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Love And Terror On The Howling Plains Of Nowhere: A Memoir (2013)

by Poe Ballantine(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

098347754X (ISBN13: 9780983477549)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Hawthorne Books

review 1: I have mixed emotions about rating this book a 5, because the family of the man thought to have been murdered did not want the book written due to the ensuing pain and memories for them. Having said that, the book is beautifully written, and I did not want it to end. Ballentine's prose is lyrical, wry, and articulate (I highlighted and defined at least 15 new words), and his character assembly and wit reminds me of John Irving at his best.
review 2: Ballantine describes himself as a failed novelist, a drifter/short-order cook who somehow ends up in Chadron, Nebraska, the end of the earth. Right in the middle of a murder mystery. He actually becomes a suspect due to his motive: the need to write and sell a book. This is laugh-out-loud stuff, even though we're ... moretalking about a math teacher who was burned to death. ("Professor Flambé," as one of the detectives calls him.) Ballantine's musings about his son Tom, diagnosed as autistic, reveal his true gifts as a writer. This kid is one of the funniest and most charming characters in history. I'm now off in search of Ballantine's essays... less

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