The
Early Journals of Will Barnett(The combined trilogy of Uncle Sean, Lance, and All Over Him)
Two Brothers Press (September 24, 2004)
Paper, 500 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 1594576203
By Ronald L. Donaghe
I recently purchased a copy of The Early Journals of Will Barnett in POD (print on demand) format to give to a friend as a birthday present. He is one of those people who read, but is not a "reader" like some of the rest of us. I am hoping that if he has the whole trilogy, in one volume, it may spark a desire to explore further. I will discuss POD at the end of this review.
Now as to why you should buy this book. Mr. Donaghe is a master at building characters. It is easy to visualize the people he "paints" in his work. It is the main reason that his work is so successful. I can relate his characters with someone I know or have observed and he makes them interesting enough, so that you really want to see what they do next. Will, Lance, and Will's Uncle Sean are the main characters, but could not hold the interest without the rest of the cast. It is obvious that Mr. Donaghe has put as much effort into the support players as he has the lead. One of the most fascinating characterizations in the series is Will's Mother. She has held a family together and even though there are things going on around her that she may not approve of, she is a person who has learned to live with and accept, without complaint, the things that she cannot change. She "steps up" when she needs to. This springs from the love that she has for her family to which she is totally dedicated. The change in her is astounding as the series progresses.
As we read, we watch all the characters grow and mature in surprising ways. We see, again, the strength of love in both its simple and more complex forms. It is another example of how each of us has to finally come to terms with the people in our lives and make choices that may affect us forever. Due to the curves that life continues to throw our way, those decisions are not easy and sometime the heart has to lead the way. Regardless of what those around us may think, we are the ones who have to live with our decisions in the end. The situations in which we find ourselves, along with the people that are close to us, often have a great deal to play in who we chose to love and when. Having a family, whether natural or chosen, that loves you enough to support your decisions and life choices is an important key.
Mr. Donaghe has a unique approach to the telling of this story. He leaves the end open for the possibility of more to come from Will and Lance but does so in such a personal way that we can almost expect to "bump" into them at any time if we are ever in that part of the Southwest. I tend to read his novels, with a Rand McNally road atlas next to me for reference. He writes about places he knows well and does it with great style.
Buy this series in any form that you can get it. It will tug at your heart; make you smile and even cry some. It is good reading and as I’ve said about his work before, well worth the time and effort and would be cheap at twice the price!
Considering buying a book published through "print on demand"?
In a recent article in the IGW, Mr. Donaghe stated that it doesn’t take much to wrap a cover around a manuscript and put it in the mail. He was right. Do not let that stop you from trying books offered in this format, however. It is more economical and as most of us are on some type of budget you can, in this case, get the whole Will Barnett series for just over the price of one volume, if bought separately. The difference I did notice was that it did seem somewhat rushed. Some of the pages had light streaks through them such as my copy machine produces when it is about to run out of toner. The pages were still legible, however, and this did not detract from the reading. I am sure that it was unique to my copy and would not show up in all orders. As I have the original trilogy, published separately in three volumes, this version did seem a bit crowded. The format is a bit smaller than the original books, but it is all there. The only thing that I really did not care for with a POD is the approximately four and one-half weeks that it took to receive the book from when it was ordered. I tend to like my orders to arrive "yesterday" and the wait was an aggravation but well worth it.
In the same article on "Sloppy Writing," Mr. Donaghe talked about the lack of careful proof reading that is showing up in some of the work that is being published today. (Don’t EVEN get me started!) I can say, without reservation, that one of the great pleasures in reading Mr. Donaghe's works is the extra care and professionalism that he puts into the finished product. In the near 500 pages of this trilogy, I was only struck by one obvious error and it was not spelling or punctuation, merely word usage. Something, no doubt, only an ex-school teacher would notice.
Ronald L. Donaghe responds to Mr. Evans...for reader edification.
What Roy Evans says about POD books is true—sometimes. There are sometimes delays from the printer, but every POD company I know of continually works to improve its delivery process. There are still gliches in the printing process, as well, as with the light print that Roy mentions. But neither the delivery of the product to the consumer, nor the sometimes lighter print is unique to POD books. This response is not to excuse either of these criticisms. For those writers who have gone POD in the last few years, it is encumbent upon you (us) to let the POD companies know when the quality of the product or the delivery suffers. Since POD books first hit the market in the 1990s, there has been an exponential growth in the industry. It is unusual, but it happens, that some books (ordered and printed "on demand") still suffer from these problems. But the vast majority of them are printed well and shipped within 24 hours.
Finally, the implication is that my Early Journals is a POD book, while my other works Mr. Evans refers to are not POD. Actually, all of my books are POD, so I dare say that their being POD is "invisible" to consumers—and that is as it should be. For a further discussion on "print on demand" in The Independent Gay Writer, please visit these pages:
"The Joy of Printing" by Patricia Nell Warren
"How the Internet Changed My Writing Career" by Duane Simolke
"Getting Serious About Self Publishing" by Ronald L. Donaghe