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"College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Iverson is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl's conviction. But by the time Joe discovers the truth, it is too late to escape the fallout"--… (more)
tangledthread: similar story line: young journalism major takes on an outsized task. Upper midwest setting. Sympathetic characters with heavy doses of dysfunction.
Not a fast-paced, page turner, but it didn’t drag; a good Saturday afternoon read. While I thought parts of it were predictable, there was an, “I didn’t see that coming” moment. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would try another of Allen Eskens’ titles. The narration was also good. ( )
outstandingly well organized and plotted for a first novel. Held interest, characterization was good. I was a bit put off by the sheer volume of rape in this book. Knew that the initial victim was raped. Stop reading here if you haven't read book yet and are for some reason looking at this. The convicted murderer turns out to have witnessed a series of rapes. One could argue that this is necessary to the plot as it illuminates why he behaves the way he does. Having the next door neighbor to the protagonist also be a rape victim was laying it on a bi thick. I'm thinking this is a mistake of someone writing their first novel and feeling every character needs a "twist," so I'll probably give him another try ( )
I had received this book a while ago and put it aside. While it sounded interesting, I wasn't quite ready to read it yet. Recently, a friend had read it and she gave it a great review so I decided to give it a try. I should have read this sooner!
This book is about Joe Talbert, a University of Minnesota student who is assigned to write a biography of someone who has lived an interesting life. Joe chooses to write his biography about a man (Carl Iverson) who is in a nursing home after being medically paroled from prison where he had been serving time for thirty years for the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl. Carl agrees to tell Joe his story - he says it will be a "dying declaration". A story where Carl vehemently denies any involvement with the murder.
During the course of writing the paper, Joe meets another student, Lila, who lives in his apartment building. She gets drawn into the story and starts to help Joe. Also, during this time, Joe has problems arising with his mom and autistic brother that he has to deal with. As Joe and Lila dig deeper and deeper into this mystery, they discover that they need to enlist the help of the police.
It is a relatively quick read, it flows nicely but keeps the suspense. I definitely recommend this book. ( )
Joe is in college and must interview an elderly person for his English class. He visits a nursing home to request access to a patient. They assign him Carl Iverson, a convicted murderer, who was released from prison as he is dying from cancer. Joe interviews Carl, and Carl's friend, Virgil, swears that Carl didn't do it. Along with his apartment neighbor, Lila Nash, and his autistic brother, Jeremy, they attempt to investigate the crime, putting themselves all in danger. I loved the impetuousness of Joe, and his dedication to justice. I look forward to reading more of the series. ( )
I dedicate this novel to my wife, Joely, my most trusted advisor and best friend. I also dedicate this novel to my daughter, Mikayla, for her constant inspiration and to my parents, Pat and Bill Eskens, for their many lessons in life.
First words
I remember being pestered by a sense of dread as I walked to my car that day, pressed down by a wave of foreboding that swirled around my head and broke against the evening in small ripples. There are people in this world who would call that kind of feeling a premonition, a warning from some internal third eye that can see around the curve of time.
Quotations
Oddly enough, my high-school guidance counselor never mentioned the word “college” in any of our meetings. Maybe she could smell the funk of hopelessness that clung to my second-hand clothing. Maybe she had heard that I started working at a dive bar called the Piedmont Club the day after I turned eighteen. Or – and this is where I’d place my bet – maybe she knew who my mother was and figured that no one can change the sound of an echo.
That all changed the day my Grandpa Bill died. A feral restlessness descended upon our little trio that day, as though his death severed the one tether that gave my mother stability. After his death she let go of what little restraint she possessed and simply floated on the wave of her moods. She cried more, yelled more, and lashed out whenever the world overwhelmed her. She seemed determined to find the darker edges of her life and embrace them as some kind of new normal.
I needed to feed my delusion that I was not my brother’s keeper, that such a duty fell to our mother. I needed a place where I could store Jeremy’s life, his car, a box that I could shut tight and tell myself it was where Jeremy belonged – even if I knew, deep down, that it was all a lie. I needed that thin plausibility to ease my conscience.
Carl chuckled. "Well, there's that," he said. "But it also means that this is our heaven. We are surrounded every day by the wonders of life, wonders beyond comprehension that we simply take for granted. I decided that day that I would live my life -not simply exist. If I died and discovered heaven on the other side, well, that'd be just fine and dandy. But if I didn't live my life as if I was already in heaven, and I died and found only nothingness, well...I would have wasted my life. I would of have wasted my one chance in all of history to be alive."
I pulled a thread of spaghetti from the boiling water and threw it at the refrigerator. It bounced off the fridge door and fell to the floor. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, looking at the noodle on the floor. ”Testing the spaghetti,” I said, glad to be on a different topic. ”By flinging it around the kitchen?”“If it sticks to the refrigerator, it’s done.”
A Note to the Reader ...there is no greater support you can give a debut author than your word-of-mouth recommendation.
Last words
I drew in a breath of crisp December air and stood perfectly still, savoring the feel, the sound, and the smell of the world around me, sensations that would have passed by me unnoticed had I never met Carl Iverson.
"College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Iverson is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl's conviction. But by the time Joe discovers the truth, it is too late to escape the fallout"--
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Book description
College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, a dying Vietnam veteran - and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, Carl has been medically paroled to a nursing home after spending thirty years in prison for the crime of rape and murder.
As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. With the help of Lila, his skeptical neighbor, Joe throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory.
Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl's conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it's too late to escape the fallout?
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