Jo's Reviews > Crossroads

POTHEADS PEA COATS AND PEYOTE
I started off disliking this novel and by half way was drawn in. Brilliant writing if a rather too male authorial voice for me. Reminded me of anne Tyler but more intellectual. Too much detail at times but it didn’t seem nearly as long as it is. I read an ebook from BorrowBox and listened to the audible. The narrator seemed bland at first but I warmed to him. Major family themes are covered against a backdrop of American mid western life, an era I remember well. At school we were fascinated by mind altering drugs and read Carlos Castaneda. The Isle of Wight was full of ‘potheads’ following the first pop festival which lots of local youngsters attended. The sex isn’t well shown but is certainly realistic. I learned something I didn’t know about the Vietnam war, life in religious families and indigenous people. With a heatwave hitting the U.K. I could appreciate how they suffered in Rome. I am loath to recommend it to friends, just a chosen few as I know how some readers dislike the book.