The Road Narrows As You Go

by Lee Henderson

All Wendy Ashbubble has ever wanted is to draw comics as well as Charles Schultz’s Peanuts—and to one day see her creations grace the pages of a major daily newspaper. Growing up in Victoria in the 1970s, Wendy dreams of getting out, getting away … and getting recognition for her talent. And there’s another, never-whispered motivation that prompts her to seek her fortune: a deeply buried memory and unshakeable belief that her unknown father is Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States.

A chance meeting in Victoria with an attractive-but-mysterious travelling artist inspires Wendy to take the plunge, and she runs away to live in a dilapidated artists’ commune in San Francisco. There, amid the haze of top-quality weed, unbridled creativity, and unfettered sex, her dream begins to take tangible shape. With the aid of Frank Fleecen, an up-and-coming bonds trader and agent, Wendy’s Strays are soon competing for newsprint space against the likes of Berkeley Breathed, Jim Davis, and Bill Watterston … even against Wendy’s beloved Charles Schultz himself.

But there are darker shades on the pencilled horizon: the spectre of AIDS, unexplained disappearances, bad therapy, junk bonds, demonology, and SEC agents investigating Frank’s business protocols.

The Road Narrows As You Go is simultaneously the portrait of a young woman struggling to find her place and a bright, rollicking, unflinching depiction of the 1980s. It embodies all the brash optimism and ruthless amoralism of the decade, as well as its preoccupation with repressed memories, and fully captures the flavour of an uncertain but deeply vibrant era.

Genres: Fiction, Canada

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2014

About the author

Lee Henderson is the author of the award-winning short story collection The Broken Record Technique and is a contributing editor to the arts magazines Border Crossings and Contemporary. He lives in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this book.

In theory, the plot of Les Henderson's "The Road Narrows As You Go" sounded original and fun: a group of comic book artists get tangled up in a CIA investigation into white-collar crime. A National Post book reviewer even heralded it the book he was most looking forward to this year.

But Henderson's "The Road Narrows As You Go" proved an interesting story line doesn't necessarily translate into a great read.

The story suffered from a lack of editing. Sections of this book could have been tightened up in order to improve flow. At times, I was asking myself, "Why am I reading all this extra detail?" because I knew from the start where this story was headed. (The ending also left much to be desired.)

Stylistically, I was frustrated by the lack of quotation marks around the dialogue. In some scenes, several different characters were speaking with each other, making it difficult to determine who was talking at any given time.

I also found the use of comic strips at the beginning of certain chapters to be a waste of a decent concept. The cartoons didn't usually tie into the story line, so it was really just viewing halfway decent art.

Unfortunately, I think the author focused his attention on the 'style' of the actual hard cover book -- use of cartoons, doodles at the corner of each page, lack of quotation marks -- rather than the content itself.

Henderson could have made this plot into a stellar read if he had focused his attention on what truly matters: the writing.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to read The Road Narrows As You Go because I’d never read anything about comic strip artists before and as an added bonus this comic strip artist happened to be female. I did find the comic aspects interesting, the artistic process, the merchandising, etc, however, I struggled through pretty much everything else.

There was something about the characters where I just felt this distance from them, maybe it would have helped if rather than her assistants, Wendy, had narrated her own story, I don’t know. I don’t need to like characters in order to like a book, but I do need that burning desire to know what will happen next to someone, and I rarely experienced that here.

Also, the book was very dense. The era and subjects were clearly well-researched, but maybe a little too researched? There were lengthy passages where it seemed as though I was reading information rather than progressing through the plot. For me, this was 300 pages of story trapped in a 500 page book.

I received this through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are very few books that I have failed to finish, and this is one of them. It's a mess

[Erin Clemence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a free giveaway through Goodreads.
Henderson's novel, "The Road Narrows As you Go" tells the tale of a group of comic book artists living in a rundown house together during the 80s in San Francisco, at the height of the AIDS epidemic.
There was an abundance of similarities between this book and the musical "Rent". The AIDS epidemic,the drug and alcohol use, the bohemian artists trying to make a living through their art (in various forms)in a large metropolis (in this instance, San Francisco, not New York). However without the musical accompaniment, the plot falls flat.
There were a great many characters in this novel. Some were important and others were merely space fillers. Justine Whitlaw served no purpose. Why was she even written in? She merely existed as a gallery owner who owed money, however she does not serve an integral part of any plotline. There are several others. Such random characters like this confuse the plot. Henderson would have been better to delve deeper into the storylines of characters such as Jonjay and Wendy, then spend time introducing forgettable characters.
This book was very slow moving and I struggled to get into it. There were many times when I forced myself to read through sections. There were a few plot lines (the SEC investigation, the pair going missing in the desert-- which was never resolved by the way) that seemed to be picked up toward the end of the book (which made the book far more interesting) then dropped off. The couple that goes missing in the desert is never found and we are never told their fate (although we can assume and speculation is made). I would've liked this book far more if I could've started reading it in the middle and if the ending was extended.
I felt disappointed in the ending as it was as if the book was FINALLY picking up and then it ends abruptly. I found Henderson's writing to be creative and intelligent, however the storyline itself was not entertaining, suspenseful or even fun to read, when the premise of the book could very well have been made to be so.

[Debra Komar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise held such promise, as I have never read anything relating to comic strip artists in the past. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the actual comic strips, as well as the margin art, felt unnecessary and overly contrived, despite their seeming relevance to the subject matter. The strips did not relate to the content of the chapters they headed and were not particularly compelling as either art or social commentary.

What killed this book for me was the writer's voice, specifically the syntax and sentence structure. The author takes a series of short sentences and connects them with an excessive use of the word "and." Frankly, it was hard to tell whether that was an intentional stylistic choice or just bad writing.

When you combine the affected voice with the gratuitous artwork, the net effect is a book that is more style than substance, which is too bad. The subject matter felt fresh and worthy of exploration.

[Yannick Serres · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple story of a young woman working in art industry that is approached by a multimillionaire investor. She get seduce and has to live with the consequences of her blinded choices. All her surrounding seem to suffer, but she gets all the reward.
This book was one of the longest I had to read. The story miss a guide line, no surprises at all and lack of imagination. I think that even if you like cartoons and bds, you won't really appreciate this book. Still, the story seems realistic and could be a real life story. There is some things that can be learn and if you are looking for a long book to read, go for it.

Thanks to Penguin Canada for the giveaway
First reader winner

Yannick Serres (your favorite french quebecer reviewer!)

[Danielle West · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recieved this book through GoodReads First Reads program.

First, I was not a fan of the writing style. Past tense, I guess you might call it? Anyway, I don't like it.

I more or less enjoyed the story, but I couldn't connected with the characters and the ending was weird. Overall, I felt pretty meh about the whole thing. It wasn't a bad book but...it was just ok.

[Lindsay Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads.

The story follows the curious tale of comic fanatic and writer Wendy Ashbubble.
Any interesting perception to hear from, as many characters are involved and while it does not always dive into character depth, the story is quite deep in detail.
A different form of writing style

[Johanna Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting - San Francisco in the early eighties, comic strip writers, junk bond kings. I enjoyed a lot of this book, I just wish there hadn't been so much of it. It was a long read, in the end.

[Trevor Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://bindblottyandcajole.com/2015/0...

[Lisa Nikolits · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sad to finish The Road Narrows As You Go, I'll miss it.
What a brilliant + ambitious book! A real original!

[Joanne Seitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about a cartoonist in San Francisco in the 80's.