America
By Mike Bond
What is the meaning of life? What elevates humans from existence to life? What is freedom?
These are three of the questions Mike Bond explores in America, the first novel in his planned seven book historical fiction series. Bond explores the journey of four young people coming of age in the 60’s and the journeys they take from their Northeastern farming roots.
After creating a vivid portrayal of bucolic life, Bond explores a number of topics from the era, including free love, racial tension, economic woes of small farmers, unsafe factory working conditions, and government. He captures the restlessness and values exploration that comes with children who want to grow up too fast and are sufficiently self-absorbed to believe they can either solve the world’s problems or push them aside in the name of individual exploration.
The thematic questions can disrupt the plot and characterization. After vividly painting a picture of the setting and circumstances, Bond interrupts the story to remind the reader that the character is using the situation or setting to ask what is life, what is its meaning, what is freedom, or a combination of the three. Sometimes these questions are shrouded in a navel-gazing discussion with other characters, but a number of cases are shown through a character’s thought processes.
The biggest drawback to this book is the ending. When writing a series, the author wants to keep common themes running while providing a satisfying conclusion for the story so far. When I saw the words THE END, my first thought was that’s it? The conclusion was not just dissatisfying, it was nonexistent.
Even with the non-ending, I did enjoy the book and its exploration of the 60’s. However, I am unsure whether I will read the next book. A seven-novel series is a marathon, not a sprint. I would like to revisit these characters and explore the settings that Bond crafted. I’m just not sure I want to take the leap of faith that the second book would provide a better ending than the first.
Thank you Meryl Moss Media Group for providing me a copy of the book.
