Raw: a Novel

by Steven Revare

Raw is the story of a man who takes adversity - the loss of a high paying, high powered job - and turns it into chaos in his quest to simplify his life. Moving from Manhattan NY to Manhattan KS, pursuing a dream to work with, learn from and one day become the peer of his hero, an acclaimed writer long since considered washed up. Despite his research, analysis and outlines, his plan follows a course that is anything but precise; detoured and sometimes derailed by characters and events he could never have invented; a one handed bartender, an underground dairy, a man named President McKinley, and militant members of a lactation support group.

Genres: Fiction

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 28, 2010

Reviews

[Karen Mahtin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have this strange fascination with the raw milk movement in the US, so when I read about this book on Facebook, I had to have it. It took me a while to get past the embarrassing typos and for the plot to begin to develop, but once it did, I was hooked.

It's about a guy who goes from being a CPA in NYC to being a grad student in creative writing in a small town in Kansas. It's not that big a stretch for him, as his family lives in Kansas. It's a bit unclear how he could have gone from earning $145 per hour (to his ex-wife-to-be taking half their savings) to only having enough in the bank to live on for one semester. Don't people save money when they make $300k per year? But whatever.

The protagonist goes through a somewhat interesting process of self-discovery via his relationships with other characters. He learns a bit about the writing process, about human nature, and about how he can work his network to help build a better life for those he cares about. And, there's sort of a thriller/mystery thing going on, where sometimes the reader's understanding of the plot is a step ahead of the characters', and other times it's a step behind.

[Mary Novaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever, entertaining novel that doesn't take itself too seriously. Revare sets his fictional characters and situations in the very real Manhattan, Kansas--The Little Apple--quite a leap from protagonist Carl Krauthammer's previous residence in The Big Apple. Or is it? Even though Carl leaves the cut-throat business world (and a wife to match) to pursue his dream of writing fiction under the tutelage of a much-revered author, he finds that life on The Plains, whether is business or academia, can be just as duplicitous, conniving and self-serving as anything Wall Street dishes up. Sharp witted dialog and a likeable hero guide us through storylines that may seem a bit implausible, but are really pretty close to some of the "truth is stranger than fiction" stuff that regularly pops up on the internet or in the news. I particularly enjoyed the "lactivists"--a radical, La Leche League-type group--and the ripped-from-today's headlines desire (or dread) of authors whose books are selected for Oprah's Reading Club.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any novel so confident in its plot development as to feature an accountant as its protagonist already gets an A for effort in my book. _Raw_ delivers, with some good Coen-bros.-esque twists & tomfoolery. I liked the second and third acts best - once the pins were set up, it was a pleasure to watch 'em fall, and to do so in ways that were tough to predict.