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A review by xk8linx19
Send Me by Patrick Ryan
5.0
I really don't think I'll ever not love something that Patrick Ryan writes. I don't think it's possible.
Literary fiction is, in my experience, widely cynical. Optimism is something to be cured, and genuine kindness is foolish or, quite often, punished. I am also something of a cynic, despite my best efforts--in person and in my writing. Patrick's writing doesn't have that overtone in the slightest. Life doesn't go right for his characters, by any means. But there's no bitterness in the writing, even of a bitter character (looking at you in this book, Joe, you poor thing). There's no waxing philosophical on the "state of mankind" or any such pretentious nonsense. This is a book about a family from Meritt Island, Florida (and I read it about fifteen miles south, in Melbourne), trying their best. And sometimes it doesn't work out. And sometimes it does. It's uplifting in a way that's honest rather than cloying, and realistic in a way that isn't pessimistic. Bravo.
Literary fiction is, in my experience, widely cynical. Optimism is something to be cured, and genuine kindness is foolish or, quite often, punished. I am also something of a cynic, despite my best efforts--in person and in my writing. Patrick's writing doesn't have that overtone in the slightest. Life doesn't go right for his characters, by any means. But there's no bitterness in the writing, even of a bitter character (looking at you in this book, Joe, you poor thing). There's no waxing philosophical on the "state of mankind" or any such pretentious nonsense. This is a book about a family from Meritt Island, Florida (and I read it about fifteen miles south, in Melbourne), trying their best. And sometimes it doesn't work out. And sometimes it does. It's uplifting in a way that's honest rather than cloying, and realistic in a way that isn't pessimistic. Bravo.