Genre: Satire/Contemporary
Fiction
Description:
“A vague, shadowy trouble lurks beneath the customary tenor of
Idiomerica, its citizens unaware of the peril they will soon face. A complex
knot of abomination is beginning to cinch down to a stranglehold. Who with but
a snowball’s chance in hell would have the audacity to think of challenging the
layers of an all-but-invisible yet powerful entity? Maybe it isn’t always best
to know what you’re up against. If you knew, you might reconsider.
Bogged down while attempting to navigate the overwhelming imbroglio of
the oxymoronic nature of his life’s circumstances, and just when things
couldn’t seem worse, a high school teacher and troubled soul improbably named
Cliff Hangar finds himself thrust into a terrifying paradox that eclipses his
former troubles by an exponential magnitude, in the realm where ruination and
Murphy’s Law collide.”
Author:
“Sometimes called Dr. Death (no connection to Kevorkian), having
survived over a dozen near-death experiences, J. M. Fagan has found a safer way
to face danger vicariously through fiction writing. The fly fisher, woodworker,
flamenco and classical guitarist, and forty-year Oregon educator graduated from
Northern Arizona University and Lewis & Clark College and completed further
studies at universities in Eastern Oregon, Madrid, and Tokyo.”
Appraisal:
Are you familiar with the saying that describes something as “too much
of a good thing”? The author of this book makes the point that idioms like this
are often the “simplest and most precise” way of communicating a particular
thought. He’s right, kinda sorta. But those teachers who suggest you limit
their usage in your writing because they’re cliché might also be onto something
(as clichéd as that suggestion might be). In fact, one online dictionary had
this as a key part of the definition of cliché.
“A sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought
or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse”
Wording that differently, these once original and ingenious thoughts
have been used so much that they’re now worn out. When I started reading this
book the idea of stringing together cliché, after overused idiom, after
time-worn phrase was amusing. I’d read a line like this and it tickled my funny
bone, just a bit:
“How could such a kind and generous pillar of the community, a
wonderful friend and confidant, be taken out in the prime of her life?”
But eventually I felt more like this line from the book:
“Giving up was not an option, even though I knew I had bitten off more
than I could chew. I was in over my head. My worst nightmare and Murphy’s Law
collided.”
That’s five clichés strung together. I wasn’t going to give up, but I
really wanted to. What was amusing a small amount in the beginning of the book
was just a grating screech in my poor tired brain by the end of the book.
There was a story buried in that endless string of clichés. The funny
thing about stories is there are a limited number of stories to tell. Articles
and papers have been written claiming that there are only X number of basic
stories out there. The entire romance genre (girl meets boy, stuff happens,
girl and boy live happily ever after) is just one of those basic stories. The
thing that makes those basic stories different or unique is in how they’re
told. The story told in “Through the Keyhole …” felt kind of (do I really even
need to say it?) … clichéd.
FYI
This is the first book of a series; however, it stands alone fine. I
didn’t feel as though it left any loose threads or cliffhangers.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 55-60,000 words
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