political / feminist / independent / honest opinions
*Thank you to Bookish First, Lorna Landvik, and the University of Minnesota Press for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.*
The title and cover of this book immediately drew me in, but the content kept my eyes glued to the pages. This is my first title by Landvik — also, full disclosure, this is not usually the genre of book I pick up — but I fell in love with the story line that she created that hit so many current social topics.
This story centers on Haze Evans — an 81-year-old columnist at the Granite Creek Gazette — who suffers a massive stroke. In lieu of the situation, Susan McGrath — current publisher — decides to run Haze’s past published columns from 1964-2016.
To help scale this task, McGrath’s 14-year-old son, Sam — who’s working at the paper for the summer — spends his hours going through 52 years of Haze’s columns (and all of the responses from readers that have been kept throughout these years).
“I’m conspiring with you right now, Haze. Conspiring with you to get that feeding tube out of your nose, conspiring with you to heal that brain of yours, conspiring with you to come on back. I mean it, Haze. Come on back.”
Given Haze’s medical state (starting straight away in the story line) you don’t get to learn much about her from a standard point of view. HOWEVER. *spoiler / not really a spoiler* I loved diving into ‘Part Two’ where Landvik really captures her story and we get to learn more about what makes her tick. *behind the scenes*
While Haze was obviously the main star of this story *howdy, radical hag* and her columns sprinkle the pages throughout; Sam was a very solid — second main star — of this narrative. Landvik wrote about Sam in a way that portrayed such growth and likeliness that I found myself wishing I could step foot in the Granite Creek Gazette just to meet him.
Before picking up this book, I read a lot of disgruntled reviews about Landvik having too much of a political voice in this book, but I really wasn’t bothered by it. *that’s saying something as I prefer to be SWEDEN AT ALL TIMES* I felt like, as a work that featured columns, there did need to be some political presence as most columns these days also feature the same.
Haze was also *noted from the title* referred to as the ‘radical hag’ from readers who felt that her place wasn’t a column writer. This wasn’t only due to her political voice, but also her feminist one, her independent one, and her honest one. It was refreshing to read something that felt so honest and real and dived into sensitive subjects without batting an eye.
This was a great book to escape to after a long day at work, and I recommend to anyone who’s into fiction, wit, and great character story lines. The way Landvik separately introduced characters who then tied to each other in the most intricate and complicated of ways left me in awe.
P.S. Recipes really are included; and most of them sound delicious!
The title and cover of this book immediately drew me in, but the content kept my eyes glued to the pages. This is my first title by Landvik — also, full disclosure, this is not usually the genre of book I pick up — but I fell in love with the story line that she created that hit so many current social topics.
This story centers on Haze Evans — an 81-year-old columnist at the Granite Creek Gazette — who suffers a massive stroke. In lieu of the situation, Susan McGrath — current publisher — decides to run Haze’s past published columns from 1964-2016.
To help scale this task, McGrath’s 14-year-old son, Sam — who’s working at the paper for the summer — spends his hours going through 52 years of Haze’s columns (and all of the responses from readers that have been kept throughout these years).
“I’m conspiring with you right now, Haze. Conspiring with you to get that feeding tube out of your nose, conspiring with you to heal that brain of yours, conspiring with you to come on back. I mean it, Haze. Come on back.”
Given Haze’s medical state (starting straight away in the story line) you don’t get to learn much about her from a standard point of view. HOWEVER. *spoiler / not really a spoiler* I loved diving into ‘Part Two’ where Landvik really captures her story and we get to learn more about what makes her tick. *behind the scenes*
While Haze was obviously the main star of this story *howdy, radical hag* and her columns sprinkle the pages throughout; Sam was a very solid — second main star — of this narrative. Landvik wrote about Sam in a way that portrayed such growth and likeliness that I found myself wishing I could step foot in the Granite Creek Gazette just to meet him.
Before picking up this book, I read a lot of disgruntled reviews about Landvik having too much of a political voice in this book, but I really wasn’t bothered by it. *that’s saying something as I prefer to be SWEDEN AT ALL TIMES* I felt like, as a work that featured columns, there did need to be some political presence as most columns these days also feature the same.
Haze was also *noted from the title* referred to as the ‘radical hag’ from readers who felt that her place wasn’t a column writer. This wasn’t only due to her political voice, but also her feminist one, her independent one, and her honest one. It was refreshing to read something that felt so honest and real and dived into sensitive subjects without batting an eye.
This was a great book to escape to after a long day at work, and I recommend to anyone who’s into fiction, wit, and great character story lines. The way Landvik separately introduced characters who then tied to each other in the most intricate and complicated of ways left me in awe.
P.S. Recipes really are included; and most of them sound delicious!