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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well written but dull.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lee Cole’s charming debut novel is the story of two lovers trying to overcome their cultural and social differences in an America that feels like it’s coming apart at the seems. In the run-up to the 2016 American presidential election, Owen returns to his native Kentucky after a period of aimlessness, dead-end jobs, drinking, drugs, and eventual homelessness. Now he’s living in his evangelical, Trump-supporting grandfather’s basement, and working as a groundskeeper at the local college in exchange for a free creative writing class. There he meets Alma, the writer-in-residence. Alma couldn’t be more different from Owen. She’s younger, but already an acclaimed writer. She went to an Ivy League college and is the Muslim daughter of liberal immigrant parent from Sarajevo. As they gradually fall in love, and his writing career begins to look promising, Alma and Owen both struggle to understand Owen’s relationship to his conservative relatives and state. “I’ve always had the same predicament. When I’m home, in Kentucky, all I want is to leave. When I’m away, I’m homesick for a place that never was.” Owen tells Alma when they first meet. As an Okie, I felt that sentiment to my core. A love story, a coming of age tale, and a love letter to home. A story of how where we’re from shapes who we are, no matter how hard we try to outrun it.