Lullaby Road, by James Anderson

REVIEW:  I enjoyed reading this novel and cared about the characters.  The story was very engrossing which made me want to keep reading and look forward to when I could get back to the book.  I particularly enjoyed the author’s descriptions of the desert and the people who might choose to live such an isolated life style.  The only problem I had was that it was at times hard to follow and connect the small details throughout the story.  At the end I had several unanswered questions, even though I went back through the book to see if I missed anything.   I received a complimentary copy of the book for this review.  Rating: four stars out of five.

Characters
Price, Utah	Route 117	Rockmuse, Utah
Ben – truck driver Cecil Boone – Stop ‘n Gone Truck Stop Ana –works at truck stop -  in picture on missing poster with Manita at end of novel Pedro – tire man at truck stop Juan – Manita Dog Ginny – lived in duplex connected to Ben’s Annabelle – infant daughter Nadine – mother Rod – Nadine’s boyfriend Dr. Wanda Stafford Los Ojos Negros Michaela Josefina Tiffany (Julieta)	Walt Butterfield – Well-Known Desert Diner Bernice – wife – raped Claire – daughter, cellist – killed by ex-husband Walt’s Son with a married rancher’s wife – smuggling tires from Mexico with Cecil, also involved in child smuggling Dan Brew Andy Smith – State Trooper	John “Preach” – First Church of the Desert Cross Phyllis Bradford Joe – Rockmuse Mercantile Peggy -wife Lenny – nephew Toby – Collision Center Roy Cuthbert – inventor Eckhardt – Rockmuse Shell Station Ginger – Ginger’s Glass, Whatnots, Handmade Soap and Ballroom Dance Emporium George Dr. Rupert Conway Hector and family

 For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the hardback edition of the book.

1. On page 18, after being hit by the truck Ben wonders if he should have made “the harder” choice and just gone home with the boy and Belle.   He thought, “Like a good many people, when faced with a hard decision, most of my thinking involved trying to come up with a good excuse not to do what I knew I should do.”   Do you think this is true for most people?   Why do some people make the harder decisions?
2. Why did Ginger run over John?  Was it on purpose or an accident?  Why did George call the hospital and tell them he had died?
3. Were you able to picture the town of Rockmuse as you were reading?
4. Which characters did you connect with the most?  Which would you like to learn more about?
5. When thinking about Roy on page 86, Ben saw Roy in a different light, “resourceful, hardworking, determined, even ingenious…”   Did this novel make you think of people who might be worse off than you in a more positive or different way?
6. What happened to Manita in the end?  How was Ana at the truck stop connected to Manita?  When was the picture taken for the missing poster?
7. How did Claire get such an expensive cello?  Was that important to the story?
8. Why do you think Pedro said the child was a boy?
9. Did you think the man driving the truck that hit Ben at the beginning of the novel and then attacked Ben, Walt and Andy at the end was Walt’s illegitimate son?  Why did he attack the three men?
10. On page 303 Ben muses that, ‘There was only one reason why all three of us were still alive.”   What was the reason?
11. What part did Los Ojos Negros play in the novel?  Why did they seem so connected with Ben?   What part did they play in the three men’s survival at the end of the novel?
12. Discuss your reading experience.  What was positive and what, if anything, was negative?

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Click  on the upper right  link.

Last Bus to Wisdom, by Ivan Doig

Characters

Donal Cameron – “Red Chief” Dorie Blegen – grandmother Kitty Brinker – Dorie’s sister, “The Kate,” “Aunt Kate” Herman Brinker – husband Karl May – Western writer, Herman’s favorite author, Austrian Wendell Williamson – ranch owner People met in travels: Letty Minetti – passenger on bus, knew Dorie from truck stop in Browning Harv – Letty’s boyfriend, being taken to jail Sheriff Carl Kinnick – Harv’s stepbrother, taking him to jail Mae and Joe Schneider Jack Kerouac Rags Rasmussen Reverend Mac – thief on bus Dr. Paul Schneider

Diamond Buckle Ranch: Rags Rasmussen Jones Smiley Highpockets Harv Mrs. Costello Waltzing Matilda

For discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition of the novel.

1. Did you ever have an autograph book?   Do you still have it? 
2. Discuss the various characters.   Who did you sympathize with and who did you not?  What were the positives and negatives of each?   What decisions made by the characters changed your idea of them?
3. Donal was surprised to learn that Kate had been a waitress.   Why do you think Herman never brought that up in their arguments in the kitchen over how he ate toast?
4. When Donal was first getting to know Herman, he was impressed with Herman’s imagination.  He reflected, “Wherever Herman Brinker got it from, he’s held on to the rare quality that usually leaves a person after a certain number of years as a kid, to let what he had read possess him” (Chapter 10, page 154).   How you ever had the experience of being totally possessed by what you are reading?
5. How did Donal’s attitude of “I’ll toughen in.” (chapter 27, page 387) help him survive and thrive?  How can we develop that attitude in our children and in ourselves?
6. At the end of the novel, in the saloon when Donal wanted to tell Herman about returning to his grandmother and Letty in Glasgow, he decided to wait because Herman was having a good time.  Donal thought, “There are times when mercy cancels anything else.” (chapter 29, page 416).  Do you agree?  Can you think of any examples?
7. Were you surprised when at the end of the novel Donal chose to stay with Herman rather than return to his grandmother?
8. Discuss your reading experience.  (I felt anxious anticipating all of the bad things that could happen to Donal in his travels.    I read the last few pages to see how it ended and then was able to enjoy the rest of the story much more.)

*****

First Semester Success: Learning Strategies and Motivation for Your First Semester (or Any Semester) of College, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com, wordassociation.com and barnesandnoble.com.   Click on the upper right link.