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seshat59 's review for:
The Bright Lands
by John Fram
2.5 stars, rounded up
At first glance, The Bright Lands would seem to have little that appeals to my usual reading preferences: It takes place I a small Texan town and is for all intents and purposes, a football thriller, but—peel back the surface and find a story about the suppression of both identity and sexuality in the heartland of conservatism, and I was intrigued enough to bite.
Bentley, Texas is the kind of small town I imagine whenever a rom-com author tries to defy my credulity and set a book in a “charming southern small town.” Here, everyone is in everyone else’s business; most inhabitants are narrow-minded, idiotically backward townies that are obsessed with football to the detriment of everything else (education, kindness, every other hobby and sport, etc.). They are racist, sexist, and homophobic, and they barely keep their bigotry contained behind a polite social veneer. So instead, the town simmers in passive (though sometimes overtly assertive) aggressive prejudice, and voila — the premise for The Bright Lands is born.
Our main character, Joel, fled town after some scandalous pictures circulated when he was seventeen. He finally returns after texting with his younger brother, who seems to have it all as the town’s star quarterback, who just may lead the team to whatever championship. Joel’s brother, Dylan, relays a smidgeon of his unhappiness, and Joel feels compelled to return to provide an alternate way out of town, away from football. Lo and behold, on the same night Joel returns, Dylan disappears and ends up murdered. What follows is the unraveling of the mystery of what Dylan, and the town, was caught up in.
The Bright Lands is a supernatural thriller, with hints of something Else living in the Flats outside town, feeding on the town’s hatred. While this was creepy and the Flats is so atmospheric it feels like its own character,
the town’s small mindedness would have been a better, sole villain — or even better if it had created the creature versus the questions I have of why this ancient thing had always been there. (I guess because Texas flatland sucks?)
There are a lot of characters, and the mystery comes together slowly. I wasn’t crazy about this book, but I appreciate the premise. Some of the most interesting and saddest parts of the book were how characters dealt with the shame of their sexuality, being raised in Texas and told forever how unnatural they are.
At first glance, The Bright Lands would seem to have little that appeals to my usual reading preferences: It takes place I a small Texan town and is for all intents and purposes, a football thriller, but—peel back the surface and find a story about the suppression of both identity and sexuality in the heartland of conservatism, and I was intrigued enough to bite.
Bentley, Texas is the kind of small town I imagine whenever a rom-com author tries to defy my credulity and set a book in a “charming southern small town.” Here, everyone is in everyone else’s business; most inhabitants are narrow-minded, idiotically backward townies that are obsessed with football to the detriment of everything else (education, kindness, every other hobby and sport, etc.). They are racist, sexist, and homophobic, and they barely keep their bigotry contained behind a polite social veneer. So instead, the town simmers in passive (though sometimes overtly assertive) aggressive prejudice, and voila — the premise for The Bright Lands is born.
Our main character, Joel, fled town after some scandalous pictures circulated when he was seventeen. He finally returns after texting with his younger brother, who seems to have it all as the town’s star quarterback, who just may lead the team to whatever championship. Joel’s brother, Dylan, relays a smidgeon of his unhappiness, and Joel feels compelled to return to provide an alternate way out of town, away from football. Lo and behold, on the same night Joel returns, Dylan disappears and ends up murdered. What follows is the unraveling of the mystery of what Dylan, and the town, was caught up in.
The Bright Lands is a supernatural thriller, with hints of something Else living in the Flats outside town, feeding on the town’s hatred. While this was creepy and the Flats is so atmospheric it feels like its own character,
the town’s small mindedness would have been a better, sole villain — or even better if it had created the creature versus the questions I have of why this ancient thing had always been there. (I guess because Texas flatland sucks?)
There are a lot of characters, and the mystery comes together slowly. I wasn’t crazy about this book, but I appreciate the premise. Some of the most interesting and saddest parts of the book were how characters dealt with the shame of their sexuality, being raised in Texas and told forever how unnatural they are.