Valet Reader

What the hell is the point of spending 50 pages introducing the reader to characters that never reappear in a story? I honestly have no clue. I can say with finality that I did not enjoy this book.

Within those first fifty pages we meet four characters, a sheriff, his wife, the villain and the villain’s henchman. Somehow it reminds me of Mccarthy’s No Country For Old Men. Except, I like Mccarthy and his books. It probably has to do with the fact that the henchman couldn’t have been anymore prototypical, “He had that air of affability that let you know know he didn’t give a fuck about you or anybody else.” I’m pretty sure I’ve read about that character a couple of times in the past 6 months alone. And to be clear, Chigur was way more bad ass.

Following those 50 pages Burnside decides to start the actual story which involves missing boys, a derelict chemical plant, a social divide and hormonal adolescents. Reading the back cover of the novel you’d almost think that there might be something in here worth checking out. It did actually make the book sound compelling and even encouraged me enough to buy it (if anyone wants it, please, just let me know).

Not uncommon in a book that situates a town near a derelict chemical plant, the incidence of cancer and disease is unfathomably high. The environment has been decimated and the moral of said town is, well, down in the dumps.

The story itself though is not only about the problems associated with the derelict plant, it more deals with the mystery of boys disappearing in the blue collar town near the plant and the town which is more affluent just outside the destructive realm of the chemicals. The age old dilemma of the class divide is once again resurrected in this story and is emphasized in the descriptions offered of how the other side lives. While those in the working class, who live in the “innertown” near the plant, are resigned to stay where they are, those in the “outtertown” are not so.

When everyone has agreed to believe that the disappeared teenagers have just run away as opposed to something more dramatic and horrifying, the essence of their acquiescence to their position comes further into light. The “innertown” folk are reticent to believe that any harm could have befallen their lost, instead they choose to believe the “lost” have done what they will never do, which is leave their pitiful community. If I were in their shoes I’m pretty damn sure I would start asking “what the f is happening around here?”

The end of the novel is nothing to write home about. In fact, I’m not ever sure what the hell happened. I mean on a pretty basic level I do but was it worth my time to read and get to that point, I’d have to adamantly say “no.”

I won’t ignore the fact that the book was beautifully written but without a plot to follow and so much depth to it (which I think is there and am possibly too naive to catch on) it really was too much for me. I don’t think that asking for a plot which is sustained is too much to ask for.