Robert Henry Benson

Realizing I had a few minutes between chores, I sat down to read A Small Tree in a Texas Hurricane (Robert Henry Benson) for what I thought would be a quick break. One hundred pages later, I forced myself to stop. This is a wowzer of a book, written compellingly with intricacy of description and so action-packed that it takes your breath away. Robert Henry Benson grew up in rural areas of Texas and was victim to the whims of a vicious father, poverty and a learning disability that caused him show more to fail two grades and leave high school at an early age. It is a wondrous story that he tells, shot through with sentence gems such as “The truth is that my mind stacks episodes until they feel like a wall,” and “Memory rides the senses, and scents have always been the strongest guides into the past.” His prose is often poetic and dialogue is vivid, as in this scene when his father castigates him for his fear at riding an enraged bull in a rodeo arena: “You sure as hell are going to climb up on that chute and get on his back….What do you want? To grow up and be a sniveling girly pussy boy and acting like some faggy queer?” The sturm und drang of his life doesn’t stop when he becomes an adult; however, the intensity shifts to his pursuit of education and a doctorate in Physics. The concern felt by the reader for the unhappiness of the boy and young man transitions to eagerness that he surmount the obstacles to achieve the success he well deserves. Read it if you enjoy supporting the underdog who faces innumerable challenges that cannot deter him from his goal. Highly recommended. show less

What attracted me to The Scarlet Kingfisher by Robert Henry Benson was the beautiful cover. I am definitely a bird lover. I have always enjoyed bird watching. Also, I get very excited by seeing not so common birds. So when I saw the cover I wondered, a red kingfisher?

I did enjoy reading about an area of Texas that I am not familiar with. I did not how quirky the customs of Texas A & M were. Also, it is exciting to finally have a mystery that involves birds and ornithologists. I enjoyed the show more details of all the birds in this book.

This book is a quick and easy read and the pace was good. This book introduces the world of exotic species poaching, in this case, birds. I must say that there is violence against birds that I was not prepared for. Although it did not sit well at all with me I realize that this is happening in the real world. This is a frightening underworld activity. One of the worst consequences is the possible extinction of a species and this book touches on that.

There is a mystery and some criminals but what I got out of this book was more of an awareness of the vulnerability of birds. The main character, Dr. Beach O’Neill was hard for me to like at first because of his overwhelming ambition and I wondered how his girlfriend, Rebecca Schroeder could deal with that. I think that the author could have relied less upon the third person.

I received this Advance Reading Copy from the publishers as a win from FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review. show less

This book follows the author’s life from a brutal childhood in 1950s rural Texas through numerous fits and starts to his eventual career in academia. It’s not always an easy read but the author’s resilience kept me reading. My favorite section was the author’s description of dragging around computer programs on batches of punch cards and hoping they would run. It brought me back to my own college days.

A Small Tree in a Texas Hurricane: A Memoir was an awesome story! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It was entertaining, refreshing and fun. I loved the memories and how thoughtful the author was in relaying his memories. The roadblocks the author faced gives new meaning to how to overcome adversity. I highly recommend this book to others. A great summer read!