I was introduced to Joe Coomer with his only non-fiction book "Dream House-On Building a House by a Pond" which I had picked up because I was in a fit of remodeling a hundred-year-old house and wanted to hear someone else's horror stories. As it turned out it wasn't horrific but rather funny. Intrigued, I found copies of his first books, "The Decatur Road," "Kentucky Love" and "A Flatland Fable" which were wonderful. But the...
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I picked this book up by accident off of our library's "new books" section. I had never heard of Joe Coomer and had no idea what I was in for. Wow!! This is truly one of the best books I've ever read. I loved it and can't wait to recommend it to my reading friends. I'm going to read other books by Coomer as soon as I can find them.
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Hannah Bryant, artist and recluse, embodies the atmosphere of the Maine island she occupies. Proud, isolated, prickly, rugged, driven and moody, she fiercely guards her solitary life, patrolling her island against invaders and incorporating the place into her art. "She craved isolation, and thought an island the most productive place for her to work as an artist. Focused. Find a center and stand there and work in place. The...
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The greatest thing about Joe Coomer's writing is that he makes us "feel." In the two books that I've read, I found the plots well-constructed, the characters and dialogue "true-to-life," and the scenery description so vivid that I wanted to take my next vacation in that exact setting. And he has not let his readers down in this book that's set on the rugged coastline of Maine. I feel like dashing there the minute I finish...
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This is the sixth or seventh Coomer novel I've read. It's his best. The characterizations are subtle, the revelations are extraordinary and ordinary. The setting is as always lovingly explored. I like Coomer for the way he writes, not necessarily what he writes about, but the themes he explores here hit home with me: losing what you love and carrying on. It's a truly adult novel that I'll go back to again and again.
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