Quentin Fougielala Fougielala itibaren Enterprise, OR 97828, USA
This is a random one, but we toured Rosehall Estates in Jamaica, on which the book is based. Only seemed appropriate to read the book after being there.
I'm not going to lie, this book takes time to read, time to like, time to comprehend. It grows on you, though. Mossman is also guilty of some of the faults for which I slammed JSF-- namely faux-poetry, faux-profundity. I guess I let him off the hook because he wrote it thirty years before JSF, went insane afterwards, and works as a welder in Iowa, where he lives in his childhood home. As opposed to, y'know, million dollar advances and buying a brownstone in Park Slope. Not that I can fault an author for success, I guess it's just more difficult for me to find an author genuine who is sitting pretty than one for whom the process of writing and uncovering their soul proved too much to bear. But to the book... Stones of Summer is written in three sections: the first is Dawes Williams as a young boy visiting his grandfather, Arthur--an irascible old man who breeds greyhounds. The first section reminded me of Henry Roth's "Call it Sleep" for the manner with which Mossman captures the psyche of a lonely young boy, trying to make sense of the world around him. The second section was my favorite, concerning mainly the exploits of Dawes and his best buddies just after high school. They're all a little slacker, a little hipster and a little beatnik but ultimately very akin to Kerouac's 'Roman Candles' in their exuberance for living and being young. And as with any faults in classical literature, tragedy is always lurking near the end. The third and final section concerns Dawes drinking himself to death ten years after the second section, on a beach in Mexico. While he slips in and out of consciousness, he remembers and reflects on his life while carrying on a continuing conversation with a young prostitute. The final section was the most difficult to get through--often impentrable. I was able to slog through it, however, because Mossman does such a terrific job making me care about Dawes Williams. All in all, a necessary read, I think, if you're up to the challenge.