. It doesn't demonize or praise either group; it flat out refuses even to engage in a political argument. It's merely the brutally honest reporting of how those who live through such a catastrophe struggle to survive and carve out a niche for themselves in a depleted world that hasn't come to pass.
Yet.
I'm going to add this one to my Amazon wish list and hope someone gives it to me for my birthday or Christmas. And I'm damn sure going to read some more of Hart's work. If it's half as good as Trouble No Man, consider me a new fan.
maybe-to-read
February 13, 2019I’m intrigued as I love dystopian. But The Road went sooo badly for me that I’m terrified to try this... (it was the cannibals and extreme peril of the little boy that did me in with The Road...)
November 29, 2018
This book made my heart race, made me nauseous, made me uncomfortable. I feel very small after finishing it; horrified, yet rebelliously optimistic, like the angel of denial is on my shoulder and I'm resigned to living like the atmosphere described in this book could never become a possibility. Still, I'm seeing this book's atmosphere emerging in areas of my own country as well as abroad every single day, and the news is really overwhelming, so I tune out in order to maintain positive momentum. My role model is Mother Teresa, not Rambo. "If you want to change to world, go home and love your family." Still, look how that worked out for the characters in this story. Not too well at all.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what my role would be in a political meltdown/militia state/firepower-is-everything situation. I'm a bookworm. I like peace and quiet and snuggling. I respect nature -- I have big dogs and snakes as pets -- but I don't believe that the sort of tribal biggest-stick violence described in this book is "natural", but that it's a symptom of societal diseases like oligarchy and artificial scarcity of resources. Sometimes I think I'd be one of the first to go, since I'm sensitive and hate conflict. Plus, I'm a college-educated white lady living in a nice neighborhood. Let's get real -- once society falls apart, privileges like mine don't mean diddly squat anymore. I'm a doughy, vulnerable weakling when it comes to balls-to-the-wall warfare. But in a real testing situation, I'm resourceful, I'm no-nonsense, and I might survive, if not thrive. Who knows.
That's why books like this challenge me. I tore through it, hating it the whole time, and as I turned the final page the last thing I thought was...
**minor spoiler alert!!**
"WHEW!!! The dog (my favorite character) made it." Still, I'll never forget this book, although we're well into the holiday season as I'm finishing it and I really need something wholesome after this. The closest comparable novel I can think of right now is Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. Yeah. It's pretty much that dark.
Side note: the main protagonist is the biggest douchebag ever. It was really hard to like him or respect him at all, despite everything, because he's just SO IRRITATING, self-centered, nihilistic, even cruel.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what my role would be in a political meltdown/militia state/firepower-is-everything situation. I'm a bookworm. I like peace and quiet and snuggling. I respect nature -- I have big dogs and snakes as pets -- but I don't believe that the sort of tribal biggest-stick violence described in this book is "natural", but that it's a symptom of societal diseases like oligarchy and artificial scarcity of resources. Sometimes I think I'd be one of the first to go, since I'm sensitive and hate conflict. Plus, I'm a college-educated white lady living in a nice neighborhood. Let's get real -- once society falls apart, privileges like mine don't mean diddly squat anymore. I'm a doughy, vulnerable weakling when it comes to balls-to-the-wall warfare. But in a real testing situation, I'm resourceful, I'm no-nonsense, and I might survive, if not thrive. Who knows.
That's why books like this challenge me. I tore through it, hating it the whole time, and as I turned the final page the last thing I thought was...
**minor spoiler alert!!**
"WHEW!!! The dog (my favorite character) made it." Still, I'll never forget this book, although we're well into the holiday season as I'm finishing it and I really need something wholesome after this. The closest comparable novel I can think of right now is Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD. Yeah. It's pretty much that dark.
Side note: the main protagonist is the biggest douchebag ever. It was really hard to like him or respect him at all, despite everything, because he's just SO IRRITATING, self-centered, nihilistic, even cruel.
February 22, 2019
I was slow to catch on to Hart's storytelling style at first, but once I fell in line I fell in love with the characters and the storyline. The dystopian narrative unfolds gradually and without the overdone clichés that riddle other books in the genre. Any comparison to well known apocalyptic writers or novels is merely to draw your attention; this one is in a class of its own as far as I am concerned.
December 1, 2019
The first third of this book is a mess. The pretense of bouncing back and forth between characters and timelines - along with no favors from something forced and inauthentic in the writing style - gets confusing and falls flat.
However as the timelines converge the book picks up. It seems the real story is halfway through - and the author lands his approach then too.
If this really were Cormac McCarthy he’d have ditched the entire first half.
However as the timelines converge the book picks up. It seems the real story is halfway through - and the author lands his approach then too.
If this really were Cormac McCarthy he’d have ditched the entire first half.
December 24, 2018
Extremely confusing as the author bounces you from "Roy" to "Man," from "present day" to a world that has fallen apart by militias. I had to read several different descriptions to realize what was supposed to be happening over the course of this book.
The second half of this read was redeeming as it all finally begins to come together. The uncanny realness of the situations occurring is all too close to plausible. The dog was the only character I felt a stake in.
*Disclaimer: a review copy of this book was provided by Librarything. All opinions are my own.
The second half of this read was redeeming as it all finally begins to come together. The uncanny realness of the situations occurring is all too close to plausible. The dog was the only character I felt a stake in.
*Disclaimer: a review copy of this book was provided by Librarything. All opinions are my own.
August 4, 2019
Here we have a book that I just know will go unnoticed and not get the appreciation it deserves. It's one of those "things fall apart" novels that take place a hop and skip further in the future. I hesitate to call these types of books "apocalyptic" when things are just beginning to unravel. If this type of book is the sort of thing you read, don't miss this one! The book skips around in time, both before and after the Western United States goes to seed, if you will. Real life California certainly has had it's seemingly apocalyptic amount of disasters recently. At one point in the book, the world is described as a molding orange if astronauts saw it from space. A haunting image. Militias are battling militias and that doesn't go well for anyone. Roy is the main character and we see how he goes from his misguided, skater kid, slightly-less-than-homeless youth. Living in this changed world changes Roy. In the reality of this book (and our own), it's easy to see how this type of world might happen. Simply combine crap politics and crap weather.
I am a female and this might be more of a dude oriented book, not that I'm one to read "chicklit". Guns on page one, skating, hunting, militias, welding... Cutting most of the specific technical words on many of these subjects that I don't know anyway would have cut the page number down. Though looking at the book as a whole, I don't think it's too long. But I think there is enough here and enough writing skill to keep anyone interested. I will say I appreciated and adored almost all of the pop culture references (pop culture is more my thing than most of these other subjects). An especially fun one: the main character calling Kurt Vonnegut 'KV' -- which is a thing I do with particular pop culture heroes I admire. The characters are mysterious, often not getting names. The narrative flips back and forth through time. Both of these things could be off-putting to some readers but I thought it flowed well enough. Hart has some writing skill and makes it work. ALSO, there is a great dog, if you're a dog novel person!
This reminded of some other "falling apart" novels: 'Far North' by Marcel Theroux, 'California' by Edan Lepucki, 'American War' by Omar El Akkad and some would say 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy but I didn't like that one anyway. I probably read this type of book a bit too much, but I'm glad I didn't miss this one. Reading books like these might be a bit scary when it seems we are on some sort of tipping point, constantly on the verge of this reality, but that means these books are important. They are a great example of what COULD happen any day now. The weather itself could tip the delicate balance and force hard times upon us. I will keep a look out for Brian Hart's other books.
I am a female and this might be more of a dude oriented book, not that I'm one to read "chicklit". Guns on page one, skating, hunting, militias, welding... Cutting most of the specific technical words on many of these subjects that I don't know anyway would have cut the page number down. Though looking at the book as a whole, I don't think it's too long. But I think there is enough here and enough writing skill to keep anyone interested. I will say I appreciated and adored almost all of the pop culture references (pop culture is more my thing than most of these other subjects). An especially fun one: the main character calling Kurt Vonnegut 'KV' -- which is a thing I do with particular pop culture heroes I admire. The characters are mysterious, often not getting names. The narrative flips back and forth through time. Both of these things could be off-putting to some readers but I thought it flowed well enough. Hart has some writing skill and makes it work. ALSO, there is a great dog, if you're a dog novel person!
This reminded of some other "falling apart" novels: 'Far North' by Marcel Theroux, 'California' by Edan Lepucki, 'American War' by Omar El Akkad and some would say 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy but I didn't like that one anyway. I probably read this type of book a bit too much, but I'm glad I didn't miss this one. Reading books like these might be a bit scary when it seems we are on some sort of tipping point, constantly on the verge of this reality, but that means these books are important. They are a great example of what COULD happen any day now. The weather itself could tip the delicate balance and force hard times upon us. I will keep a look out for Brian Hart's other books.
October 1, 2019
I enjoyed most of this book. It took a little while to get moving, but once it did I was hooked. I was very much invested in the man's story and found it very enjoyable hunting for the little clues proving the connections between timelines. I did not like the ending however, it felt very forced and it didn't really fit with the tone of the rest of the book. I suppose the author did suggest a tragedy/trauma must have occurred to cause the change between the two later Roy's, but the abruptness and violence of it were jarring. Overall though it was still a pretty solid read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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November 5, 2018Magnificently vivid and disturbingly plausible, Trouble No Man is a standout in dystopian fiction, a post-punk Western chronicling one man's decline and fall amid an empire's. Brian Hart is the rare literary talent who can move readers with subtle knowledge of both tenderness and horror. A deeply impressive, insightful work of realism.
March 19, 2019
The format of this book was interesting, and there were parts of the storyline that I enjoyed, but overall there was too much gratuitous violence for my taste, and I didn't particularly care for either of the main characters.
December 21, 2018
3 1/2 ***
Note: I received an advance reader copy of the book from the LibraryThing early reviewers program.
This novel of the near-future throws the reader right into a constantly changing time-stream that skips around over 4 decades and it's sink or swim to try and figure out what (more like wtf) is going on. After a while, you get the story sorted out and the 'crazy' gets better as you figure out the main characters - a guy named Roy who is a messed up skateboarder, a girl named Karen who he falls in love with - and the others surrounding them as they grow up, create a life, and try to survive in a disintegrating America. This is a tense, masculine, violent novel - lots of references to skateboarding, weapons, drinking, motorcycles, and prepper-survivalist culture. But there's also a lot about growing up, building a life and family, surviving on a small farmstead, and caring for and loving a fine dog. This dog was truly the best character in the novel - as a great dog often is in our real lives. It's an intense story that gets better as it goes - and in the end, it might be somewhat prescient if the political and cultural and environmental problems in these united states get really out of control and everything goes all to hell. Probably a good read for fans of Cormac McCarthy.
Note: I received an advance reader copy of the book from the LibraryThing early reviewers program.
This novel of the near-future throws the reader right into a constantly changing time-stream that skips around over 4 decades and it's sink or swim to try and figure out what (more like wtf) is going on. After a while, you get the story sorted out and the 'crazy' gets better as you figure out the main characters - a guy named Roy who is a messed up skateboarder, a girl named Karen who he falls in love with - and the others surrounding them as they grow up, create a life, and try to survive in a disintegrating America. This is a tense, masculine, violent novel - lots of references to skateboarding, weapons, drinking, motorcycles, and prepper-survivalist culture. But there's also a lot about growing up, building a life and family, surviving on a small farmstead, and caring for and loving a fine dog. This dog was truly the best character in the novel - as a great dog often is in our real lives. It's an intense story that gets better as it goes - and in the end, it might be somewhat prescient if the political and cultural and environmental problems in these united states get really out of control and everything goes all to hell. Probably a good read for fans of Cormac McCarthy.
April 22, 2019
A novel of the future when some regions of America have fallen outside of government control.(particularly the west coast states).The book follows the protagonist (Roy) at 25, 35, 45 and 55. Roy and the people in his orbit seem to have goalless lives. (a lot of skateboarding and motorcycle driving) The problem for me is that I really don't like any of the characters. He eventually has a love interest but I get very little feeling of love or real affection. He also produces two daughters. This book may be enjoyed by some but it is not my cup of tea.
June 5, 2019
To be completely fair and honest, I really really really regret ever starting this book, and maybe if I finished it, I would feel a little differently about it. But I don’t think I would, and heres why: I started this book back in December, and it is now June and I have only managed to read half.
My first problem with it was that it seemed to be such a “man’s book”… I don’t mean this to be derogatory in any way, but the subjects were all portrayed as very masculine and violence-loving, etc. One of the main characters seemed to be very very into guns - in the first chapter alone, I began to feel confused from the sheer volume of technical gun jargon. One of the other characters is a skateboarder and overall they seemed to have kind of two dimensional personalities to which I could not relate.
The second thing that prevented me from really trying to read and understand this book was the fact that many of the chapters jumped back and forth between characters (usually one of my favorite mechanisms for moving a story forward) but the characters were mostly identified by their age and location. With one exception, the main characters had no names and were referred to only as “the man” or “he”. This further confused me and made it hard to pick up the book and remember where I left off.
All in all, I tried to read for a good six months. I would pick the book up, read a page, become extremely frustrated and put it back down. Im not a quitter. Ever. I honestly can say I don’t remember the last time I put a book down prematurely. But this book absolutely took the joy out of reading, out of blogging for me. The thought of even writing this post made me feel discouraged for a while. Recently, however, my friends have started reading and as such I decided it was time for me to move on on my TBR. I am extremely behind on my reading goal, yes, but now I can finally begin to go back to my love of sharing my favorite stories. Heres to new beginnings.
My first problem with it was that it seemed to be such a “man’s book”… I don’t mean this to be derogatory in any way, but the subjects were all portrayed as very masculine and violence-loving, etc. One of the main characters seemed to be very very into guns - in the first chapter alone, I began to feel confused from the sheer volume of technical gun jargon. One of the other characters is a skateboarder and overall they seemed to have kind of two dimensional personalities to which I could not relate.
The second thing that prevented me from really trying to read and understand this book was the fact that many of the chapters jumped back and forth between characters (usually one of my favorite mechanisms for moving a story forward) but the characters were mostly identified by their age and location. With one exception, the main characters had no names and were referred to only as “the man” or “he”. This further confused me and made it hard to pick up the book and remember where I left off.
All in all, I tried to read for a good six months. I would pick the book up, read a page, become extremely frustrated and put it back down. Im not a quitter. Ever. I honestly can say I don’t remember the last time I put a book down prematurely. But this book absolutely took the joy out of reading, out of blogging for me. The thought of even writing this post made me feel discouraged for a while. Recently, however, my friends have started reading and as such I decided it was time for me to move on on my TBR. I am extremely behind on my reading goal, yes, but now I can finally begin to go back to my love of sharing my favorite stories. Heres to new beginnings.
December 17, 2018
I’m not sure where I originally heard of this upcoming novel, but as soon as I read the synopsis I contacted Harper Perennial to request a review copy. I had never heard of the author, Brian Hart, but he was being compared to Cormac McCarthy, one of my favorite writers; the plot was also post-apocalyptic, which is my favorite genre. I knew immediately that I wanted to read this, and am very grateful to the publisher for sending me a copy.
The aspect of this book that I enjoyed the most was the muddled timeline. Each chapter is set during a different decade of Roy Bingham’s life. As the story progresses, you start to piece things together. I found myself flying through the pages because I wanted to find out what happened next in his life. The layout and progression of the chapters were perfectly done.
I’ve mentioned several times on this blog that I enjoy books about characters that are unlikeable, and this is certainly one of those novels. Although Roy starts to grow on you toward the end of the book, for the majority of the story I found him immensely unlikable and selfish. His personality is such a large part of the story, however, and is important to his growth, so his off-putting personality is actually very enjoyable, and it’s nice to see how much he evolves over the course of his entire life. People always change as they get older, and it was refreshing to watch that happen to his character.
There are thousands of post-apocalyptic novels in the world right now and, while I would read just about any of them, the ones I enjoy the most are the ones that feel as though they could actually happen. This book isn’t scary, but it is certainly unsettling due to how realistic the scenarios are. It is not hard to imagine that in a world without water militias would take control of localities and violence would explode.
The aspect of this book that I enjoyed the most was the muddled timeline. Each chapter is set during a different decade of Roy Bingham’s life. As the story progresses, you start to piece things together. I found myself flying through the pages because I wanted to find out what happened next in his life. The layout and progression of the chapters were perfectly done.
I’ve mentioned several times on this blog that I enjoy books about characters that are unlikeable, and this is certainly one of those novels. Although Roy starts to grow on you toward the end of the book, for the majority of the story I found him immensely unlikable and selfish. His personality is such a large part of the story, however, and is important to his growth, so his off-putting personality is actually very enjoyable, and it’s nice to see how much he evolves over the course of his entire life. People always change as they get older, and it was refreshing to watch that happen to his character.
There are thousands of post-apocalyptic novels in the world right now and, while I would read just about any of them, the ones I enjoy the most are the ones that feel as though they could actually happen. This book isn’t scary, but it is certainly unsettling due to how realistic the scenarios are. It is not hard to imagine that in a world without water militias would take control of localities and violence would explode.
January 15, 2019
TROUBLE NO MAN, by Brian Hart, is an emotional rollercoaster that follows Roy Bingham at four different points in his life over forty years. Spanning from the 1990's through a near future where militia control dominates the land, the reader experiences love, hate, betrayal, hope, desperation, addiction, and pure animalistic survival.
Roy Bingham made some bad choices early is his adult life, a lot of bad choices, but as he has grown older, he has learned to savor the life he has and hold onto the love and happiness he finds in his family. By having faults and then learning and growing from them, the reader connects to Roy and yearns for him to succeed in life. The backdrop of an increased militia presence in California, where most of the story is set, provides a haunting presence throughout the book, as if at any moment 0ne of the militia groups will upend the Bingham's lives. While the focus of the story is Roy, the author Hart does a good job of developing the supporting characters, like Roy's companion, Karen, and his neighbor later in life, Mr. Miller. I did struggle a little with Hart's style of describing many of the action sequences. I will freely acknowledge that I might be alone in this, but I had to often reread the action sequences to understand what happened, it was as if Hart left some details out and the reader was supposed to fill in the blanks. Also, some of the skater terminology was lost on me, I had to stop and look some of it up.
Overall, TROUBLE NO MAN, is a compelling book about a man finding himself and the struggling to keep what he has figured out is important to him. Anyone who enjoys reading about the struggle to survive and following characters who search for what is most important to them will enjoy this book.
I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
Roy Bingham made some bad choices early is his adult life, a lot of bad choices, but as he has grown older, he has learned to savor the life he has and hold onto the love and happiness he finds in his family. By having faults and then learning and growing from them, the reader connects to Roy and yearns for him to succeed in life. The backdrop of an increased militia presence in California, where most of the story is set, provides a haunting presence throughout the book, as if at any moment 0ne of the militia groups will upend the Bingham's lives. While the focus of the story is Roy, the author Hart does a good job of developing the supporting characters, like Roy's companion, Karen, and his neighbor later in life, Mr. Miller. I did struggle a little with Hart's style of describing many of the action sequences. I will freely acknowledge that I might be alone in this, but I had to often reread the action sequences to understand what happened, it was as if Hart left some details out and the reader was supposed to fill in the blanks. Also, some of the skater terminology was lost on me, I had to stop and look some of it up.
Overall, TROUBLE NO MAN, is a compelling book about a man finding himself and the struggling to keep what he has figured out is important to him. Anyone who enjoys reading about the struggle to survive and following characters who search for what is most important to them will enjoy this book.
I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
October 24, 2019
It took me a while to get along with this odd novel ... and then suddenly, without warning, I was consumed. It reads like a mixture of Cormac McCarthys near apocalypse The Road - all poetic flourish and masculine, practical detail - mixed in with a Gen-X tale that reads like Chuck Palahniuk or Douglas Copeland if they were capable of beauty. There are odd stylistic flourishes and a needless ambiguity I’m done parts (namely a pointless obscurity about the nature of the main character). These quibbles aside though, it’s a brilliantly disconcerting dystopia that is never fantastical enough to be unbelievable, and in places all TOO recognisable as the very next step or two in our current global crisis.
Hart writes with an eye for gorgeous mundanity and a sense of toughness that never strays into macho. What starts as a story of a lonely, violet man turns into something much more heartfelt and warm - a tonal change that mirrors it’s protagonists development. It’s a great addition to the dystopian genre and I’ll be reading it again one day to tease out the details I missed.
Hart writes with an eye for gorgeous mundanity and a sense of toughness that never strays into macho. What starts as a story of a lonely, violet man turns into something much more heartfelt and warm - a tonal change that mirrors it’s protagonists development. It’s a great addition to the dystopian genre and I’ll be reading it again one day to tease out the details I missed.
October 3, 2019
Hot shot skateboarder Roy falls for Karen, thinking the good times would keep on rolling, they would continue traveling around, partying and skateboarding. When Karen decides to stay in her small hometown, Loyalton, California, and settle down. Roy cannot give up the fast life. They part but Karen stays on his mind, no woman comes close to the affection that keeps burning for Karen. Decades later in a dystopian future, a man on the wrong side of youth, still fit from hard work, tries to make it through the chaos of a country in ruin on his way to Alaska with his dog and the ashes of his dead wife. Armed militias roam the roads, bad things happen to those they choose to punish. There are no clear rules, no impartial authority, only violent groups, poverty, and destruction. The story moves back and forth in time, allowing the reader to see how the country slid into ruin. In order to reach the safety of Alaska the man has miles to go across a hostile land
May 28, 2019
I’ve been anxiously waiting for the release of this book and have not been disappointed. Brian Hart’s 3rd novel, Trouble No Man, is at the same time stylistically divergent from his first two books, while adherent to and indicative of Brian’s evolving skill.
The novel is set in a not too distant future and a recent past through the eyes of Roy Bingham, a semi-pro skater in the 90’s as he figures his way through an increasingly unstable and harrowing U.S.A. and world into an unspecified near future. Trouble No Man is an eerily prescient page turner, extremely readable and deeply thought provoking.
The novel is set in a not too distant future and a recent past through the eyes of Roy Bingham, a semi-pro skater in the 90’s as he figures his way through an increasingly unstable and harrowing U.S.A. and world into an unspecified near future. Trouble No Man is an eerily prescient page turner, extremely readable and deeply thought provoking.
January 14, 2022
This was a fun book. It takes place in the near future in Northern California (specifically Sacramento and Rancho Cordova where I grew up ) where there is a civil war happening. It is about a guy that is taking his recently deceased wife's ashes up to his kids in Alaska all the while trying to escape California and the whole civil war situation. The story was written between flash backs and present time in the story itself. It was emotional, realistic and very interesting. My only drawback to the thing was that it drones on in a few spots, but other than that it was great.
July 30, 2019
Oh man I don’t even know where to start. Trouble No Man has become one of my favorite books. The pacing is great and the author’s disjointed writing style matches the dystopian backdrop.
The narrative isn’t in any particular order and Hart leaves it up to the reader to decipher what’s going on. Part of the joy of reading it is in the untangling of the plot, the characters, and the jargon used to illustrate their lives.
The narrative isn’t in any particular order and Hart leaves it up to the reader to decipher what’s going on. Part of the joy of reading it is in the untangling of the plot, the characters, and the jargon used to illustrate their lives.
January 18, 2019
This story is disturbingly plausible as it follows four decades of Roy Bingham's life. The erosion and degradation of America through that time makes Roy's struggles even more desperate. There are times of tenderness and love, but this is primarily a dark novel of what could happen in the future. I received this novel as part of the Goodreads Giveaway program.
May 24, 2019
Started off kind of slow in a way, I was a little confused to why I had placed a hold on the novel in the beginning. Even looked it back up during ready to try and remember. Then I got invested and frankly was fairly blown away.
Interesting read, surprising and subtle. I really disliked some parts and loved others, so completely worth it. Feels like a journey.
Interesting read, surprising and subtle. I really disliked some parts and loved others, so completely worth it. Feels like a journey.
October 9, 2019
I read this one at a fairly decent pace. It draws you in early on. I wasn't crazy about the format and style of jumping back and forth between characters and times but it wove together well in retrospect.
If you like survival fiction and The Road, you'll enjoy this.
I hope there's a follow up? I really want to know what happened next.
If you like survival fiction and The Road, you'll enjoy this.
I hope there's a follow up? I really want to know what happened next.
March 11, 2019
Exceeded expectations
August 3, 2019
Post-Apocalyptic America. The skating was an interesting twist, the gun-fetishism not so much.
December 11, 2019
Actual not quite 4....3.75
February 17, 2020
This book scared the shit out of me.
April 11, 2021
Better than I expected...
June 28, 2021
2.5 out of 5 stars.
July 8, 2023
This kept my attention. Roy, a big time skateboarding champ, narrates his life from a stoner 90s kid to a responsible man running a farm.
Through his life Roy faces both the challenges of growing up and the horrors of a country being taken over by right wing militias and environmental disasters.
The Northern California setting is spectacularly drawn, fantastic world building! There is also a beautiful love story in there that truly resonated with me. No longer am I one to become all gushy and sentimental with love stories and romance. But the love written here is so real and potent. The author did a fabulous job sculpting out the two characters and as an outsider reader I could genuinely feel their love and history together. A very rare thing with books (for me) nowadays.
We watch Roy as survivor with the help of his amazingingly intelligent and loyal Belgian Malonise, a stunning German Shepard like dog known for it’s smarts and ability to save.
< img src="https://dogtime.com/wp-content/upload... /”>
I recommend this novel for readers, like myself, who crave dystopian stories and stories of survival.
Through his life Roy faces both the challenges of growing up and the horrors of a country being taken over by right wing militias and environmental disasters.
The Northern California setting is spectacularly drawn, fantastic world building! There is also a beautiful love story in there that truly resonated with me. No longer am I one to become all gushy and sentimental with love stories and romance. But the love written here is so real and potent. The author did a fabulous job sculpting out the two characters and as an outsider reader I could genuinely feel their love and history together. A very rare thing with books (for me) nowadays.
We watch Roy as survivor with the help of his amazingingly intelligent and loyal Belgian Malonise, a stunning German Shepard like dog known for it’s smarts and ability to save.
< img src="https://dogtime.com/wp-content/upload... /”>
I recommend this novel for readers, like myself, who crave dystopian stories and stories of survival.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews