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luvrunr's review against another edition
2.0
I'm torn on how I feel about this book. On one hand I enjoyed reading it, it kept me engaged and I liked the style of the writing. I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next and it excited me. On the other hand once I found out what happened I felt terrible. This book left me feeling quite sad and empty so I'm not really sure what else to say about it.
alexsherrill's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
geisttull's review against another edition
3.0
A good, if a bit jarring story. I liked reliable wife better, but this is still well written and although it made me very uncomfortable at times, i had to keep reading.
lisawhelpley's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book! Excellent story. Wonderful writing style. This one will stay with me for a long time.
snance's review against another edition
2.0
So disappointed! I really liked A Reliable Wife (and recommend it at the Library!) so I was looking forward to this one. It even had me for the first 1/3 or so..then it just felt like a dysfunctional train wreck.
mmc6661's review against another edition
5.0
WOW !!! I just love Robert Goolricks characters. You get so caught up in the people and the towns he writes about. This story just rolled along pleasantly but you could just feel the undertones of disaster building up and then WOW.... I can't even explain the shocker of this great book. I was left speechless and heartbroken. If you have never read Goolrick your in for a story you will never forget. This was just as good as A RELIABLE WIFE which I did not want to put down either !
gleefulreader's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed A Reliable Wife, so came away from this book disappointed. It took me a long time to finish, abandoned at one point with only 60 pages or so left to go. Too much foreshadowing meant that you pretty well knew where the book was going from the very beginning. Worse yet, the character of 6-year-old Sam didn't ring true at all. Perhaps the author hasn't had, or isn't familiar with children, but Sam felt more like a 3-4 year old in his thought process, reactions and characterization then the 6 year old he was written as. (I don't know of any 6 year old who is still having a daily nap, for example.) I found that his character took me out of the story on many occasions. I also found the characterization of the township itself, while somewhat authentic-feeling in its rendering of race relations and such in mid-century America, also missed in other respects. For the most part, I just couldn't get a grasp on this book - the characterization of the town or the people.
Overall, I had much higher hopes for this book. Perhaps it is just a sophomore slump and there are still good books that Robert Goolrick has left to write.
Overall, I had much higher hopes for this book. Perhaps it is just a sophomore slump and there are still good books that Robert Goolrick has left to write.
dsbressette's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic book...a tale of a small, rural town in Virginia. The cast of characters is well drawn. The author colors the pages with a sense of foreboding, making you want to find out what happens. Highly recommend
lisawreading's review against another edition
3.0
I’m struggling to figure out just what I want to say about Heading Out To Wonderful. The writing is lovely, and I became involved enough in the plot that I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish the book. On the other hand, I’m not sure that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Heading Out To Wonderful is set in the sleepy rural town of Brownsburg, Virginia in 1948, post-war years when life in America was on the cusp of change. The author lovingly describes the quality of life in Brownsburg:
And also:
Into this small town arrives Charlie Beale, an attractive and pleasant man who appears in his truck one day, bringing nothing but two suitcases, one filled with butcher knives and one filled with cash. Charlie seeks out work with the local butcher, buys a plot of land out by the river, and settles in.
Charlie remains something of an enigma throughout the book. He is 39 years old, athletic and graceful, skilled with his hands and his knives. He served in Europe in the war, but doing what exactly, we never find out. The only clue we get about his wartime experiences is that his butcher knives are German; we can only speculate as to where or how he acquired them.
Charlie doesn’t speak about his childhood or background except in vague generalities. Where did all that cash come from? We don’t know. Charlie is full of yearning, for a place, for land, for connections, and for goodness. Somehow along the way, Charlie lost his sense of hope, and so he set out traveling, looking for “something wonderful”. His new friend and employer Will tries to reset Charlie’s expectations:
Charlie seems to have found “all right” in Brownsburg. He earns the friendship of the townspeople, and is the adored companion of Will’s young son Sam. Charlie might even have been content at last, until he meets Sylvan Glass, a 17-year-old “hillbilly” girl, bought and paid for by the richest man in town, now a trophy wife who dreams of glamour and Hollywood. What follows is a year-long affair which consumes Charlie and disrupts the lives of everyone in town. Reading about Charlie and Sylvan, we know that something disastrous has been set in motion; I could only wait to see what shape the disaster would ultimately take.
A sense of foreboding hangs over the story from the outset. It’s clear that nothing good can come out of the affair. By the time I reached the half-way mark in the book, it became very difficult to put down, and I had to keep reading to see which way it would go. To avoid spoilers, I won’t say anything about the book’s climax, other than to say that events unfold that are at the same time tragic yet not unexpected.
At the conclusion, I was disturbed by the lack of overall coherence. Many plot elements that are compelling are introduced, but I didn’t see the follow-through. The black and white communities live completely separate lives in Brownsburg. Both Charlie and Sylvan develop relationships that reach out across the color lines, yet I didn’t feel that this part of the story particularly went anywhere. Concepts of sin and salvation are introduced as Charlie struggles to fit into the spiritual life of the community, but again, I didn’t feel the points were carried through as the plot unfolded.
Ultimately, dramatic as the story is, Heading Out To Wonderful left me a bit puzzled at the end, wondering about the point of it all. Robert Goolrick is a terrific and thoughtful writer – I loved his previous novel, A Reliable Wife, with its dark secrets and twisty-turny plot developments. Unfortunately, despite the lovely prose, Heading Out To Wonderful doesn’t quite deliver.
Heading Out To Wonderful is set in the sleepy rural town of Brownsburg, Virginia in 1948, post-war years when life in America was on the cusp of change. The author lovingly describes the quality of life in Brownsburg:
Brownsburg, Virginia, 1948, the kind of town that existed in the years right after the war, where the terrible American wanting hadn’t touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn’t have…
And also:
A particular town, then, Brownsburg, in a particular time and place. The notion of being happy didn’t occur to most people, it just wasn’t something they thought about, and life treated them pretty well… the notion of being unhappy didn’t occur much either.
Into this small town arrives Charlie Beale, an attractive and pleasant man who appears in his truck one day, bringing nothing but two suitcases, one filled with butcher knives and one filled with cash. Charlie seeks out work with the local butcher, buys a plot of land out by the river, and settles in.
Charlie remains something of an enigma throughout the book. He is 39 years old, athletic and graceful, skilled with his hands and his knives. He served in Europe in the war, but doing what exactly, we never find out. The only clue we get about his wartime experiences is that his butcher knives are German; we can only speculate as to where or how he acquired them.
Charlie doesn’t speak about his childhood or background except in vague generalities. Where did all that cash come from? We don’t know. Charlie is full of yearning, for a place, for land, for connections, and for goodness. Somehow along the way, Charlie lost his sense of hope, and so he set out traveling, looking for “something wonderful”. His new friend and employer Will tries to reset Charlie’s expectations:
Let me tell you something, son. When you’re young, and you head out to wonderful, everything is fresh and bright as a brand-new penny, but before you get to wonderful you’re going to have to pass through all right. And when you get to all right, stop and take a good, long look, because that may be as far as you’re ever going to go. Brownsburg ain’t heaven, by any means. But it’s perfectly fine. It’s all right.
Charlie seems to have found “all right” in Brownsburg. He earns the friendship of the townspeople, and is the adored companion of Will’s young son Sam. Charlie might even have been content at last, until he meets Sylvan Glass, a 17-year-old “hillbilly” girl, bought and paid for by the richest man in town, now a trophy wife who dreams of glamour and Hollywood. What follows is a year-long affair which consumes Charlie and disrupts the lives of everyone in town. Reading about Charlie and Sylvan, we know that something disastrous has been set in motion; I could only wait to see what shape the disaster would ultimately take.
A sense of foreboding hangs over the story from the outset. It’s clear that nothing good can come out of the affair. By the time I reached the half-way mark in the book, it became very difficult to put down, and I had to keep reading to see which way it would go. To avoid spoilers, I won’t say anything about the book’s climax, other than to say that events unfold that are at the same time tragic yet not unexpected.
At the conclusion, I was disturbed by the lack of overall coherence. Many plot elements that are compelling are introduced, but I didn’t see the follow-through. The black and white communities live completely separate lives in Brownsburg. Both Charlie and Sylvan develop relationships that reach out across the color lines, yet I didn’t feel that this part of the story particularly went anywhere. Concepts of sin and salvation are introduced as Charlie struggles to fit into the spiritual life of the community, but again, I didn’t feel the points were carried through as the plot unfolded.
Ultimately, dramatic as the story is, Heading Out To Wonderful left me a bit puzzled at the end, wondering about the point of it all. Robert Goolrick is a terrific and thoughtful writer – I loved his previous novel, A Reliable Wife, with its dark secrets and twisty-turny plot developments. Unfortunately, despite the lovely prose, Heading Out To Wonderful doesn’t quite deliver.
carolpk's review against another edition
4.0
I'm certain I noticed this book first due to the author, Robert Goolrick. I had read Reliable Wife and wanted to see what Goolrick would do this time out. Also, I immediately fell in love with the title, Heading Out to Wonderful. The imagery of this drew me right in. Add the quote from the fly leaf "Let me tell you something son. When you're young, and you head out to wonderful, everything is fresh and bright as a brand-new penny, but before you get to wonderful you're going to have to pass through all right. And when you get to all right, stop and take a good, long look, because that may be as far as you're ever going to go." and I knew I had to read it as soon as it hit our shelves.
There were parts of Heading Out to Wonderful that reminded me of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series, and yet different. It's that old time America, in the hills of Virginia setting, that promises peace and simplicity. The story takes place in post World War II, 1948 to be exact. The town, Brownsburg, Virginia, a place Goolrick describes as "the kind of town that existed right after the war, where the terrible American wanting hadn't touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn't have", etc.
Charlie Beale wanders into town, out of nowhere, in his truck, 2 suitcases on the seat, one well-worn with his clothes and steel butcher knives and the other, made out of tin, filled with money. You're not quite certain where he came from but he tells the reader, he's back from war and his daddy's dead. All you know is he wants some land and a place to work and not much else. He soon finds a tract of land outside the town, by the river, and a job with the only shop that sells meat and becomes part of the lives of the owner, Will, his wife Alma and their young son, Sam. Sam calls Charlie Beebo and it sticks. All this sounds so innocent and yet, somehow I knew before the story was done that it was not going to end well. You can see the beauty of it and yet you know it can't last.
I won't tell you much more than that. Heading Out to Wonderful is a story filled to the brim with obsession, power, and passion. It is sensuously erotic in the way that only Goolrick can write it. Throughout Goolrick serenades us with mountain songs and this book begs a play list. I can hear Eva Cassidy singing The Water is Wide, maybe not the version the author intended but one of my favorites. I found myself searching out Bluegrass man, Mac Wiseman. I don't think his song More Pretty Girls than One was quoted and I bet, Charlie Beale wouldn't have heeded it anyway.
There were a couple of things I couldn't figure out and at first these annoyed me but then, I thought, the few questions remaining for me might have been left so on purpose. They are talking points and like Reliable Wife, Heading Out to Wonderful should make a great book discussion.
There were parts of Heading Out to Wonderful that reminded me of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series, and yet different. It's that old time America, in the hills of Virginia setting, that promises peace and simplicity. The story takes place in post World War II, 1948 to be exact. The town, Brownsburg, Virginia, a place Goolrick describes as "the kind of town that existed right after the war, where the terrible American wanting hadn't touched yet, where most people lived a simple life without yearning for things they couldn't have", etc.
Charlie Beale wanders into town, out of nowhere, in his truck, 2 suitcases on the seat, one well-worn with his clothes and steel butcher knives and the other, made out of tin, filled with money. You're not quite certain where he came from but he tells the reader, he's back from war and his daddy's dead. All you know is he wants some land and a place to work and not much else. He soon finds a tract of land outside the town, by the river, and a job with the only shop that sells meat and becomes part of the lives of the owner, Will, his wife Alma and their young son, Sam. Sam calls Charlie Beebo and it sticks. All this sounds so innocent and yet, somehow I knew before the story was done that it was not going to end well. You can see the beauty of it and yet you know it can't last.
I won't tell you much more than that. Heading Out to Wonderful is a story filled to the brim with obsession, power, and passion. It is sensuously erotic in the way that only Goolrick can write it. Throughout Goolrick serenades us with mountain songs and this book begs a play list. I can hear Eva Cassidy singing The Water is Wide, maybe not the version the author intended but one of my favorites. I found myself searching out Bluegrass man, Mac Wiseman. I don't think his song More Pretty Girls than One was quoted and I bet, Charlie Beale wouldn't have heeded it anyway.
There were a couple of things I couldn't figure out and at first these annoyed me but then, I thought, the few questions remaining for me might have been left so on purpose. They are talking points and like Reliable Wife, Heading Out to Wonderful should make a great book discussion.