She Treads Softly: The Road to Dalton

Monday, May 29, 2023

The Road to Dalton

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring
6/6/23; 250 pages
Europa Editions

The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring is a highly recommended debut literary novel about small town Maine.

The narrative of The Road to Dalton follows citizens of the fictional small town of Dalton in 1990 Maine. The narrative carefully and compassionately follows three couples and the tension and dilemmas they face. Rose is being abused by Tommy. Richard, the local doctor, sees it all while tolerating a loveless marriage to Trudy. Trudy is in love with Bev, wife of Bill and mother to Nate. Nate's wife Bridget is suffering from post-partum depression. Sarah and Greg are struggling with the unique challenges of adolescence.

This is a character driven novel that relies upon your compassion and care about the people who populate Bowring's small town in order to hold your attention and interest. The interconnected chapters follow the reactions and emotions of the characters who inhabit the town. You might have to set some disbelief aside, but you will be interested in the feelings and reactions of these characters.

The writing is incredible and insightful, although you may have to set some disbelief aside. These characters and their situations will resonate with many readers. This is an excellent debut and Bowring is an author to watch in the future.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Europa Editions via Edelweiss.

No comments:

Post a Comment

John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.