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Voran, voran, immer weiter voran
Amerikanischer Mittelwesten, Anfang der 1950er-Jahre: Chic Waldbeeser hat gerade seine Highschool-Liebe Diane geheiratet und sieht hoffnungsfroh in eine Zukunft als Familienvater und Eigenheimbesitzer. Sein Bruder Buddy ist ein ruheloser Geist, dem es schwerfällt, seinen Platz im Leben zu finden und sesshaft zu werden, und der nicht weiß, dass seine Frau Lijy ihr eigenes Geheimnis hütet. Über fünfzig Jahre hinweg werden die beiden Brüder versuchen, trotz aller Schicksalsschläge und Niederlagen immer weiterzumachen. Und Chic wird im Alter noch eine letzte Chance bekommen, sein Glück zu finden.
In der Tradition von John Williams’ Stoner erzählt dieser epische Roman von zwischenmenschlichen Missverständnissen, die mit der Zeit zu unüberwindlichen Barrieren werden, vom Mittelmaß und den kleinen und großen Dramen des Lebens. Mit einer lakonischen und eingängigen Sprache macht Ryan Bartelmay uns zu Zeugen einer sich über ein halbes Jahrhundert entfaltenden Familiengeschichte.
In der Tradition von John Williams’ Stoner erzählt dieser epische Roman von zwischenmenschlichen Missverständnissen, die mit der Zeit zu unüberwindlichen Barrieren werden, vom Mittelmaß und den kleinen und großen Dramen des Lebens. Mit einer lakonischen und eingängigen Sprache macht Ryan Bartelmay uns zu Zeugen einer sich über ein halbes Jahrhundert entfaltenden Familiengeschichte.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published July 19, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 24, 2015
I'm kind of amazed that I in the end gave this book a 3 star rating because there were times when I thought that the book was a bit boring to read, mostly because sometimes I just couldn't see a point to the story really and also that I just couldn't really like the characters, well except Lomax, but he was not long for the world. But somehow, I liked the book, just because it was so odd.
We get to follow Chic, both as a young man and as an old man in parallel storylines. So while we follow his life as a newlywed man we also get to know him as an old man in a retirement home. We also get to know his wife Diane, his brother Buddy and his wife Lijy and in later life we get to know Mary a woman that will play a new role in Chic's life.
The story in this is sometimes just incredible weird and they make decisions that just seem stupid, I mean come on? But I still needed to find out what happens to the characters so I kept reading just to get answers to questions like Will Chic ever be happy? What will happen to them all? It's like reading a soap opera.
So in the end 3 stars, despite being a bit boring sometimes, despite lacking any really likeable characters (aww poor Lomax that he had to die so young). In the end this book is about ordinary slightly odd characters that makes decisions that sometimes seems completely stupid. Just like real people...
3 stars
Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World
We get to follow Chic, both as a young man and as an old man in parallel storylines. So while we follow his life as a newlywed man we also get to know him as an old man in a retirement home. We also get to know his wife Diane, his brother Buddy and his wife Lijy and in later life we get to know Mary a woman that will play a new role in Chic's life.
The story in this is sometimes just incredible weird and they make decisions that just seem stupid, I mean come on? But I still needed to find out what happens to the characters so I kept reading just to get answers to questions like Will Chic ever be happy? What will happen to them all? It's like reading a soap opera.
So in the end 3 stars, despite being a bit boring sometimes, despite lacking any really likeable characters (aww poor Lomax that he had to die so young). In the end this book is about ordinary slightly odd characters that makes decisions that sometimes seems completely stupid. Just like real people...
3 stars
Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
Review also posted on And Now for Something Completely Different and It's a Mad Mad World
October 11, 2013
Bartelmay's gift is perfect understanding of the damaged and frustrating individuals he created in this razor sharp novel. The alternating flashbacks drive the plot as does the honest dialogue. The novel is humorous at times, always fresh and honest. Peoria, Illinois could only have been chosen as a location by someone who knew it well. This is a novel about transitions and sad lives. A major accomplishment.
August 20, 2013
My review from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/19uq5LG
--
Chicago author Ryan Bartelmay debuts this week with Onward Toward What We're Going Toward, an ambitious novel spanning the second half of the twentieth century about the downfall of an average American family in the fictional town of Middleville, Illinois.
Mr. Bartelmay received an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and an M.F.A. from Columbia University, so it's no surprise then that his debut attempts to inhabit a strange middle ground between the kind of domestic drama you might expect from a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a surreal highbrow comedy that a young writer under the tutelage of Ben Marcus and Sam Lipsyte (both of whom teach at Columbia) might produce. Mr. Bartelmay approaches his task with talent and verve. His sentences crackle with freshness, but still feel carefully worked over. Onward is a propulsive read. But the question is, can a novel function as both a surreal comedy and a drama? The result of the attempt in Onward is similar to what Patrick Dewitt achieved in The Sisters Brothers last year--basically that of a novel with an identity crisis, one that can't quite decide what it is, and so doesn't quite succeed in making us feel anything.
Mr. Bartelmay's epic plot mostly concerns the life of Chic Waldbeeser. Chic's father is the wistful, sad, window-gazing kind of alcoholic, and Chic's childhood is turned upside down when the elder Waldbeeser commits suicide by sitting down outside behind the barn and freezing to death one cold winter night. Chic's mother runs off to Florida shortly thereafter with a man named Tom McNeeley, leaving Chic and his older brother Buddy behind to fend for themselves. Buddy soon leaves.Chic's fortunes take a positive turn when Diane von Schmidt, the math teacher's daughter, enters his life. They marry in 1950, shortly after Chic's high school graduation. Diane's parents help them with a down payment on a house, Chic gets a job at the local pumpkin cannery, and they begin living a "normal life," which is Chic's great aspiration.
But normalcy isn't in the cards. Soon Chic's brother Buddy returns to town with an Indian wife named Lijy. Chic becomes infatuated with her. Buddy, meanwhile, is dealing with significant demons related to their father's suicide. Chic's obsession with Lijy eventually grows to the point that he finds himself spying on her though the blinds while masturbating. Buddy is often on the road and isn't emotionally available for Lijy, so hapless Chic steps in and tries to seduce her, to no avail. It's the kind of minor mistake that can have major consequences. I won't spoil it any further for readers, since the twists and turns of Mr. Bartelmay's plot are a great pleasure of this novel. Still, readers' enjoyment of Onward will probably depend in part on whether they believe in the devastation wrought by a not quite innocent back rub and clumsily-executed, half-naked sashay in the kitchen.
For me, the problem with this novel wasn't the reverberations from that kitchen sashay. It wasn't that I found the twists and turns too far-fetched, or that I didn't believe Chic's reactions to the events of his life. It's not a problem that Chic's fatal flaw is an extreme case of indecision, certainly a relatable and regrettable state of affairs. But Chic remains willfully indecisive for fifty years. In order for Onward to fully succeed, I believe it was necessary for Mr. Bartelmay to find and believe in Chic's redeeming qualities, which aren't readily apparent here. He's not a particularly good brother or a good husband. He's too self-involved to ever really understand or care about his wife's feelings, he refuses to make any effort toward happiness, and we get the distinct impression he's lousy in the sack. Chic is also a bad father (though I suppose the reasons why would constitute a spoiler). And the hits keep on coming. He works a menial job and doesn't have the ability to advance beyond the cannery floor. He buys a crappy house and lives there his whole life, he gets meaner as he gets older, and he develops a case of alcoholism. We get the sense that he's a bit, well, stupid. To add insult to injury, he's also a terrible poet. Yeesh.
In a lot of ways this book reminded me of the recent British novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. The similarities of the two novels don't end with the long and somewhat unwieldy titles. Harold in Pilgrimage is basically interchangeable with Chic in Onward. Both men have seemingly outlived their usefulness, both have never fulfilled whatever potential they thought they had, and both are trapped in marriages that have become loveless . Both marriages have even suffered for the same reason--though, again, to say the reason would constitute a spoiler, but really, at what point does a plot device become so hopelessly cliched that there's nothing to spoil? I would say I am there with the plot device in question, except for the fact that it was handled to such wonderful effect in Pilgrimage. The care with which Ms. Joyce handles her reveals isn't all that separates that book from this one though. In Pilgramage, Harold changes--the moral of the novel ends up being that a life is never really wasted, and there is always time to start again. Mr. Bartelmay seems to be headed in a similar direction for most of Onward, but he just can't (or won't) turn the corner.
The danger of a novel like this is that the characters can become little more than sideshow curiosities to be gaped at by readers. Here, it ends up feeling like Mr. Bartelmay has created these characters to bid good riddance to a blue collar small town lifestyle that's pretty much gone now. It's a shame, because Mr. Bartelmay is a wonderful sentence writer who knows how to keep a plot moving.
--
Chicago author Ryan Bartelmay debuts this week with Onward Toward What We're Going Toward, an ambitious novel spanning the second half of the twentieth century about the downfall of an average American family in the fictional town of Middleville, Illinois.
Mr. Bartelmay received an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and an M.F.A. from Columbia University, so it's no surprise then that his debut attempts to inhabit a strange middle ground between the kind of domestic drama you might expect from a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and a surreal highbrow comedy that a young writer under the tutelage of Ben Marcus and Sam Lipsyte (both of whom teach at Columbia) might produce. Mr. Bartelmay approaches his task with talent and verve. His sentences crackle with freshness, but still feel carefully worked over. Onward is a propulsive read. But the question is, can a novel function as both a surreal comedy and a drama? The result of the attempt in Onward is similar to what Patrick Dewitt achieved in The Sisters Brothers last year--basically that of a novel with an identity crisis, one that can't quite decide what it is, and so doesn't quite succeed in making us feel anything.
Mr. Bartelmay's epic plot mostly concerns the life of Chic Waldbeeser. Chic's father is the wistful, sad, window-gazing kind of alcoholic, and Chic's childhood is turned upside down when the elder Waldbeeser commits suicide by sitting down outside behind the barn and freezing to death one cold winter night. Chic's mother runs off to Florida shortly thereafter with a man named Tom McNeeley, leaving Chic and his older brother Buddy behind to fend for themselves. Buddy soon leaves.Chic's fortunes take a positive turn when Diane von Schmidt, the math teacher's daughter, enters his life. They marry in 1950, shortly after Chic's high school graduation. Diane's parents help them with a down payment on a house, Chic gets a job at the local pumpkin cannery, and they begin living a "normal life," which is Chic's great aspiration.
But normalcy isn't in the cards. Soon Chic's brother Buddy returns to town with an Indian wife named Lijy. Chic becomes infatuated with her. Buddy, meanwhile, is dealing with significant demons related to their father's suicide. Chic's obsession with Lijy eventually grows to the point that he finds himself spying on her though the blinds while masturbating. Buddy is often on the road and isn't emotionally available for Lijy, so hapless Chic steps in and tries to seduce her, to no avail. It's the kind of minor mistake that can have major consequences. I won't spoil it any further for readers, since the twists and turns of Mr. Bartelmay's plot are a great pleasure of this novel. Still, readers' enjoyment of Onward will probably depend in part on whether they believe in the devastation wrought by a not quite innocent back rub and clumsily-executed, half-naked sashay in the kitchen.
For me, the problem with this novel wasn't the reverberations from that kitchen sashay. It wasn't that I found the twists and turns too far-fetched, or that I didn't believe Chic's reactions to the events of his life. It's not a problem that Chic's fatal flaw is an extreme case of indecision, certainly a relatable and regrettable state of affairs. But Chic remains willfully indecisive for fifty years. In order for Onward to fully succeed, I believe it was necessary for Mr. Bartelmay to find and believe in Chic's redeeming qualities, which aren't readily apparent here. He's not a particularly good brother or a good husband. He's too self-involved to ever really understand or care about his wife's feelings, he refuses to make any effort toward happiness, and we get the distinct impression he's lousy in the sack. Chic is also a bad father (though I suppose the reasons why would constitute a spoiler). And the hits keep on coming. He works a menial job and doesn't have the ability to advance beyond the cannery floor. He buys a crappy house and lives there his whole life, he gets meaner as he gets older, and he develops a case of alcoholism. We get the sense that he's a bit, well, stupid. To add insult to injury, he's also a terrible poet. Yeesh.
In a lot of ways this book reminded me of the recent British novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. The similarities of the two novels don't end with the long and somewhat unwieldy titles. Harold in Pilgrimage is basically interchangeable with Chic in Onward. Both men have seemingly outlived their usefulness, both have never fulfilled whatever potential they thought they had, and both are trapped in marriages that have become loveless . Both marriages have even suffered for the same reason--though, again, to say the reason would constitute a spoiler, but really, at what point does a plot device become so hopelessly cliched that there's nothing to spoil? I would say I am there with the plot device in question, except for the fact that it was handled to such wonderful effect in Pilgrimage. The care with which Ms. Joyce handles her reveals isn't all that separates that book from this one though. In Pilgramage, Harold changes--the moral of the novel ends up being that a life is never really wasted, and there is always time to start again. Mr. Bartelmay seems to be headed in a similar direction for most of Onward, but he just can't (or won't) turn the corner.
The danger of a novel like this is that the characters can become little more than sideshow curiosities to be gaped at by readers. Here, it ends up feeling like Mr. Bartelmay has created these characters to bid good riddance to a blue collar small town lifestyle that's pretty much gone now. It's a shame, because Mr. Bartelmay is a wonderful sentence writer who knows how to keep a plot moving.
March 16, 2015
When I first read about ‘Onward Toward What We’re Going Toward’ the book sounded very interesting. An all American family, people searching for their place in the world. So when I was approached with the question if I wanted to read this book I agreed immediately. This is not the kind of book I normally read, but since I love trying new stuff I couldn’t wait to start reading.
In ‘Onward Toward What We’re Going Toward’ we meet Chic Waldbeeser and follow his life from the time he was a newlywed up until he is an old man. We meet Chic’s wife Diana, his brother and sister in law Ljjy and the woman he met later on Mary. Chic’s life has been filled with sadness and disappointments and know he has a last chance to change things around.
The thing that immediately grabs your attention when you start reading this book is the way Ryan Bartelmay wrote it. This book is very honest and leaves little to the imagination. It’s not a happy story but it definitely makes you want to keep reading. It’s a book that definitely makes you think about life and about decisions people make.
After reading this book I can conclude that this is not really my kind of book. It was interesting to read and the writing style was very impressive but I just couldn’t connect with the characters. I found the story just a little boring at times and since I didn’t really like any of the characters I felt myself not really caring what would happen to them .
I can totally imagine people being a fan of this book. But it was just not my kind of story. I loved the cover though and I definitely hope Ryan Bartelmay will keep writing because I think he definitely has a gift in writing pure and honest stories.
In ‘Onward Toward What We’re Going Toward’ we meet Chic Waldbeeser and follow his life from the time he was a newlywed up until he is an old man. We meet Chic’s wife Diana, his brother and sister in law Ljjy and the woman he met later on Mary. Chic’s life has been filled with sadness and disappointments and know he has a last chance to change things around.
The thing that immediately grabs your attention when you start reading this book is the way Ryan Bartelmay wrote it. This book is very honest and leaves little to the imagination. It’s not a happy story but it definitely makes you want to keep reading. It’s a book that definitely makes you think about life and about decisions people make.
After reading this book I can conclude that this is not really my kind of book. It was interesting to read and the writing style was very impressive but I just couldn’t connect with the characters. I found the story just a little boring at times and since I didn’t really like any of the characters I felt myself not really caring what would happen to them .
I can totally imagine people being a fan of this book. But it was just not my kind of story. I loved the cover though and I definitely hope Ryan Bartelmay will keep writing because I think he definitely has a gift in writing pure and honest stories.
March 1, 2015
A sprawling, beautifully written and often highly emotional family drama here, terribly compelling, with a hugely addictive ambience and some wonderful imagery which brings the story to life in a gorgeous way.
It is an eclectic writing style that Ryan Bartelmay has which may take you a while to get your head around, but you are drawn into this world almost without realising it. Ambitious perhaps but so very well done I loved it, was disturbed by it, got emotional over it and generally speaking just absorbed it into my psyche where I’m sure it will stay.
Chic Waldbeeser is a truly unforgettable character, they all are really, as the novel charts the ups and downs of the lives of this so called “average” family you will be utterly fascinated and unable to look away. It is haunting but often funny, very believable and highly entertaining. I won’t speak much to the detail of it, there is so much in here to be discovered and it is most definitely a journey worth taking.
This is not necessarily a story that will give you a happy outcome, but it is definitely a realistic yet imaginative take on life, love and everything in between – you will, if you are like me, be left with a wistful feeling of nostalgia by the end of it. I kind of wish I could start it again with no prior knowledge. Certainly it is a novel I shall return to in the future.
Overall then a beautifully done, sometimes odd but always compelling tale of Family. You can’t choose them for the most part but you can love them. And you will.
Highly Recommended
Happy Reading Folks!
It is an eclectic writing style that Ryan Bartelmay has which may take you a while to get your head around, but you are drawn into this world almost without realising it. Ambitious perhaps but so very well done I loved it, was disturbed by it, got emotional over it and generally speaking just absorbed it into my psyche where I’m sure it will stay.
Chic Waldbeeser is a truly unforgettable character, they all are really, as the novel charts the ups and downs of the lives of this so called “average” family you will be utterly fascinated and unable to look away. It is haunting but often funny, very believable and highly entertaining. I won’t speak much to the detail of it, there is so much in here to be discovered and it is most definitely a journey worth taking.
This is not necessarily a story that will give you a happy outcome, but it is definitely a realistic yet imaginative take on life, love and everything in between – you will, if you are like me, be left with a wistful feeling of nostalgia by the end of it. I kind of wish I could start it again with no prior knowledge. Certainly it is a novel I shall return to in the future.
Overall then a beautifully done, sometimes odd but always compelling tale of Family. You can’t choose them for the most part but you can love them. And you will.
Highly Recommended
Happy Reading Folks!
July 27, 2021
Irgendwie konnte ich dieses Buch nicht aus der Hand legen. Der Schreibstil reisst einen mit, auch wenn die großen Knaller ausbleiben; es sind mehr so die stillen Figuren und ihr teilweise grotesk vermurkstes Leben. Aber gerade deshalb sind einem diese Personen denn auch so nah, es geht eben nicht um die zwar gebeutelte, aber letztendlich doch gerade noch so gerettete Schönheit, die ihren Märchenprinzen trifft. Schade, dass Bartelmay keine weiteren Bücher geschrieben hat. Oder...? Muss ich mal googeln.
October 6, 2013
Ryan Bartelmay's first novel (ten years in the making) is a real success. It's a good old fashioned character driven novel full of simple, beautiful language, well drawn and interesting characters, and a quiet sort of story that deserves a lot of loud praise.
The story covers a lot of ground--about thirty some odd years. The characters progress through that time naturally and realistically. They are always versions of themselves, and even if the choices they make are not the choices you, as a reader, would like them to make, they never betray their cores. They grow as people and as family members, and the ending is quite satisfying and true to who Chic is--who he has become--as a man.
Bartelmay grew up with the husband of one of our book club babes, and he was gracious enough to come to our book club meeting last month to chat with us. It was really a pleasure to be able to pick his brain and talk to him about his characters and his process. As a writer, I was in heaven! (Read this interview with him from Peoria Magazine--it's almost like sitting with him over a plate of risotto and a glass of wine...).
The story covers a lot of ground--about thirty some odd years. The characters progress through that time naturally and realistically. They are always versions of themselves, and even if the choices they make are not the choices you, as a reader, would like them to make, they never betray their cores. They grow as people and as family members, and the ending is quite satisfying and true to who Chic is--who he has become--as a man.
Bartelmay grew up with the husband of one of our book club babes, and he was gracious enough to come to our book club meeting last month to chat with us. It was really a pleasure to be able to pick his brain and talk to him about his characters and his process. As a writer, I was in heaven! (Read this interview with him from Peoria Magazine--it's almost like sitting with him over a plate of risotto and a glass of wine...).
May 22, 2017
I only read this book because it was set in the mid west town I live in.
March 5, 2015
Questo romanzo mi ha lasciato una tristezza assoluta e dei sentimenti ambivalenti rispetto al fatto che mi sia piaciuto o meno. Da edonista apprezzo fondamentalmente le storie che mi fanno divertire, non tanto pensare, soprattutto quelle che mi lasciano “un buon sapore in bocca”. Questo non significa però che io non riconosca che ci siano libri che raggiungono vertici di tristezza assoluti, ma nonostante ciò valgano la pena di essere letti.
In questo romanzo la cosa più triste, e secondo me angosciante, è la mancanza assoluta di logica che Chic percepisce nella sua vita. A cominciare da un padre che si suicida, per continuare con un fratello che scompare per poi riapparire il giorno del suo matrimonio accompagnato da una cognata che gli chiede un sacrificio supremo. Tutto quello che capita a Chic sembra essere sempre il peggio del peggio, mentre lui lotta per dare un senso o quanto meno trovare una ragione per quello che gli capita.
Ma il nostro protagonista principale è accompagnato anche da alcuni personaggi secondari che gli rubano parzialmente la scena, come suo fratello Buddy, che, sposato con una donna di origini indiane, vuole introdurre l’ayurveda e i massaggi in una comunità rurale degli anni ’50 con scarsi risultati. O Diane, la moglie di Chic, che non riesce a riprendersi dalla tragedia per anni, e quando ci riesce, dura poco.
Il libro è ben scritto e scorre, basta fare attenzione ai titoli in cima ai paragrafi che indicano i personaggi coinvolti e l’anno, perché l’autore salta continuamente dal presente al passato e spesso bisogna tornare un attimo indietro per collocarsi nel giusto continuum spazio temporale.
Non me la sento di consigliare a tutti questo romanzo, perché le tematiche del lutto sono costantemente presenti, come anche la mancanza di una ragione per continuare a vivere, ma diciamo pure che Sartre e gli esistenzialisti avrebbero apprezzato molto. Comunque se avete letto il Franzen de “Le Correzioni” o “I Middlesteins” di Jami Attenberg, e soprattutto vi sono piaciuti, è possibile che vi piaccia anche questo.
In questo romanzo la cosa più triste, e secondo me angosciante, è la mancanza assoluta di logica che Chic percepisce nella sua vita. A cominciare da un padre che si suicida, per continuare con un fratello che scompare per poi riapparire il giorno del suo matrimonio accompagnato da una cognata che gli chiede un sacrificio supremo. Tutto quello che capita a Chic sembra essere sempre il peggio del peggio, mentre lui lotta per dare un senso o quanto meno trovare una ragione per quello che gli capita.
Ma il nostro protagonista principale è accompagnato anche da alcuni personaggi secondari che gli rubano parzialmente la scena, come suo fratello Buddy, che, sposato con una donna di origini indiane, vuole introdurre l’ayurveda e i massaggi in una comunità rurale degli anni ’50 con scarsi risultati. O Diane, la moglie di Chic, che non riesce a riprendersi dalla tragedia per anni, e quando ci riesce, dura poco.
Il libro è ben scritto e scorre, basta fare attenzione ai titoli in cima ai paragrafi che indicano i personaggi coinvolti e l’anno, perché l’autore salta continuamente dal presente al passato e spesso bisogna tornare un attimo indietro per collocarsi nel giusto continuum spazio temporale.
Non me la sento di consigliare a tutti questo romanzo, perché le tematiche del lutto sono costantemente presenti, come anche la mancanza di una ragione per continuare a vivere, ma diciamo pure che Sartre e gli esistenzialisti avrebbero apprezzato molto. Comunque se avete letto il Franzen de “Le Correzioni” o “I Middlesteins” di Jami Attenberg, e soprattutto vi sono piaciuti, è possibile che vi piaccia anche questo.
September 20, 2013
Review from Publisher's Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1...
Miscommunication reigns in Bartelmay's debut novel about the inevitable attrition of self-delusions. This sprawling narrative straddles two disparate timeframes as we follow the converging lives of Chic Waldbeeser and Mary Norwood in small-town Illinois. Married in 1950 at the age of 18, Chic is set up for failure early on after his new bride spies Lijy, Chic's Indian sister-in-law, giving her husband an intimate backrub at the wedding reception. This furtive attraction blows up further after Lijy gets knocked up by a local man and convinces Chic to assume responsibility for the baby in a ploy to keep her husband from leaving. In a parallel story—mostly set in the ‘90s—pool hustler Mary, still recovering from a heart-wrenching break up with her former manager, takes up with a wannabe bookie who whimsically moves her to Peoria, Illinois. Then, one night at the casino where she works, Mary notices Chic at the slots and decides to make a move. With Chic unable to let go of his troubled past—his sister-in-law's insidious lie, his failed marriage, the loss of his only son—the relationship goes through one false start after another. Sleuthing the distractions we entertain to cope with rejection and disappointment, Bartelmay's comic debut is a wistful take on the classic American reinvention tale. (Aug.)
Miscommunication reigns in Bartelmay's debut novel about the inevitable attrition of self-delusions. This sprawling narrative straddles two disparate timeframes as we follow the converging lives of Chic Waldbeeser and Mary Norwood in small-town Illinois. Married in 1950 at the age of 18, Chic is set up for failure early on after his new bride spies Lijy, Chic's Indian sister-in-law, giving her husband an intimate backrub at the wedding reception. This furtive attraction blows up further after Lijy gets knocked up by a local man and convinces Chic to assume responsibility for the baby in a ploy to keep her husband from leaving. In a parallel story—mostly set in the ‘90s—pool hustler Mary, still recovering from a heart-wrenching break up with her former manager, takes up with a wannabe bookie who whimsically moves her to Peoria, Illinois. Then, one night at the casino where she works, Mary notices Chic at the slots and decides to make a move. With Chic unable to let go of his troubled past—his sister-in-law's insidious lie, his failed marriage, the loss of his only son—the relationship goes through one false start after another. Sleuthing the distractions we entertain to cope with rejection and disappointment, Bartelmay's comic debut is a wistful take on the classic American reinvention tale. (Aug.)
October 6, 2013
"Onward Toward What Your Going Toward" is the story of being human, of wanting to believe you're a good a person despite your actions. It's a story of utter loneliness, even when there is someone there to share a space with you. This is not a 'happy ending' sort of story...but then there is no guarantee in life those will happen; in fact they rarely do.
July 6, 2015
Figuren ohne Glamour und eine Handlung ohne Konflikt – all das stört nicht im Debütroman von Ryan Bartelmay. Denn „Voran, voran, immer weiter voran“ erzählt von der Erkenntnis, dass jedes Leben tragisch sein kann. http://www.shitesite.de/2015/05/30/du...
October 25, 2013
I really liked this book and found it to be bizzarly fascinating. loved the writing style and flew through the book. definitely an entertaining read.
October 27, 2013
I think his learning style is nice but I was really confused throughout the entire book. It was a little depressing and just an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews