Heather’s Bookshelf: Below Torrential Hill
Author: Jonathan Koven
Released: 12/3/21
Genre: Literary Fiction Novella
“With one’s mouth agape, there is always more to swallow. And Tristen always wished to be filtered, chewed, and spit out bodiless as a dream, to be the raindrop plunging into white sea, to not shatter and spread wide the body, to pour out like the hungriest wound and demand to be filled at once. Happiness is to be loved to death.”
“Below Torrential Hill” follows 16-year-old Tristen during the Christmas season as his challenging home life intertwines with some supernatural events in the little town of Torrential Hill.
Tristen has experienced his fair share of heart break and loss. He lost his father at a young age and lives with his mother who would rather drink herself to sleep than face her son. His step father’s essentially out of their life, abandoning Tristen when his controlling demeanor could not longer handle Tristen’s mother. And to top it all off, his long-time friend turned girlfriend has dumped him after only a week.
As if all that wasn’t enough, some weird things start to happen. His mom is hearing voices come out of the sink. He thinks it’s the alcohol, until he hears something too.
Trigger Warning: alcohol and drug use, death
Overall, I enjoyed this novella. I found it to be a snippet into the life of a teenage boy in crisis. He’s lost and feeling abandoned by all those around him, ill-equipped to deal with his mom’s alcoholism. I found Tristen relatable and I wanted him to find what he needed/was looking for. I was a little torn on the writing itself. At times, I found it had a lovely cadence and to be emotionally descriptive. But at other times I found it to be overly flowery and confusing requiring a re-read to get the jist of the meaning. There were also times when dialogue from two characters would be written on the same line or paragraph. I had to pause and recap who was speaking. This slowed down the pacing of the story and had it dragging along at times. I did like the ending and how it wrapped up some of the relationships between the main characters. This is not an action-packed tale, but it is an emotionally driven coming-of-age with a strong protagonist.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A coming-of-age tale about a young man and his troubled homelife, gets a little bogged down with some complex writing structure.
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with Jonathan Koven
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