Saturday, December 5, 2009

Book Review: Northline, by Willy Vlautin

This is actually another lesson on why I really need to stop judging books by covers, because yet again- the cover did nothing for me and I really LOVED this book. Loved it. I am insisting you read it.





This is another book I got mailed to me, for free, from Haper Collins' Publishing. I'm slowly making my way through that stack. But I also received another book of Willy's called The Motel Life which I gave away earlier. I'll talk more about that but let's get on with the review!

Amazing book. This is an incredibly fast read, I literally got it done in one evening sit down consisting of 4 hours. It is basically about our main character, Allison, who is fucked up 7 ways from Sunday in her own right, but she is in an abusive relationship. I found it curious that we didn't read a lot about the actual abuse- you get brief snippits throughout, but yet you knew that it was extremely abusive in every way possible right off the bat. The writing is really superb- maybe that's why you just knew all of this stuff without having to actually read it. Does this make sense? Probably not, but that's my operating thought at 8 a.m. today.

You are totally rooting for Allison through the entire book but everytime she makes a bad choice you are literally smacking your own head because it's like she can't really see what she's doing. I loved the ending of the book as well. It kind of ended it in the middle of nowhere, but I felt hopeful for her in the end. Like maybe she finally made the right decision and her path has changed.

Definitely a good read you should check out. The book also comes with a CD that is essentially the soundtrack to the book, performed by Willy and his band. I have to confess I didn't listen to it. Maybe you should put it in when you read. Dammit- why didn't I think of that before?! Well it's a brand new CD for you to enjoy.

Now, are you really wanting to read this? Like really, really? OK- so here are the rule:

1. You must be a follower of the blog.
2. Leave a comment on this post.
3. Be awesome.
4. Do all of this by Monday, December 7

and I will pick a winner Monday night and post it on my blog then. And then I will mail it to you, you will receive it, read it, love it. Because I said so. :)

4 comments:

Jen Mc said...

I'm awesome! :) I love to hear book reviews. It sounds like a good one - thanks!

Hope you're feeling better; had a good Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas.
HUGS!

Unknown said...

I am sorry it wasn't a very good trip. ={

I love christmas ornaments. We went to his moms house today & she was putting her tree up and had the box of ornaments out and they are mostly what Scotty & his brother made when they were little.

They are so cute!

I would love the link to the story about your bad trip

spanky* said...

OMG! ok, this is toooo weird... not only do i have the same name as you (Sara) with NO h, & not only do i have the same eclipse countdown on my blog... BUT...
i SWEAR
i have a second blog CALLED "Organized Chaos".... how WEIRD!!!???

wow.. this is crazy!!!!!

i only ever wrote on it once & it was kind of a secret, venting post, so i never advertised it, but wow... i'm like... kinda blown away!!!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!