REVIEW: “November Road” by Lou Berney 2/5
Have you ever had to push through a book because you were buddy reading it? That was me in the beginning of this one.
The number of fingers I’m holding up is the number of stars I had to give November Road, my September BOTM pick. If I could give half stars, I would probably give it 2.5, but the rules of mathematics would force me to round up…and I definitely couldn’t round it up to 3.
This book contains the mother of all road trips in a fascinating time period, around JFK’s assassination. Lou Berney does a decent job of capturing the essence of America at that time and what it was like to be caught up with the wrong crowd, as well as what it would be like to be a housewife. He weaves together three unlikely characters that have difference backgrounds and endings, making for a page turning plot and a lot of twists.
I gave this book two stars because it started out so confusing and slow. I could barely wrap my head around what was going on with each character – there were a lot of them, and their stories were murky at the start. I had no idea how any of them went together, what their significance was, and if it was worth investing any time in. However, because it was a buddy read with @smballou, I pushed through, and in the end I was happy that I did. I learned to love at least one of the characters and it opened my eyes to what life was like during that time frame period.
Despite a generally good story and some interesting characters, the confusion in the beginning and the gore was enough for me to bump it down to a 2.
Jenna, Stop Reading! 