Peter Hassebroek (Author of family Values)

Peter rated a book really liked it The Blindfolded Society: How We Progress When Mass Self-Deception Holds Us Back by Paul Daniel (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Critical Thinking Begins at Home – Would I Lie to Me? The short answer: probably. In The Blindfolded Society: How We Progress When Mass Self-Deception Holds Us Back, Paul Daniel provides the long answer. And he does so with academic diligence, without ...more
Dec 10, 2025 11:49AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Blindfolded Society by Paul Daniel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Blindfolded Society by Paul Daniel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter rated a book really liked it The Truth About Book Reviews: An Insider's Guide to Getting and Using Reviews to Grow Your Readership by Joe Walters (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Book reviews are both a starting point and catalyst to acquiring readers and purchasers. Not all reviews are the same and the more authors understand the distinctions, the more they will help. The Truth About Book Reviews makes this clear as a compre ...more
Aug 14, 2025 10:58AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Truth About Book Reviews by Joe Walters. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Truth About Book Reviews by Joe Walters <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter rated a book really liked it About a girl by Tony Nesca	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A love story seems imminent when an unnamed guy in his late thirties and unnamed gal in her early twenties notice each other at a bus stop in wintry Winnipeg. Their mutual gaze sparks a sexual chemistry that sends them on a tandem odyssey through Man ...more
May 05, 2025 12:25PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of About a girl by Tony Nesca. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — About a girl by Tony Nesca <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter rated a book really liked it Water Like Blood by Terry Persun (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
It's springtime and Bedford Creek, as it does every year, threatens to consume much of the small, fictional town of Garrett. Just like grief and guilt threaten to consume Kenny Reed who, while drunk and in an angry mood, after accidentally killing hi ...more
Mar 06, 2025 05:39AM · like · see review
Peter rated a book really liked it The Echo Dies by Roger Teichmann (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In The Echo Dies by Roger Teichmann, two long-separated friends in their sixties, Julius and Maia, are about to reunite in France. He's a British professor coping with a declining memory; she's a painter operating a pub called Les Pêcheurs in Fournha ...more
Feb 24, 2025 04:56AM · like · see review
Peter rated a book really liked it The Last Toll Collector by S.S. Turner (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Artificial intelligence (AI) scares some, fascinates others, but for Valerie Tobruk, it's a persistent nuisance. She was content with her toll collector position at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, until automation made her role redundant. He ...more
Jan 31, 2025 12:35PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Last Toll Collector by S.S. Turner. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Last Toll Collector by S.S. Turner <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter rated a book liked it The Hate Game: Screaming in the Silence—A Memoir by Gary Trew (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The title of Gary Trew's memoir, The Hate Game: Screaming in the Silence, as well as the short blurb (but not the longer description), implies a potential expose of a 1970s boys high school and a book of serial cruelty and hazing. While numerous inci ...more
Sep 19, 2024 01:50PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Hate Game by Gary Trew. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Hate Game by Gary Trew <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter rated a book liked it Beneath the Wild Fig Tree by Fiona Preston (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
More a 3.5 It can be difficult choosing a book to review but in this case the author had me at Tasmania. A fascinating place my wife and I spent a far too brief four days circling the island in an inadequate rental car, on a visit that still resonates ...more
Sep 19, 2024 01:44PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Beneath the Wild Fig Tree by Fiona Preston. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Beneath the Wild Fig Tree by Fiona Preston <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter answered Ross MacKay's question: Hi Peter, Ross from college days I hope you’re doing well. I retired in 2017 and it looks like you have semi-retired yourself. Never been better. if you remember my wife Gail, she is an avid reader and very much likes mysteries. If you can recommend one of your books, I will purchase one for her. Let me know? Wow, Ross, how great to hear from you. Any reminder of that time at school (over 40 years ago!) always makes my day. Hope your retirement's going well. I gave up the IT world for writing long ago so in a sense I'll never retire. I don't write straight See Full Answer
Sep 15, 2024 04:49AM · like
Peter rated a book really liked it Common Sense & Other Tales of Disillusionment by A.J. Saxsma (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've read and reviewed two of AJ Saxma's novels before. One, A Giant Comes, is more a fantasy. The other, Be Not Afraid, while incorporating some magic realism, is as earthily realistic as it gets. His short story collection, Common Sense and Other D ...more
Aug 16, 2024 09:32AM · like · see review

Peter rated a book really liked it

The Blindfolded Society: How We Progress When Mass Self-Deception Holds Us Back
by Paul Daniel (Goodreads Author)

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Critical Thinking Begins at Home – Would I Lie to Me? The short answer: probably.

In The Blindfolded Society: How We Progress When Mass Self-Deception Holds Us Back, Paul Daniel provides the long answer. And he does so with academic diligence, without Critical Thinking Begins at Home – Would I Lie to Me? The short answer: probably.

In The Blindfolded Society: How We Progress When Mass Self-Deception Holds Us Back, Paul Daniel provides the long answer. And he does so with academic diligence, without sounding scholastic, instead deconstructing in simple, deliberate language to convincingly show how this is so. Furthermore, how self-deception, when allowed to proliferate, is a primary inhibitor to our ability to resolve societal issues.

At the individual level, the observations and conclusions are practical and go well beyond simple common-sense self-help. They thoroughly point out how one is vulnerable to tethering oneself to fixed opinions, regardless of contradictory evidence otherwise. Then how such self-deception, when combined and compounded, seeds the discord that inhibits finding common ground.

If everyone does their part at the individual level, that is if everyone becomes self-honest, it theoretically follows that group or societal issues would eventually resolve themselves. But it would be self-deceiving to not realize the damage is done, and exponentially worsening, largely due to social media and technology. Thus it would taken an inordinate amount of time and effort to achieve consensuses organically.

And so the latter chapters take a stab at positing how this might be achieved with a conscious effort. But any attempt to address general societal issues using abstract concepts such as common humanity, happiness, or the ultra-rich, faces one challenge: they mean different things to different people. Just trying to define the concepts with specificity, let alone the issues to arrive at actionable solutions, seems equally if not more prohibitive.

It's a valiant effort, but to me the universal application of what in its most stable form is an individual matter isn't feasible. Thus these parts come off more fragmented than what is so methodically laid out for over half the book. Nonetheless, this accessible compact book is well worth the time. It might even make a terrific Secret Santa gift, perhaps to both give and receive.

I received a free promotional copy and am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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The Truth About Book Reviews by Joe Walters

The Truth About Book Reviews: An Insider's Guide to Getting and Using Reviews to Grow Your Readership
by Joe Walters (Goodreads Author)

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Book reviews are both a starting point and catalyst to acquiring readers and purchasers. Not all reviews are the same and the more authors understand the distinctions, the more they will help. The Truth About Book Reviews makes this clear as a compre ...more

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About a girl
by Tony Nesca

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A love story seems imminent when an unnamed guy in his late thirties and unnamed gal in her early twenties notice each other at a bus stop in wintry Winnipeg. Their mutual gaze sparks a sexual chemistry that sends them on a tandem odyssey through Man A love story seems imminent when an unnamed guy in his late thirties and unnamed gal in her early twenties notice each other at a bus stop in wintry Winnipeg. Their mutual gaze sparks a sexual chemistry that sends them on a tandem odyssey through Manitoba's capital and largest city, Canada's Gateway to the West.

The time period isn't given but a lack of cell phones and presence of payphones, shopping for CDs, and other references indicate it's around the turn of this century. She's from eastern Canada, of Native and African descent, while he's a bona fide Winnipegger, familiar with its urban ins and outs. She likes travel, he doesn't and they have overlapping, but varying tastes in the arts: in these and many other ways they are not an ideal match.

But they do share a peripatetic restlessness that keeps them moving, together. For him, this means playing hooky from his security guard job and relying on his impromptu date to supply their recreational substances. The entire adventure is from his perspective using a combination of dialogue and stream-of-consciousness. Thus for her, he can only speculate beyond knowing she's a small time drug dealer dealing with a crumbling romantic relationship back east. His outer observations and inner reflections effectively parallel their increasingly mutual inebriation and touchy-feely attraction with his own introspective journey.
While there are breaks in the text, there are no periods to confirm the end of a sentence. A lack of conjunctions makes for sometimes incongruous narration. As does the use of commas, which only appear to be used to separate clauses. It's a clipped, jagged style that develops a consistent flow once one adapts to its pulsing energy. It doesn't demand much effort but does require close attention. Which might be challenging for a longer work, but not a novella like this that can be read in a day.

The effort is worth it because the style suits the story being told. More importantly, it suits the narrator in gradually and subtly revealing to the reader and himself whether this is a love story about a girl, an ode to his city, or simply a colourful slice of life.

I received a review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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Water Like Blood
by Terry Persun (Goodreads Author)

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It's springtime and Bedford Creek, as it does every year, threatens to consume much of the small, fictional town of Garrett. Just like grief and guilt threaten to consume Kenny Reed who, while drunk and in an angry mood, after accidentally killing hi It's springtime and Bedford Creek, as it does every year, threatens to consume much of the small, fictional town of Garrett. Just like grief and guilt threaten to consume Kenny Reed who, while drunk and in an angry mood, after accidentally killing his older brother, Jake.

Kenny is in the hospital, alive and healing physically, but bearing the emotional repercussions of what he's done. This is compounded by nearly universal scorn from his family, the town, even the nurses, not to mention what he directs at himself, for causing the death of Garrett's popular policeman and a brother he adored.

But Kenny has people to help him, whenever he can get past his reluctance to let them. His best friend from high school, Holtzy, drives Kenny home from the hospital and is willing to run errands and provide emotional support. Another friend helps Kenny find a job and keep it. These are buddies with whom he has uncomplicated connections, meaning he can put them off and they'll come back.

Not so with a neighbour, Linda Taylor, who is a single mother with an adorable daughter. They share a similar level of hypersensitivity, analytical self-consciousness, and loneliness that draws them to each other. Her innate inclination to be caring and helpful, along with her proximity, means Kenny often encounters her offers of assistance when he's not quite ready.

It makes for a complicated, erratic, and at times co-dependent relationship of the I'm-not-worthy type. This leads to many awkward interactions in which they alternately offend or take offence. Depending on the timing and his mood, these help or hurt Kenny's attempts to mend fractured relationships and get his life in order. A life that to this point in his mid-twenties has amounted to little.

Interestingly, the notion of whether there was any subconscious motivation behind Kenny's act isn't explored. The focus is on the aftermath, on Kenny's ability to deal with what happened. Thus there's a pervading degree of gloom and moroseness because the story is told solely from Kenny's point-of-view, which at first is filled with more downs than ups. The weather provides an atmospheric cohort as it's constantly cloudy and raining in the lead-up to the annual flooding of Bedford Creek.

Kenny's behaviour does make one want to slap sense in him at times. The mutual and seemingly avoidable tension between Kenny and Linda can get tedious. However, this does reflect the dynamic of these two particular characters who seem bent on living in as much discomfort as possible. This is conveyed well with solid writing that's sometimes sentimental, sometimes punctilious, but always in enough control to keep one reading.

The interest is sustained even with a relatively light plot because this is more a dramatized, highly focused case study of grief and guilt and how they intertwine. The uncontrollable course of Bedford Creek as its waters rise provides a figurative parallel to Kenny's personal emotional cleansing and reclamation. The ending is a little open-ended but gives enough to leave a clear indication of where things are headed for Kenny.

I received a free promotional copy and am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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The Echo Dies
by Roger Teichmann (Goodreads Author)

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In The Echo Dies by Roger Teichmann, two long-separated friends in their sixties, Julius and Maia, are about to reunite in France. He's a British professor coping with a declining memory; she's a painter operating a pub called Les Pêcheurs in Fournha In The Echo Dies by Roger Teichmann, two long-separated friends in their sixties, Julius and Maia, are about to reunite in France. He's a British professor coping with a declining memory; she's a painter operating a pub called Les Pêcheurs in Fournhac, a fictional town near Uzès in Languedoc.

Julius arrives in Uzès a couple of days earlier. The area is special to him, he wrote about its history in a book published fifteen years earlier, Pandora's Mirror, which brought him some fame. Julius spends this time leisurely indulging in nostalgia while also exercising his memory and contacting another old friend.

Philippe Arentz is a veteran activist, now involved with an aggressive environmental group protesting the development of a virology institute in a nearby forest. Philippe asks Julius to write an article or pamphlet in support of this protest. At the same time, an idealistic billionaire is establishing a legacy with something called the Optimex Foundation, inspired by the hopeful messaging of Pandora's Mirror. He sees its author as an ideal candidate to give an opening lecture for his organization's grand opening.

This puts Julius at the centre of two ideologically conflicting admirers of his work. He's amenable to both but they are secondary to his struggle to retain as much memory as he can. He and Maia reminisce over their youthful friendship and heartbreaks, including Julius's dead son and the shared pain of spouses who abandoned them.

As the days pass, a potentially intricate plot and cast of characters seems to swirl about our protagonist when tensions surrounding the environmental protests escalate to violence. Those events and characters could make for an interesting eco-fiction suspense thriller.

Only such a story would go beyond the scope of this short literary novel, which favours a more philosophical, contemplative storyline. One that illustrates how aging can widen the divide between how one sees one's world and how it's seen by others. The use of varying points-of-view reveals the increasing detachment of Julius from what's happening around him, how the link between his inner thoughts and outer experience is crumbling.

This disconnected duality can make the story feel incongruous at times. But it works because it also corresponds to Julius's confusions, the jumps to other thoughts from other times and places. It's handled in a light but firmly convincing manner with elegantly precise prose that aptly conveys the essence of Julius's diminishing capacities.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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The Last Toll Collector
by S.S. Turner (Goodreads Author)

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Artificial intelligence (AI) scares some, fascinates others, but for Valerie Tobruk, it's a persistent nuisance. She was content with her toll collector position at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, until automation made her role redundant. He Artificial intelligence (AI) scares some, fascinates others, but for Valerie Tobruk, it's a persistent nuisance. She was content with her toll collector position at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, until automation made her role redundant. Her job searches since continually end up in rejection, even derision, when unable to articulate how she, a human, is superior to artificial intelligence alternatives.

One particularly demeaning interview spurs her spontaneous escape as far away from the reach of this inhuman oppressor as possible. To the Westfjords region, the remotest part of a remote nation, Iceland. Through a series of incidents that seem like universal guidance, Valerie ends up stranded near an abandoned village and its once prosperous but now deserted herring factory. Disaster turns to blessing when Valerie taps into her resourcefulness to manage shelter and food and enjoy hermitic seclusion.

But people do come by—the factory is an off-the-beaten-path minor tourist attraction—much to Valerie's annoyance. In some truly funny scenes, she taps into her vocational instincts to brazenly, and illegally, collect tolls to visit the site. No mean feat since she can only accept cash in a cashless society. Not surprisingly she also faces varying degrees of resistance. She doesn't back down and with a strengthening of her resolve comes a growing sense of entitlement.

Word of these antics travel to where the American squatter becomes a draw. Not only to tourists but to other stateless souls who adopt her anti-AI principles and decide to stay, invited or not. It snowballs into a community of about one hundred that Valerie christens Tobruk, after herself.

Clashes with Icelandic authorities further isolate the Tobruk's citizens and rather than caving in, they bid for independent nationhood. Everything becomes strange when there's no response. The authorities seem to be content merely observing Tobruk via gradually drones from the sea and robots atop a hill. But is that what's really going on? And are the strange movements the robots make some kind of code?

Everything is shown through Valerie's perspective. The reader is as isolated as the protagonist and directly shares the banal and petty aspects of dealing with her fellow Tobrukians who share a blindness to what's happening beyond. This works because of her subtly volatile character that can alternate between from self-deprecated to bewildered to self-assured. A flawed character who, like all humans, is likeable for some traits, less so for others.

This is not a technical story about AI, it makes not attempt to explain what AI is or does. Its speculative aspect centres around an idiosyncratic, disenchanted individual and her mostly self-sustaining community. This AI-less evolution provides the impetus for this highly imaginative tale that's progressively compelling. Particularly the riveting scenes in which the Tobrukians started to approach their mechanical observers.

While the ending didn't satisfy as much as what led up to it, I'm not sure any ending could live up to the journey getting there, which is worth the read alone. Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be fertile ground for new novels these days and in that inevitable mix I'm certain The Last Toll Collector will stand as uniquely apart as its protagonist.

I received a free promotional copy and am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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The Hate Game: Screaming in the Silence—A Memoir
by Gary Trew (Goodreads Author)

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The title of Gary Trew's memoir, The Hate Game: Screaming in the Silence, as well as the short blurb (but not the longer description), implies a potential expose of a 1970s boys high school and a book of serial cruelty and hazing. While numerous inci The title of Gary Trew's memoir, The Hate Game: Screaming in the Silence, as well as the short blurb (but not the longer description), implies a potential expose of a 1970s boys high school and a book of serial cruelty and hazing. While numerous incidents are described in detail, they are generally frontloaded and in the end do not dominate the book.

However, the direct and indirect accumulated effects on the author from six years at The Knoll School (nicknamed Knollditz, after a WWII POW camp in Germany) are evident, during that time and beyond. It's hard to say which was more damaging, the toilet terrors perpetrated by the students (sometimes to the teachers) or its tolerance by the instructors and administrators. In particular the Nazi themed anti-Semitic substance of much of it.

School isn't the only source of angst for young Gary. His family has its own quirks. Unlike at Knoll, where warmth and kindness are rare, there's plenty of it in the Trew family, with Gary having a healthy adoration of his father. But that doesn't make the family, nor Gary himself, immune from difficulties such as illness and death. Never mind the roller coaster that can be adolescent life including sports, as a promising cricketer, and, of course, girls.

Throughout, the author's sometimes uncomfortable honesty (bordering on TMI) is admirable. A balance of serious and humorous anecdotes ensures it never gets overly maudlin or silly.

I suspect the skewed emphasis (hype?) of the school terrors influenced my

reading for the first half. Not necessarily inhibiting but distracting from—as in awaiting the next evil incident—the broader personal story those who know Gary personally would appreciate more.

This exhibits a particular challenge that I think comes with writing memoir: straddling a line of writing for one's own, or for outsiders, each choice potentially satisfying one at the risk of putting off the other. And perhaps another line between those familiar with the times and setting and those removed.

The Hate Game doesn't always succeed in maintaining a consistent perspective in this regard, until its latter stages. Then the accumulation of episodic chapters coalesces to show how the boyhood experiences manifest into an adult life, resulting in a heartfelt reflection that's personal but also universal.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

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Beneath the Wild Fig Tree
by Fiona Preston (Goodreads Author)

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More a 3.5

It can be difficult choosing a book to review but in this case the author had me at Tasmania. A fascinating place my wife and I spent a far too brief four days circling the island in an inadequate rental car, on a visit that still resonates More a 3.5

It can be difficult choosing a book to review but in this case the author had me at Tasmania. A fascinating place my wife and I spent a far too brief four days circling the island in an inadequate rental car, on a visit that still resonates with an urge to return. Which is only reinforced by the engaging descriptions provided by fictional memoirist Nicky, in the novel Beneath the Wild Fig Tree by Fiona Preston.

Nicky's working in a law office in Sydney in 2000 and is at the onset of a romantic breakup when she receives a package from Adelaide. It's from her mother, Freya, who's suffering from cancer. It contains the journal Nicky kept sixteen years earlier as a teenager, when her family lived for a spell on fictional Verloren Island, which lies in the Bass Strait separating Tasmania from mainland Australia.

For much of her childhood, Nicky's family had been moving about Australia, never establishing roots, until moving to Hobart. Nicky's parents, Wheeler—a teacher, musician, dreamer—and archaeologist Freya promise Nicky their wandering days are over. They stay in Hobart long enough for Nicky to acquire friends and a stable life, only for Wheeler to subsequently convince the family of three to uproot again to take residence on the remote Verloren Island.

Any protests are placated by an idyllic setting that observant, nature-loving Nicky captures in her journal with almost encyclopaedic depth. But Tasmania's wild beauty and an environment that enthrals cannot conceal the realities of a crumbling family, for various reasons that come to the surface. The symptoms and impacts of these troubles become clearly evident to the Nicky of 1984, who feels betrayed and loses her ability to trust.

Perhaps the nuances of the situations escaped the young girl. Which may be why, as an adult in 2000, she makes an effort to piece it all together. And ideally drum up the forgiveness to mend the damage before her mother passes away. Along with her journal, Nicky uses an increasingly revealing set of unanswered letters sent by her mother to Anneke, Nicky's aunt (very present in her absence), her father's personal notes, and present day exchanges.

In bridging the sixteen-year divide, Nicky prioritizes spending time with her mother, putting her current relationship and work on the backburner. This proves therapeutic for her in helping resolve these issues, for good or bad, with sadness and healing along the way.

In a sense, this is a memoir within a memoir that transitions between the pivotal events of 1984 in Tasmania her childhood and present day (2000) on the mainland. I found the 1984 parts in general more interesting; it's where the prose shines. It did take a while to get there in full, with conflicts unfolding gradually. But the pace is appropriate to establish Nicky's world amid nature's enchantment, before unveiling the messiness of humans and their secrets underneath.

I struggled a bit with the actions and motivations of the characters for their actions, particularly choices made in the past. I could buy actions but not necessarily motivations of Anneke, and the reverse for Freya who to me unfairly bears brunt of guilt for situations others put her in. It seemed the ending took a few shortcuts to ensure a neat wrap-up, contrasting the more meandering pace of what came before.

However, the vivid descriptions of nature are terrific. Not only on Tasmania, but the rest of Australia too. The assembling of the varying pieces—narration, memory, journals, letters, etc.—and the variety of sources is well conceived and clear. It facilitates the telling of a richer, fuller story of forgiveness and reconciliation than what a teen journal could do on its own.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ...more

Peter answered Ross MacKay's question:

Hi Peter, Ross from college days I hope you’re doing well. I retired in 2017 and it looks like you have semi-retired yourself. Never been better. if you remember my wife Gail, she is an avid reader and very much likes mysteries. If you can recommend one of your books, I will purchase one for her. Let me know?

Wow, Ross, how great to hear from you. Any reminder of that time at school (over 40 years ago!) always makes my day. Hope your retirement's going well. I gave up the IT world for writing long ago so in a sense I'll never retire.

I don't write straight See Full Answer

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Common Sense & Other Tales of Disillusionment
by A.J. Saxsma (Goodreads Author)

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I've read and reviewed two of AJ Saxma's novels before. One, A Giant Comes, is more a fantasy. The other, Be Not Afraid, while incorporating some magic realism, is as earthily realistic as it gets. His short story collection, Common Sense and Other D ...more

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	family Values really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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