Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed this book. It took a little longer for me to 'engage', but once the author got me to that place, there was no turning back. I hope he continues to write -- his style of writing and connecting with the reader is addicting. Happy Reading!
Helpful Score: 2
If you liked "Memory of Running" you'll love this one: Ron McLarty is a great story teller!
Helpful Score: 1
I liked this book quite a bit, but nowhere near as much as I loved his first book, _The Memory of Running_. This one was interesting, a fast read and with a pretty surprising twist at the end, but it didn't have the same charm...
I think, really, the main difference was my opinion of the narrators - I just didn't like "Bozo" all that much... and maybe it was in part to do with the relationships with women that he described, or maybe because he just seemed awfully passionless - I'm not really sure. I did enjoy it, but just not as much as his first. He set a high standard, but I have hopes that maybe his third book has recaptured the lost magic of his first...
I think, really, the main difference was my opinion of the narrators - I just didn't like "Bozo" all that much... and maybe it was in part to do with the relationships with women that he described, or maybe because he just seemed awfully passionless - I'm not really sure. I did enjoy it, but just not as much as his first. He set a high standard, but I have hopes that maybe his third book has recaptured the lost magic of his first...
These are not my words. I'm sharing this from Amazon.
When Ron McLarty's debut novel, The Memory of Running, appeared, it became clear that this man is a triple threat: actor (movies, stage, and TV), playwright and author. Now, with the publication of Traveler, he has beaten sophomore slump with another arresting story of real people, one that will keep you reading until the last page is finished, and then will leave you wondering what's next for everyone in the novel. Jono Riley is a middle-aged bartender and sometime actor just getting by in Manhattan. When he receives a note from a childhood friend telling him that Marie, his first love, has died, he travels back to East Providence, a working class neighborhood of Irish, Italians, and "Portagees" to pay his respects. His trip turns out to be a journey of discovery, told with a writing style that won't let go of the reader, conversational and revelatory without giving the game away. --Valerie Ryan
When Ron McLarty's debut novel, The Memory of Running, appeared, it became clear that this man is a triple threat: actor (movies, stage, and TV), playwright and author. Now, with the publication of Traveler, he has beaten sophomore slump with another arresting story of real people, one that will keep you reading until the last page is finished, and then will leave you wondering what's next for everyone in the novel. Jono Riley is a middle-aged bartender and sometime actor just getting by in Manhattan. When he receives a note from a childhood friend telling him that Marie, his first love, has died, he travels back to East Providence, a working class neighborhood of Irish, Italians, and "Portagees" to pay his respects. His trip turns out to be a journey of discovery, told with a writing style that won't let go of the reader, conversational and revelatory without giving the game away. --Valerie Ryan
