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This was his debut novel by Jim Peterson, after publishing some collections of poems. One of those collections, his fourth titled “The Owning Stone”, won the The Benjamin Saltman Award.
From Amazon.Com, here is the description:
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Traumatized by the mysterious circumstances of his mother's death, Chuck runs away from his South Carolina home and lands in Colorado Springs where he becomes involved with Frank Posner and his mother, Lyuba. Leaders of an ancient and highly secretive family of travelers who have incredible powers, they take Chuck on a psychological journey in which he must face his disturbing past and confront a frightening and uncertain future.
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There is another significant character, Sandy. This is Chuck’s girlfriend early in the book and who plays a part in the story throughout.
The book started a bit slow, that is for one clocking in at just under 200 pages. And two points of Chuck’s relationship with Sandy ran together kind of quickly. The first was them getting together. But that truthfully doesn’t hinder the story at all. (It just struck me funny how quickly they headed off with each other.) The second was the break-up of their relationship. I think it could have been played out a little more. This doesn’t hurt the story as a whole, but could have added more to it and to the emotion felt by Chuck.
You also find out the surprise of how his mother died, and how he deals with the mysteries that Frank and Lyuba show him and pass onto him. Chuck becomes a pretty cruel guy as the story goes on, and it is the first time I believe that I have read something written in the first person where the character acts the way he does. But Chuck has a lot to deal with, and his inner demons keep tangling with the secrets, his disdain for Frank and Lyuba, the break-up with Sandy, and eventually another guy in her life.
Now, like I said, it felt to me that it took a bit to get going. And it wasn’t a lack of interesting things happening. But the last 130 pages really had the right pace. I sat down yesterday and in what felt like no time I had stormed through over 100 pages. And for someone that has won awards for poetry, his prose was not too wordy or full of metaphors. It was intelligent, yet easy to read, and he would use some of those poetic tools but only at appropriate times. It made for some good reading.
8/10
