Oops, my bad. I read Friendswood by Rene Steinke way back before Christmas, but didn’t write down my thoughts. I know I thought something about it. Ok, here we go, I’m going to try to reconstruct my thoughts.
What I do remember about Friendswood is that I liked it a fair bit. It was an Erin Brockovich kind of story of a lone woman trying to take down a local oil company for the toxic sludge that has resulted in sky rocketing cancer rates in her community. If that’s not enough, there is also a parallel plot line focusing on the sexual assault and shaming of a high school girl.
I know, it sounds like a lot. And it is. At times I felt as though the two threads of the story were completely unrelated. Each was rich enough to sustain a novel on its own. That is my only complaint about the novel. In spite of this, there are moments of pure brilliance in Friendswood. It is a book that comes close to perfection, but doesn’t quite achieve it.
Who would like this book? For me the hook was that Friendswood is a real town in Texas that has gone through pretty much what Steinke is writing about. The setting is true, but the characters and their foibles are fictions placed in the toxic environment of Friendswood. I also really enjoyed the tension shown between the captial C Christians of the town, and those less religiously inclined. I will be following this up with Steinke’s Holy Skirts sometime soon.
52 books or bust 
God I do this all the time. It’s so hard to go back and sift through your thoughts and feelings of a book you read a while ago. Other books and stories and characters have gotten in the way in the meantime. I think you did an admirable job! And I really like the cover of this book!
I’m always so on the fence about books that make me feel as if the author has “too many balls in the air.” As I like to put it. I’ll keep an eye out for this one, but not sure we’d mesh.
I love the cover of this one. THis is the first I’m hearing of it, so thanks for bringing it to my attention 🙂
I like the cover too. And I’ve had a sneak peak at the PB cover and while different is great as well.
Oh! I’m not going to read this too thoroughly – I JUST started this one. Took it out from the library. I feel like I’ve had so many non-starters or really, non-finishers already this year – I’m hoping I can stick with this one. 😉
It’s pretty good, not perfect, but does have some flashes of brilliance.
I really liked this one as well. For me, the part that got to be too much was the girl’s visions- her reality was tough enough, why add that? Otherwise, I thought it was a great combination of stories and themes.
Yeah, i was wondering the purpose of the visions. I thought they distracted more than anything.
Okay, I’ve finished, need to write up my thoughts. Overall, I really enjoyed this one! The visions – yeah – those were distracting and I’m not sure wholly necessary? What were they supposed to mean, if they were to mean anything? I loved the “two” storylines here and for me, that underlying message of silencing a woman’s voice came through quite strongly – both for Lee and Willa.
Cant wait to see your review.
Ooh, this sounds really good! (And I am terrible about writing down my thoughts immediately after finishing a book. I still haven’t reviewed Yes Please, which I read in November.)
If i dont review immediately i’m in trouble. I like to sit down immediately and write down whatever comes out. If i wait more than a week i’m lost.