I love this book. The dialogue, the story, the atmosphere, the setting, it’s all there, laid out for us to indulge and relish. The opening!! It’s early post-WW II, 1947, so many of the details and attitudes, knowledge and culture are all apropos for the time. Mike and Logan, all of the characters are fully formed and dressed, each breathing their own rhythms. Jay and Curtis crack me up, and they are accepting of themselves and their friends, their brothers in arms, Mike and Logan. They are all there for each other, whether rustling sheep, carving a notch out of a log or offering reassuring solace when their memories get too demanding of their time. I love this book. The mystery that is referenced in the title is well played. We get a few snippets of the personality of the victim before events start to unfold. There is a company wanting to mine uranium on the reservation and feelings and ideas about that are expressed strongly all around. I didn’t see everything coming until close to the end. And, along the way, we learn more and more about these men and their lives, before and after war. The entire thing is like dining on the most tender of meats, so light and unassuming but oh so satisfyingly filling. I love this BOOK. The attraction, unwavering support and deep understanding between Mike and Logan are spread out before us, a wonderfully prepared picnic of emotion, enticing our hearts at will. Their connection is double such: a true love partnered with the most unbreakable of bonds, having survived their service in the Pacific, some of the worst of the war. They saw the A-bombs and their effects, all of them. No longer is patience the name of the game in, not just knowing what and who they want, but doing something about it without letting anything get in their way. An intimate gesture, one of my favorite bits: This is Logan towards Mike while Mike is still lying down, wrapped in a blanket, Logan standing: I gave him another nudge in the thigh with my toe, and he wrapped his hand around my ankle, gave me a little squeeze. That’s what you do with someone who… they’re yours. Ilovethisbook. They aren’t living in some paradise, there are those who do not accept them as they are, for many reasons, and they both worry about what they can do, where they can go. More than once Logan thinks about whether their mountain is the place for them to share their lives in peace. One of the best things about this story is that they don’t give up, they demand from the world what they want, and thankfully have those who want it for them, too. This is Logan to Mike, perfect: You’ve been mine since the first time. You gave yourself to me, and I took you, and I haven’t given you back yet.” Normally, this is too sweet for my tastes but it just freaking works with these characters and this story. I love this book. There is an intangible quality to this writing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not ethereal or otherworldly or surreal. It’s like there’s a gently unrealistic thread running through the story and all of the characters and it works. It just does. It gives a slightly faded, sepia tone to the whole thing. It’s not nostalgia or rose-colored, but whatever it is (say it with me now)… I.Love.This.Book. Whitman, windows and weaving… that’s love. ILOVETHISBOOK. The ending!! Mike stuck his head outside the hogan door. “You hear a truck?” Logan: “I can’t hear anything.” Mike: “Where’s your hearing aid?” Logan: “It ran away with your glasses.” I love this book!!! This is the second of this author’s books that I’ve read and I will continue to do so.I recommend you do, as well. This book is love.
Andrea - Rulin Doolin
Books of all kinds, and the right to read them as I see fit. That's a passion.
I love this book. The dialogue, the story, the atmosphere, the setting, it’s all there, laid out for us to indulge and relish. The opening!! It’s early post-WW II, 1947, so many of the details and attitudes, knowledge and culture are all apropos for the time. Mike and Logan, all of the characters are fully formed and dressed, each breathing their own rhythms. Jay and Curtis crack me up, and they are accepting of themselves and their friends, their brothers in arms, Mike and Logan. They are all there for each other, whether rustling sheep, carving a notch out of a log or offering reassuring solace when their memories get too demanding of their time. I love this book. The mystery that is referenced in the title is well played. We get a few snippets of the personality of the victim before events start to unfold. There is a company wanting to mine uranium on the reservation and feelings and ideas about that are expressed strongly all around. I didn’t see everything coming until close to the end. And, along the way, we learn more and more about these men and their lives, before and after war. The entire thing is like dining on the most tender of meats, so light and unassuming but oh so satisfyingly filling. I love this BOOK. The attraction, unwavering support and deep understanding between Mike and Logan are spread out before us, a wonderfully prepared picnic of emotion, enticing our hearts at will. Their connection is double such: a true love partnered with the most unbreakable of bonds, having survived their service in the Pacific, some of the worst of the war. They saw the A-bombs and their effects, all of them. No longer is patience the name of the game in, not just knowing what and who they want, but doing something about it without letting anything get in their way. An intimate gesture, one of my favorite bits: This is Logan towards Mike while Mike is still lying down, wrapped in a blanket, Logan standing: I gave him another nudge in the thigh with my toe, and he wrapped his hand around my ankle, gave me a little squeeze. That’s what you do with someone who… they’re yours. Ilovethisbook. They aren’t living in some paradise, there are those who do not accept them as they are, for many reasons, and they both worry about what they can do, where they can go. More than once Logan thinks about whether their mountain is the place for them to share their lives in peace. One of the best things about this story is that they don’t give up, they demand from the world what they want, and thankfully have those who want it for them, too. This is Logan to Mike, perfect: You’ve been mine since the first time. You gave yourself to me, and I took you, and I haven’t given you back yet.” Normally, this is too sweet for my tastes but it just freaking works with these characters and this story. I love this book. There is an intangible quality to this writing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not ethereal or otherworldly or surreal. It’s like there’s a gently unrealistic thread running through the story and all of the characters and it works. It just does. It gives a slightly faded, sepia tone to the whole thing. It’s not nostalgia or rose-colored, but whatever it is (say it with me now)… I.Love.This.Book. Whitman, windows and weaving… that’s love. ILOVETHISBOOK. The ending!! Mike stuck his head outside the hogan door. “You hear a truck?” Logan: “I can’t hear anything.” Mike: “Where’s your hearing aid?” Logan: “It ran away with your glasses.” I love this book!!! This is the second of this author’s books that I’ve read and I will continue to do so.I recommend you do, as well. This book is love.
