Are you a book finisher? By that I mean, once into a novel, even if it isn’t fabulous or totally grabbing your interest, are you the person that will finish the book, always hoping it will get better?
Now I’m not talking about reading the first 10 pages and putting it down when you realize this isn’t for me or this isn’t the time for me to read this book. I mean when you’re well into the book, having read the premise on the book jacket or elsewhere and you truly believe that this should be a great novel. Or it’s by an author you really like.
Well, I’m a book finisher. Sometimes I plod along, absolutely sure the story will suddenly take a turn for the better. Much of the time it doesn’t, or it gets really good in the last 2 chapters. (Happily, I don’t choose books like this very often.) But sometimes I am rewarded for my pushing through a slow beginning and what seems to be a meandering first third to half of the book. Such is the case with Angel Landing by Alice Hoffman.
I find Alice Hoffman to be a brilliant writer, and she’s one of my favorite authors. That’s why I picked up this book last year at the library sale. But I must tell you, this one was slow going for me. At first. The initial unfolding of the relationship between Natalie and Carter, which was clearly lacking, didn’t intrigue me; nor did Natalie’s lack of interest and lack of proficiency in being a social worker; nor did the issue of a nuclear power plant in a north shore Long Island town. Carter’s group, Soft Skies, protests the plant and its inherent dangers, which explodes soon thereafter. Even when Michael Finn, a complex protagonist who may be the cause of the explosion, and perhaps the most interesting character, enters the picture, I was still not sucked in as I usually am by Hoffman’s novels.
But somewhere along the line, Alice Hoffman works her magic, and these ordinary people become increasingly 3-dimensional, and their pain and insecurities and the directions of their lives start to matter. Natalie’s Aunt Minnie is an endearing character, soon appreciated for both her genuine compassion for the people in the nursing home where she works and for her straight forward, common sense attitude towards life. Michael Finn, battling a lonely and painful past, soon draws us in. And then there is Michael Finn’s alcoholic and abusive father, Danny Finn.
So yes, I plodded a bit through the first third or so of this novel, not believing that Alice Hoffman would let me down. And she didn’t. On this one, I’m glad I’m a book finisher. Are you?
Still A Dreamer 