Hard Fall

by James Buchanan

• ISBN10: 1934531812
• ISBN13: 9781934531815
• Publish Date: 13 February 2009
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: MLR Press LLC
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 228
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bookbee]

What a great read! The characters, particularly Joe, were nuanced and well-rounded. Joe's conflict between his religion and his being gay seemed real although my personal beliefs fall more in line with Kabe's. The church bishop's response to Joe and Kabe's relationship had my stomach twisted in sick and sour knots. And honestly, the thought of family having to choose between a loved one or the church just seems the antithesis of Christian fundamentals, IMHO. *grrrr*

There were two things I did have a bit of an issue with in the book. First, not being familiar with climbing terms and equipment, I found myself torn out of the story to search info on line so I knew what the heck was going on. But hey, I learned something new and that's never a bad thing! The second issue was Joe's dialect. I had a difficult time understanding the phrasing (since I live in an area where we don't have an accent or dialect!) ;) There were times I had to re-read a sentence or two and twist the words into different configurations until it became clear. *shrugs* Probably it's just me. :/ That being said, I still loved the book and am looking forward to reading the sequel!

ETA: ...and this evening I ran across This Picture-NSFW that just screamed KABE when I saw it! :D

[mitabird]

I felt that this book was very slow moving, though I did like the build-up between Joe and Kabe. They were both very likable characters. I felt bad for some of the things Joe had to face, but I thought he did a good job handling them. He had strong convictions and stood by them. I thought the story was boring for the most part though. I felt the author got way too technical and detailed concerning the mechanics of mountain climbing. The writing style was something that took a while to get used to as well. It wasn't a bad story, but not the greatest either.