Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
11th out of 13 books
—
7 voters
The Samaritan
by
Fred Venturini (Goodreads Author)
To age is to embrace a slow hurt inside and out, to collect scars like rings on a tree, dark and weathered and sometimes only visible if someone cuts deep enough. Scars keep the past just close enough to touch, but healing is forgetting. Healing invites another cut. Healing is the tide that smoothes away our line in the sand. For life to begin, the damage must be permanent...more
Paperback, 214 pages
Published
February 7th 2011
by Blank Slate Press
(first published February 1st 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
316)
One of the best books I've ever read -I was actually sad that it had to end.
At the core of this story is the bond between Dale and Mack -a lifelong bond that survives the odds while as individuals, the characters do not, necessarily. You'll have to read to see what I mean, but the final scene between these two is an extremely powerful and heartfelt exchange that will leave you never looking at steak dinners the same.
The "supernatural element" of the story is almost subtle in the grand scheme o...more
At the core of this story is the bond between Dale and Mack -a lifelong bond that survives the odds while as individuals, the characters do not, necessarily. You'll have to read to see what I mean, but the final scene between these two is an extremely powerful and heartfelt exchange that will leave you never looking at steak dinners the same.
The "supernatural element" of the story is almost subtle in the grand scheme o...more
What starts out as a young boy’s coming of age story quickly turns bizarre in The Samaritan, a new release from Blank Slate Press.
Dale Sampson’s best friend, Mac, gets all the girls, and Dale gets all the ridicule. But when suddenly he discovers his limbs regenerate after injury—like a salamander’s—Dale’s story jumps track and heads in directions that make The Samaritan hard to put down. And as improbable as the plot sounds, author Fred Venturini manages to somehow make it seem believable.
Sampso...more
Dale Sampson’s best friend, Mac, gets all the girls, and Dale gets all the ridicule. But when suddenly he discovers his limbs regenerate after injury—like a salamander’s—Dale’s story jumps track and heads in directions that make The Samaritan hard to put down. And as improbable as the plot sounds, author Fred Venturini manages to somehow make it seem believable.
Sampso...more
Reviewed by Billie at RexRobotReviews.com
The Samaritan drew me in right from the jacket description. At first, I thought it would be a superhero type book, with science fiction as its main theme, but I was completely and pleasantly surprised. The story is about Dale Sampson and his search for himself.
The book begins with Dale in grade school and this is where the book reaches out and hooks you deep down in a place you only remember if you intentionally think about it. The girls that push their b...more
The Samaritan drew me in right from the jacket description. At first, I thought it would be a superhero type book, with science fiction as its main theme, but I was completely and pleasantly surprised. The story is about Dale Sampson and his search for himself.
The book begins with Dale in grade school and this is where the book reaches out and hooks you deep down in a place you only remember if you intentionally think about it. The girls that push their b...more
Awesome. First word that comes to mind when I think about this book. The first 7 chapters were very real. And then the twist comes in Chapter 8. And you can't help but hold on for the ride. Here is a man who never was much growing up, and now he has learned that his body parts grow back at an astonishing rate. Fingers, ears, even tonsils. Now he feels invincible, will he finally be able to make a change in lives of people around him?
Fred Venturini did an amazing job grabbing the reader right fro...more
Fred Venturini did an amazing job grabbing the reader right fro...more
http://www.rantingdragon.com/the-sama...
The Samaritan begins when Dale Sampson is in the sixth grade. Girls don’t talk to him. And when the school baseball star, Mack, decides to befriend Dale, Dale earns an air of mystique—but he remains luckless when it comes to the opposite sex. Later in high school, when Dale is about to graduate, when it seems he may finally win the girl of his dreams, those dreams are shattered.
So when he discovers that he can regenerate his body parts, he decides that if...more
The Samaritan begins when Dale Sampson is in the sixth grade. Girls don’t talk to him. And when the school baseball star, Mack, decides to befriend Dale, Dale earns an air of mystique—but he remains luckless when it comes to the opposite sex. Later in high school, when Dale is about to graduate, when it seems he may finally win the girl of his dreams, those dreams are shattered.
So when he discovers that he can regenerate his body parts, he decides that if...more
To be quite honest, I went into this book expecting not to like it. I read several reviews of this book and the more I contemplated the novel, the more I suspected it was not for me. I was wrong. I really enjoyed this book.
Venturini’s writing style was brutal in its honesty. His depictions of scenes were raw. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book before that made me flinch. This author has definite talent. He evoked many different responses from me while I was reading this book.
A part of me re...more
Venturini’s writing style was brutal in its honesty. His depictions of scenes were raw. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book before that made me flinch. This author has definite talent. He evoked many different responses from me while I was reading this book.
A part of me re...more
Cover:
I usually don't comment on the cover, but this one is a perfect example of putting things that actually play a decent sized part in the book out there for all to see before cracking it open. Baseball plays a large part of Dale and his best friend Mack's life, the gun plays an even larger part when used to create havoc and devastation, and the toaster is one of the funniest weapons I've ever seen used in a book. If you think that electrocution is the only danger when you stick a knife in t...more
I usually don't comment on the cover, but this one is a perfect example of putting things that actually play a decent sized part in the book out there for all to see before cracking it open. Baseball plays a large part of Dale and his best friend Mack's life, the gun plays an even larger part when used to create havoc and devastation, and the toaster is one of the funniest weapons I've ever seen used in a book. If you think that electrocution is the only danger when you stick a knife in t...more
I loved this book. The writing and story reminded me a little of Chuck Palahniuk, especially with the unique one liners and ways to describe things. Dale is a very sympathetic character and the setting is vivid and believable. I grew up in a small Central Illinois town, so reading the first part of this book was like I travelled back in time to my hometown when I was a teenager.
This book isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to violence and blood. Dale's self mutilation while he's trying to...more
This book isn't for the faint of heart when it comes to violence and blood. Dale's self mutilation while he's trying to...more
La historia está dividida en tres partes: la primera cuenta la historia de un puberto nada popular ni con las chicas ni con los amigos, su encuentro con el chico más popular y el inicio de una amistad de toda la vida que será en buena medida el hilo conductor de la trama. Esta parte es divertida por la forma en que refleja las dinámicas escolares, el despertar sexual y el ambiente juvenil al que ninguno de nosotros es ajeno.
La segunda parte avanza con los protagonistas hasta llegar a un punto d...more
La segunda parte avanza con los protagonistas hasta llegar a un punto d...more
A well told story with a quick pace. This is darker than I thought it would be, as tragedy seems to follow the narrator wherever he goes, shaping him into an honest, yet unlikable young man. Nothing really new apart from the premise: boy discovers that his limbs and organs regenerate, akin to a salamander. The author has obvious talent and I hope he does write more in the future, and I would like to see what he can do without a 1st person narrator. Three stars maybe a bit low, and there was noth...more
http://www.rantingdragon.com/the-sama...
The Samaritan begins when Dale Sampson is in the sixth grade. Girls don’t talk to him. And when the school baseball star, Mack, decides to befriend Dale, Dale earns an air of mystique—but he remains luckless when it comes to the opposite sex. Later in high school, when Dale is about to graduate, when it seems he may finally win the girl of his dreams, those dreams are shattered.
So when he discovers that he can regenerate his body parts, he decides that if...more
The Samaritan begins when Dale Sampson is in the sixth grade. Girls don’t talk to him. And when the school baseball star, Mack, decides to befriend Dale, Dale earns an air of mystique—but he remains luckless when it comes to the opposite sex. Later in high school, when Dale is about to graduate, when it seems he may finally win the girl of his dreams, those dreams are shattered.
So when he discovers that he can regenerate his body parts, he decides that if...more
view 1 comment
First thing you need to know about your reviewer: he’s a comic book junkie…so when I heard about Mr. Venturini’s debut, The Samaritan, and how the lead protagonist has the ability to regenerate his limbs and organs, here I am thinking we’re about to get a teenage Wolverine meets The Breakfast Club with a dash of E! reality show. What I got instead was something different, something I didn’t expect based on the back cover and my own desperate wishes to see comic lore be brought into mainstream no...more
The Samaritan follows Dale Sampson, a complex but lovable protagonist, through his life full of love, commitment, loss, and perseverance. Dale struggles to make a positive impact on the world, hindered by his own shyness and traumatic past.
This book makes a big impact. It is gritty and nostalgic with dystopian overtones. It marries the best of entertainment and critical thought. It’s a mixture of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment , Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion, and something all its own...more
This book makes a big impact. It is gritty and nostalgic with dystopian overtones. It marries the best of entertainment and critical thought. It’s a mixture of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment , Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion, and something all its own...more
This is a hard book to describe, which is a good thing. Is realist fantasy a genre? Or maybe rural fable? Is an anti-superhero a thing?
Working as both a study of friendship and as satire, THE SAMARITAN manages to maintain emotional resonance within a fantasy premise. I won't get into the details, because the discovery is half the fun. Just suffice it to say, it's a blast.
The really great element of the book is how it never lets the high-concept premise take over, but rather keeps it tucked in t...more
Working as both a study of friendship and as satire, THE SAMARITAN manages to maintain emotional resonance within a fantasy premise. I won't get into the details, because the discovery is half the fun. Just suffice it to say, it's a blast.
The really great element of the book is how it never lets the high-concept premise take over, but rather keeps it tucked in t...more
"Simple really," I said. "The heart does not grow back."
In that line, Venturini appropriately sums up his well-written, raw and character driven story.
I turned the last page feeling slightly depressed, but mostly impressed at Ventirini's seamless story telling and at his ability to illicit such a reaction from his readers.
It's amazing to me that a story that features limb regeneration could feel so true and so relate-able. His tone is always conversational, though his descriptions and observat...more
In that line, Venturini appropriately sums up his well-written, raw and character driven story.
I turned the last page feeling slightly depressed, but mostly impressed at Ventirini's seamless story telling and at his ability to illicit such a reaction from his readers.
It's amazing to me that a story that features limb regeneration could feel so true and so relate-able. His tone is always conversational, though his descriptions and observat...more
Adolescence is often tragic, full of drama and awkward moments, as each person finds out who they are, and what they're going to become. They live and breathe amongst people their own age, thrown in a system where they're taught the ways of the world, clashing with other people just as awkward, just as lost, trying to take their destined social mantels. Dale Sampson is a nerd by just about every standard. He's a social misfit, keeping to himself, unable to say the acceptable things on the rare...more
Early Praise:
>> Reading this was like finding an autobiography I forgot I'd written. Like Venturini had access to all my secret thoughts. It was strange and wonderful, and I'd pay to do it again.
- Stephen Graham Jones, author of It Came from Del Rio
>> Fred Venturini is an awesomely talented writer, and he proves it on every page of The Samaritan. Stretching artfully from the shabbiness of life in a small Illinois town to the glitter and greed of Hollywood, this first novel about a...more
>> Reading this was like finding an autobiography I forgot I'd written. Like Venturini had access to all my secret thoughts. It was strange and wonderful, and I'd pay to do it again.
- Stephen Graham Jones, author of It Came from Del Rio
>> Fred Venturini is an awesomely talented writer, and he proves it on every page of The Samaritan. Stretching artfully from the shabbiness of life in a small Illinois town to the glitter and greed of Hollywood, this first novel about a...more
I was lucky enough to get a copy of The Samaritan free as a Klout Perk, and I consider myself very lucky.
This is one of the best books that I have ever read, and I think everyone needs to watch out for Fred Venturini; he is going to go far.
From the first line I was hooked. I laughed, cried, cursed, and was saddened that the book had to end.
The characters were deep and I felt connected to them because they are so real. I can only hope there is going to be a sequel to The Samaritan.
This is one of the best books that I have ever read, and I think everyone needs to watch out for Fred Venturini; he is going to go far.
From the first line I was hooked. I laughed, cried, cursed, and was saddened that the book had to end.
The characters were deep and I felt connected to them because they are so real. I can only hope there is going to be a sequel to The Samaritan.
This was one of a pile of novels I bought dealing with organ transplant (my current obsesssion). A debut novel published by a new publisher; lots of 5 star reviews. It's science fiction and the main protagonist has a special ability to grow back organs and limbs etc. Sadly I didn't like anything about the book though I persisted to the end to give it a fair hearing.
When I picked up this book I knew it was labeled Science Fiction (which I'm generally not a fan of) but it came so late in the story that it kind of shocked me. I loved the premise and what "Samaritan" actually means. I thought this was a good book as it had a very interesting story line & characters. The end was a shocker. Every page left me wanting more.
The Samaritan is the sort of novel that catches a reader off guard. It lures you in with one thing then plays bait and switch giving you something more than you could have ever expected, a perfect mix of disturbing and uplifting. The story of Dale Sampson, his longtime friend (though this itself is sometimes questionable) Mack and Dale's special gift, The Samaritan moves quickly from the duo's earliest days on the playground, their ride to the top courtesy of Dale being willing to lop off the oc...more
This must be a really good book, because I liked it quite a bit, even though it's a complete bummer.
Extremely well written and a depressing joy to read.
a shocking book for me to choose in the first place with its sci-fi feel. even more shocking was the violence, gore, desperation, and dark relatability of the main character. It made sense that it was a finalist for Chuck Palahniuk's anthologies. What I equal parts despise and love about him, I felt with The Samaritan.
I finished the 760 page book in two days.
I finished the 760 page book in two days.
writing isnt bad. characters are all totally unlikeable in one way or another, and therefore unbelievable.
I was stuck between 3 and 4 stars for this one. I ended up choosing the latter because of the ending. This novel got real weird for me real fast and at first I really didn't like it. As I kept reading it grew on me and I quite enjoyed it. Can't wait to see what's next for this author.
I smell a sequel. And I really, really hope for one.
This is a strong, original idea. The style just wasn't my thing. It reminds me a little too much of Palahniuk. This is not to imply that Venturini is copying him, or is being unoriginal. In fact, in a just world, Venturini would be the famous one. I think he's a better writer.
After a tragic event changes his life forever, Dale Sampson learns that his body can regenerate its parts. But can a man who is all but immortal learn to get past crippling private pain and find the will to live? Palahniuk fans will love this one.
A complex story that barrels along at a gripping pace and dishes out surprises at several turns. The prose is smart and spirited, the characters are believable, and despite a fantastical element, the novel feels painfully authentic.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Fred Venturini grew up in Patoka, Illinois, where he survived being lit on fire by a bully, a neck-breaking car accident, and being chewed up by a pit bull. His fiction has appeared in places like River Styx, The Death Panel, Sick Things, Johnny America, and Necrotic Tissue, and he is a two-time Chuck Palahniuk anthology finalist. He lives in Southern Illinois with his beautiful wife, Krissy. The...more
More about Fred Venturini...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“To age is to embrace a slow hurt inside and out, to collect scars like rings on a tree, dark and withered and sometimes only visible if someone cuts deep enough. Scars keep the past close enough to touch, but healing is forgetting. Healing invites another cut. Healing is the tide that smoothes away our line in the sand. For life to begin, the damage must be permanent.”
—
2 people liked it
“Simple really," I said. "The heart does not grow back.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
