Scan barcode
A review by keysersuze
August by Callan Wink
4.0
I was drawn to this book as something different, a departure from the books I’ve been reading recently, memoirs and female driven stories.
August is a young boy when the story opens, stuck between his bickering parents and the burden of the dairy farm that demands all of his Dad’s time. The plot skips along quite neatly, as August grapples with friendship and loss, moving to another state far from the farm he grew up on and trying to maintain the balance between his parents while finding himself.
I’m not sure I would say that I was really interested in what happened to August, but I did like the writing style, the stories about the rodeo and the conspiracy theorists August is with – he’s a likeable enough character if not entirely sympathetic. Near the beginning, for example, his father sets him a task to decrease the surplus farm cat population and he’ll pay him for the tails. As a cat owner, I understand the difference between pets and pest control, but it was still hard to like this slightly sociopathic 12 year old after he’d taken to the task with glee, thinking only about the money. There are hints of him being afraid of the cats too, actually, so maybe that’s part of it.
This is another instance where I don’t think the blurb of the book matches up with the story within. It’s described as having a teen life until ‘a shocking act of violence pushes him off course once more’. Three quarters of the way through the book, I had to have a real think about what that act of violence actually was, as there are a couple. I’m not too sure now, to be honest. It’s not that there were loads of gory bits, but more that the Violent Act wasn’t highlighted enough. Or maybe I just didn’t pick up on the cues!
The Americana element of the book was engaging – the farm, the rural life August leads as a child and young adult. I could see the river and the fishing line, feel the sun and the tension between working enough to pay your way while getting some time to spend elsewhere.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this but feel that it was more of a collection of short stories about the same character, than a bildungsroman character arc. Wink appears to be most well known as the author of essays and short stories, so perhaps that’s where he ‘s most comfortable. The writing style is quite spare, so if that’s what you’re into, I’d recommend it. If I spotted another Callan Wink on the shelf, I would probably be interested to read it.
Thanks as always to Netgalley, and to the publisher Granta Publications, for the copy.
August is a young boy when the story opens, stuck between his bickering parents and the burden of the dairy farm that demands all of his Dad’s time. The plot skips along quite neatly, as August grapples with friendship and loss, moving to another state far from the farm he grew up on and trying to maintain the balance between his parents while finding himself.
I’m not sure I would say that I was really interested in what happened to August, but I did like the writing style, the stories about the rodeo and the conspiracy theorists August is with – he’s a likeable enough character if not entirely sympathetic. Near the beginning, for example, his father sets him a task to decrease the surplus farm cat population and he’ll pay him for the tails. As a cat owner, I understand the difference between pets and pest control, but it was still hard to like this slightly sociopathic 12 year old after he’d taken to the task with glee, thinking only about the money. There are hints of him being afraid of the cats too, actually, so maybe that’s part of it.
This is another instance where I don’t think the blurb of the book matches up with the story within. It’s described as having a teen life until ‘a shocking act of violence pushes him off course once more’. Three quarters of the way through the book, I had to have a real think about what that act of violence actually was, as there are a couple. I’m not too sure now, to be honest. It’s not that there were loads of gory bits, but more that the Violent Act wasn’t highlighted enough. Or maybe I just didn’t pick up on the cues!
The Americana element of the book was engaging – the farm, the rural life August leads as a child and young adult. I could see the river and the fishing line, feel the sun and the tension between working enough to pay your way while getting some time to spend elsewhere.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this but feel that it was more of a collection of short stories about the same character, than a bildungsroman character arc. Wink appears to be most well known as the author of essays and short stories, so perhaps that’s where he ‘s most comfortable. The writing style is quite spare, so if that’s what you’re into, I’d recommend it. If I spotted another Callan Wink on the shelf, I would probably be interested to read it.
Thanks as always to Netgalley, and to the publisher Granta Publications, for the copy.