Justin Kramon

http://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/finny-justin-kramon/

To summarize Finny like any other book, would be to cheat it of so much of the praise and depth it deserves. In short, it is an epic telling of friends and family, through several decades, as each discover loss and love and longing.

Our heroine, Delphine Short, or Finny for, um, short, is hands down, one of my favorite written characters in my history of reading books. Perhaps it isn’t her, at all, but, rather, the other show more people painted around her that build her up to be such an incredible force. The strange thing is that the characters aren’t so much likable as they are honest. Justin Kramon’s understanding of the normalcy of oddness is what drives this book, endearing to the reader all of the quirky strangeness that we, as people, live and breathe, every day.

I hate to compare the book to Irving because I feel like I’ve done that recently. In a way, it rings true, though. Both Irving and Kramon have a succinct way of capturing the absurd in the completely mundane. Their magic, I think, is in piecing out catastrophic events that leave us underwhelmed and laughing at the banal details that leave us weeping or earth shatteringly down and out. The emotional impact of everyday events seems to follow the actual pattern of human reaction rather than the wrote and prescribed theory of “how it should be”.

I was happily surprised, in retrospect, to see that this had received such high praise from the media and other bloggers. I thought that, for sure, this would be a cult classic or a book that I would end up enjoying all by myself. In addition to ringing true, it seems to have also transcended reader barriers and appealed to myriad tastes.

A beautiful piece, for sure, this is one I will be treasuring and passing a long, without a doubt. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. If you have read it, I suggest a rereading. show less

Irrepressible Finny Short is just fourteen when she meets Earl Henkl in the fields surrounding her home. Finny, a precocious young woman with an oddly endearing family, finds herself liking Earl right from the start. The two soon form a close attachment and Finny, longing to be close to Earl, begins sneaking away from the house to spend time with the boy from the woods. When Finny's eccentric parents discover that she has been misleading them and sneaking off with a boy, they pack her up and show more ship her away to Thornton, a boarding school far from home. There Finny meets the beautiful and confident Judith, a girl who is adored by all but who also has a compulsive need for danger and excitement. She also meets Poplan, an older woman who will come to be a very important part of her life. As Finny matures, she is hit by several unexpected circumstances, one of them being the fact that she and Earl have such great distance between them, which continually severs their connection. She is also hit by devastating family issues and unpleasant situations with Judith, as well as the more normal and everyday occurrences that hasten her maturity. As Finny navigates her life amid the heartache of her relationship with Earl and the myriad betrayals of Judith, she learns to stand on her own two feet and creates a life for herself. Finny learns that to navigate the world, sometimes you just have to let go and go with it. Populated with outrageous and wonderful characters, Finny is the tale of a young woman's journey through life and of the love and longing that follows her everywhere.

Lately I've been enjoying coming-of-age stories. I've read quite a few in the last year but most of them have told the stories from the point of view of someone from times past or from foreign shores. I haven't read many that deal with a modern day American protagonist and I am happy to report that Finny fits that bill exactly. I wasn't sure what I would be getting with this book but to my surprise there was a lot that brought on nostalgia for me. Reading the book filled me with mixed emotions because I felt I could really understand Finny and her counterparts and the struggles they went through.

I have to admit that although Finny was the main focus of the story, the real stars of the show were the secondary characters. They were odd, eccentric and laugh out loud funny. Whenever I read about someone new entering the story, I immediately became alert to them, knowing that Kramon was going to do his best to make them stand out. From the couple who runs the funeral home to Earl's father to Poplan herself, these characters had a true breath of life in them and it was so interesting to read about them and all their idiosyncrasies. This supporting cast did not disappoint, and kept me thoroughly entertained throughout the story. These were characters reminiscent of some of Dicken's best and I think that's one of the reasons that I responded so gleefully towards them.

It actually took some time for me to feel an affinity for Finny. At first I found her very precocious. It might be because I have teenagers around the house that are this age, but I felt she had a smart mouth and was disrespectful to her parents. Though I had problems relating to her during these sections, she was remarkably similar to the teenagers that I have known in real life, making her a realistic, if frustrating, character. Later, when Finny began to mature and life began to have its way with her, I felt much closer to her because I thought that her trials humanized and matured her. She went from a bratty kid to a sensitive woman in a believable way. She seemed to start to change after leaving boarding school and became more considerate, less brash and more thoughtful. As she grew older I felt I liked her more, which I think is a great testament to the author's ability to create a multifaceted character who manifests growth and maturity as the story progresses. After a rough start, Finny and I ended up getting along quite nicely.

This is really a beautiful story of a girl growing up and it takes its readers on a journey from her youthful days of silliness to the more gravity filled days of her adulthood. What I found along the way was a moving story about love and compromise, not only in Finny's relationship with Earl, but really, with her relationship with all the people in her life. Whereas the youthful Finny could be pushy and opinionated, the older Finny was able to see the moral inbetweens of the circumstances her friends and family put her in. She became a remarkably forgiving and generous person, capable of true acts of altruism, which surprised me because the Finny of old might have never considered acting this way. She was also mostly an optimist, which was refreshing because in most coming-of-age stories I have read lately, things inevitably begin to take a darker turn during and after adolescence. In Finny was the capacity to be gentle, both with herself and others, and this most surprised me in her gentleness towards those who had done her wrong.

I also wanted to talk a little about Judith. For me, Judith was the character who I had the most complex feelings toward. Aside from the fact that she embellished the circumstances of her life so eagerly, Judith had a way of trampling over everyone and dominating every person in the story. I think Kramon did a great job making her three-dimensional and at times likable, but she just rubbed me the wrong way for most of the novel. I felt that she was beneath Finny and that Finny should have stayed away from her because she had the capacity for making messes in everyone's lives, including her own. I actually had a friend like Judith at one time and I had a hard time separating her from the character. Leaving her behind was very painful, and at times I still regret doing that, but by watching Finny's continual friendship with Judith, I realized some things about myself and how that friendship would have played out in my life.

This was a book that I truly enjoyed for several reasons and once I let myself be immersed in the story, I found I couldn't stop reading. It's a great coming-of-age story that wonderfully melds the themes of love, loss and forgiveness. Kramon has an unusual talent for sprinkling his tale with the kinds of characters that people love to read about. I think this book would be great for those who enjoy the coming-of-age genre and have been looking for something that deals with the believable heartaches and joys of a modern, American girl. I'd love to see what Kramon does in the future and will be keeping an eye out for his name on the spines. Recommended! show less

There are times I read a novel and muse upon whether I should try and become an author myself as what was served up to me as sure fire literary goodness turned out to be yesterdays leftovers. Then there are times that I just have to hold my hands up in submission and face the fact that I could never write a novel as wonderful as the one I just digested. 'Finny' falls into the latter category and is an absolute treat that will leave your literary craving well and truly satisfied.
I have to show more admit that I was a little worried about receiving this novel as the book cover wasn't exactly calling my name, the book synopsis wasn't beyond the ordinary and I envisioned myself slating this novel as a waste of paper and effort. However, I need not have worried as 'Finny' is story telling at its finest with a captivating main character who will live long in the memory.
The actual narrative in this novel reminded me very much of Stephen King in those novels/novellas he based in the past such as 'The Body', 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Green Mile'. It just had that certain charm and innocence, that King also portrayed, which immediately drew me in and wouldn't let me go.
I do believe this is Justin Kramon's first novel and inside the book he is described as, "...a talented and excitingly original new literary voice." If 'Finny' is anything to go by then I really couldn't agree more. show less

The basics: Julia, a first-year student at a small Pennsylvania College, is recovering from tragedy. Sam, a loner who works at the college and harbors a fascination with Julia, is struggling to come to terms with turning forty. Marcus, a fellow first-year student, seems to have secrets of his own, as well as a fascination with Julia.

My thoughts: Everybody seemed to rave about Finny, Justin Kramon's debut novel I somehow never got around to reading. When I heard he wrote a thriller for his show more second book, I was intrigued. When I began the novel, I was enchanted. Kramon succinctly and beautifully described characters as he introduced them, and as characters observed one another. The stage was set for a creepy, literary novel, and this time of year is perfect.

Unfortunately, the novel soon began to flounder for me. The well-described characters soon began acting more like fictional characters than believable people. Kramon seemed to be letting intrigue drive the story rather than characters. There were too many obvious tropes and too few characters to shoulder their burden. Soon before the reveal, there were a few too many red herrings that detracted from the overall creepiness. (And unless I missed something, there was one glaring red herring left unexplained that frustrates me.) Once Kramon confirmed my suspicions, the novel was more intriguing, but I'd stop short of calling it a true thriller. Despite its flaws, I enjoyed the novel enough to read it in two sittings. I was always engaged with it, but too often I found myself pondering Kramon's motivations rather than being swept away by the story and characters.

Favorite passage: "What do you write?" "Just stories. Some of them are things that happened to me. Some are things I made up. There's so much to write about in the world."

The verdict: Kramon thoroughly demonstrates a talent for describing characters, world building and constructing sentences. Unfortunately, the plot falls flat due its unsurprising twists. While readers who haven't read many psychological thrillers may be surprised, too many of the twists were too easily figured out to satisfy me. Kramon did, however, make me a fan of his writing, and while I wait for his next novel, I'll finally take the time to read Finny. show less