This short book was a mostly well-written look at a few things: the germination of art in an amateur artist, the kindness of people, and the effect of poverty in the rust belt of America.
While I enjoyed the setting – it was interesting to see how people lived and felt about their situation – I thought some of the story was pretty unbelievable, especially the behavior of certain characters. I realize that people read fiction for new and unusual experiences, but I couldn’t suspend disbelief and buy in to some of these events.
This is a fair amount of contemporary American culture war fodder here, and I found myself questioning if it was necessary in developing the story or not.
Finally the ending was satisfying in content but the writing felt awkward to me. The style was different from the rest of the book and felt like it was written at a completely different time from the rest of the book.
Despite my criticisms, I did enjoy the story overall.
Next I am reading The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett.
