This was a really great read. It was depressing, sure, but I don't mind that. I enjoyed many aspects of this novel-it was the small things that kept me interested. For one thing, I just liked that Katie was an artist and that C.J. had inherited her passion and talent for art. I enjoy reading about artistic people or families. It's small details like that which can really make a book enjoyable for me, even if the story line isn't something I typically delve into.

I read this book for the characters. I genuinely liked Katie, flaws and all, and I found her to be incredibly interesting. I liked C.J. just because he came across as so real. His character was very well-written, though his violent tendencies were sometimes disturbing and I thought they were more troublesome than Katie's alcohol problem. Katie is the mother, however, so I can see why her problem needed to be addressed more so than C.J.'s.

My one criticism of the book is how late the flashbacks between Katie and Craig came into the story. For the first half of the book, I was really curious about Katie and Craig's past, especially after the first flashback of them meeting each other for the first time at the ski resort. However, once I was nearing the end, I was very caught up in Katie's present story, so when the flashbacks of Craig started coming into the story more frequently at that time, I just found those chapters to be distracting and I was impatient to get back to the present moment. I wouldn't want those scenes to be taken out completely, but I would have enjoyed them more at the begining of the book.

All in all, I thought this was an engaging read and I'd like to check out some of Michael Schiavone's short stories now too.

*This was a first-reads win from Goodreads* ( )

Book Title: "Call Me When You Land"
Author: Michael Schiavone
Published By: The Permanent Press
Age Recommended: 18 +
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

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Review: I was captured by this book and propelled forward from the very start. The story is one familiar to a lot of us, a mother with a teenage son, whose father has disappeared with the desire to chase his own dreams and never once looking back. The story touched me so deeply because I knew this story, though my own story never carried out to the complete detail this one did, I was a 23 year old with a child and it made me wonder how it would have been for me had my own daughter lived to see her teenage years.

Katie goes through so much emotional heartache, trying hard to raise her son, C.J. with respect and longs to be a part of his life. When she realizes suddenly that she is losing him to puberty, growing up, and life in general she is tossed into her own midlife crisis much earlier than many of us are. Seeking advice and solace from an uncle that lives in the home with them, she begins to turn to alcohol to replace some of what she feels she has lost with her son. She is a painter, a wonderful artist that captures her emotions on the canvas with such clarity you can see the story of her life unfold as you catch a glimpse of her work in your mind.

Michael Schiavone has woven a tale of truth and the human condition, what it’s like to be an unwed mother trying so hard to find the place she belongs, just some sort of niche she can fill in her son’s life and when his father dies leaving him a motorcycle she realizes at last the only thing she can do is allow him to go, and find himself first.

Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board... ( )

Call Me When You Land by Michael Schiavone tells the story of a family struggling to understand their past to move to a better future. At least a future different and more satisfying than their past. Each character carries "baggage" which prevents any progression for them to function better. A main cahracter, Katie, tries to be an artist, but is at an impasse not able to find new directions for her art. She works as a waitress/bartender in a local joint without any satisfaction. Her life isn't dreary enough we find her childhood and young adult years to be barren of love and caring. Her father lacked compassion or caring for his daughters and her mother was mentally ill and used alcohol as a self-medication. Katie marries a man who himself lived an abusive childhood and leaves his wife and child "with both agreeing upon it'" She has a relationship of sorts with a wrestling coach who gets her pregnant, but leaves for Oregon with another woman who is leaving her children and husband behind. Katie's son, C.J., struggles with who he is, who his father is and where he fits in the world. Walter, retired physician and uncle to Katie, is dying from terminal cancer and is slowly wasting away in Katie's home. An older sister of Katie, Caroline, is the opposite of Katie - organized, successful and contolling everyone about her. Into this mix a motocycle is delivered to the house. A motorcycle from Greg, who is deceased.

From that point on each character must resolve the conflict evident in their life to move beyond the present stalmates; Katie wants to be an artist, drinks too much and lives in a dead-end job; Katie conflicts with C.J.; Walter with his disease; C.J with who he really is and where his father disappeared. Katie and Caroline bristle over their vacant choldhoods. The end brings a feeling of at least two, Katie and C.J. moving towards a life they want to live rather than a life forced upon them. Walter dies and Caroline and Katie resolve some of their frustrations.

I had a difficult time becoming involed with the story, it is very unlike my experience. However, as the characters became more familier and the events and people who effected their lives becomes evident I found myself pulled into the story. The changes from present to past were not a problem for me, but the sensation at the end of how they were going to do was positive, but also ambiguous - as life often is. Just as the title Call Me When You Land implies. I enjoyed this book and give it a 3.5 stars ( )

I received this book as an ARC review. I like reading first novels from writers, which is why I was interested in this one. Schiavone had written several short stories, with this being his first novel. You can find out more about him at his website http://www.michaelschiavone.com/.

This story was raw, emotional, and heart-breaking. It was kind-of like driving by a car accident, you shouldn't watch, but you can't look away. The pain Katie and C.J. were going through in this novel was tough to read and yet, you had to keep reading. I appreciate that the author took the reader to those ugly places and didn't try to clean up every situation. Life isn't always pretty and neat and Katie's life certainly wasn't. For him to turn her life around and make everything great would have been wrong. The novel frequently moves back and forth from the past to the present and at times it was confusing as to the time period the novel was in. But, finding out the past made the characters all the more compelling.

Katie, as a single mom, didn't always make the best or right choices for her and C.J., but I understood her fear, her pain, and her need to make things right with her son, with herself, and with her past. Even though she was spinning out of control, I was rooting for her all the way through the book.

This isn't a happy, feel good story, but it is a real story of life and death, of parenting even when it isn't easy, and of redemption. I think Michael Schiavone is on to something and I look forward to more of his work. ( )

Call Me When You Land was alright. The characters weren't fully realized, but it was better than many other books available at the newstand. If you've interest in alcoholism, you could do worse than read this book.