Review of And Throw Away The Skins
-
mphelp2
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 29 Jun 2019, 19:12
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 7
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mphelp2.html
- Latest Review: And Throw Away The Skins by Scott Archer Jones
Review of And Throw Away The Skins
[Following is a volunteer review of "And Throw Away The Skins" by Scott Archer Jones.]
After receiving a cancer diagnosis and undergoing aggressive chemotherapy and a double mastectomy to save her life, Rebecca “Bec” Robertson relocates to New Mexico for a fresh start. With her husband deployed in Afghanistan, she must face the challenges of her new life alone. The childhood home that she seeks refuge in is outdated and on the outskirts of society, and she must prepare for the impending harsh winter. Scott Archer Jones’ novel And Throw Away the Skins follows Bec while she navigates the new town, new friendships, and the group of army veterans that use her land to build their vet sanctuary.
I really enjoyed the voice of the story. I feel like the author did a great job with intimate and poignant meditations on life and death, and the prose was full of sensory details and rhetorical devices that moved the story along. I am always a little hesitant when it comes to female protagonists written by male authors, especially when dealing with subject matter like breast cancer. At first, I was a little put off by the author’s description of her lost breasts as it came off as something that felt physicalized and objectified. At one point she laments the loss of the feeling of them bouncing as she drives her truck and her husband becomes so repulsed by her surgery scars that he cannot even touch her anymore. As the story progressed, however, Jones did a fantastic job of sculpting out Bec’s character as something more than the tragedy of just her breast cancer. Ultimately, he carves out a strong, passionate voice for Bec and the way that she sees the world. I also absolutely loved the way that he utilized a flashback setup for his story-telling. If anything, I would suggest that he could have used even more flashbacks to build Bec’s story. Towards the end of the book I was a little worried that the reader would get no more flashback scenes as it had been a while since the last, but ultimately Jones delivered striking, heartbreaking revelations about the life of this character that just can’t seem to catch a break.,
Overall, I think he beautifully handled the subject of cancer and provided interesting and imaginative insights into the emotional and psychological state of a woman going through this issue, but it is slightly overshadowed by his intrinsic male gaze. One wonders what Jones gained from stringing this woman through these difficulties, and what the story might have been like had he chosen to flip the roles and write about a husband with cancer, for example. However, as far as writing believable, realistic, and autonomous characters, I think that Jones did an amazing job of making me feel for Bec and curious to see where her story would end up. I also really enjoyed the cast of characters he created in Bec’s world, and I feel like he did a good job of giving equal development to background characters, well enough to where I didn’t feel confused and lost among a pointless handful of plot-pushing characters. Underneath everything, I could tell that Jones was passionate about fleshing out his characters and giving them life, not just simply hashing out the same sob stories over and over again.
From a technical writing standpoint, Jones utilized an interesting mix of sentence structures that helped liven the tone of his narrative. However, there were some vignettes of scenes and groups of sentences that read like they belonged in a screenplay, or in scriptwriting. There are many instances of fragmented sentences that work artistically to communicate a certain relaxed and colloquial tone, simplistic and easy in its observation, that just sometimes become too fragmented and simply turn out to be incomplete sentences. This is a very nitpicky observation, though, and has more to do with my own personal preference in writing and reading, but definitely affected the tone of the overall narrative. I think this is a style that could possibly work better in a first-person point of view, and perhaps reimagining Bec’s story from her own voice would clear up any of that lingering male gaze that shadows the rest of the story.
Overall, I would rate this story 4 out of 4 stars for the author’s handling of such intimate and heartbreaking realities of the human condition. This story would be an excellent read for anyone who likes emotional stories that also provide intimate character study and development. Jones brings in a diverse and interesting cast of characters, all with their own unique voices, and I think that a large audience could find some kind of connection with at least one of the characters in the story. I loved getting insight into Bec’s personal thoughts and emotions, and felt drawn to her as she tried to find her way through all of the ups and downs her new life brought to her.
******
And Throw Away The Skins
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
After receiving a cancer diagnosis and undergoing aggressive chemotherapy and a double mastectomy to save her life, Rebecca “Bec” Robertson relocates to New Mexico for a fresh start. With her husband deployed in Afghanistan, she must face the challenges of her new life alone. The childhood home that she seeks refuge in is outdated and on the outskirts of society, and she must prepare for the impending harsh winter. Scott Archer Jones’ novel And Throw Away the Skins follows Bec while she navigates the new town, new friendships, and the group of army veterans that use her land to build their vet sanctuary.
I really enjoyed the voice of the story. I feel like the author did a great job with intimate and poignant meditations on life and death, and the prose was full of sensory details and rhetorical devices that moved the story along. I am always a little hesitant when it comes to female protagonists written by male authors, especially when dealing with subject matter like breast cancer. At first, I was a little put off by the author’s description of her lost breasts as it came off as something that felt physicalized and objectified. At one point she laments the loss of the feeling of them bouncing as she drives her truck and her husband becomes so repulsed by her surgery scars that he cannot even touch her anymore. As the story progressed, however, Jones did a fantastic job of sculpting out Bec’s character as something more than the tragedy of just her breast cancer. Ultimately, he carves out a strong, passionate voice for Bec and the way that she sees the world. I also absolutely loved the way that he utilized a flashback setup for his story-telling. If anything, I would suggest that he could have used even more flashbacks to build Bec’s story. Towards the end of the book I was a little worried that the reader would get no more flashback scenes as it had been a while since the last, but ultimately Jones delivered striking, heartbreaking revelations about the life of this character that just can’t seem to catch a break.,
Overall, I think he beautifully handled the subject of cancer and provided interesting and imaginative insights into the emotional and psychological state of a woman going through this issue, but it is slightly overshadowed by his intrinsic male gaze. One wonders what Jones gained from stringing this woman through these difficulties, and what the story might have been like had he chosen to flip the roles and write about a husband with cancer, for example. However, as far as writing believable, realistic, and autonomous characters, I think that Jones did an amazing job of making me feel for Bec and curious to see where her story would end up. I also really enjoyed the cast of characters he created in Bec’s world, and I feel like he did a good job of giving equal development to background characters, well enough to where I didn’t feel confused and lost among a pointless handful of plot-pushing characters. Underneath everything, I could tell that Jones was passionate about fleshing out his characters and giving them life, not just simply hashing out the same sob stories over and over again.
From a technical writing standpoint, Jones utilized an interesting mix of sentence structures that helped liven the tone of his narrative. However, there were some vignettes of scenes and groups of sentences that read like they belonged in a screenplay, or in scriptwriting. There are many instances of fragmented sentences that work artistically to communicate a certain relaxed and colloquial tone, simplistic and easy in its observation, that just sometimes become too fragmented and simply turn out to be incomplete sentences. This is a very nitpicky observation, though, and has more to do with my own personal preference in writing and reading, but definitely affected the tone of the overall narrative. I think this is a style that could possibly work better in a first-person point of view, and perhaps reimagining Bec’s story from her own voice would clear up any of that lingering male gaze that shadows the rest of the story.
Overall, I would rate this story 4 out of 4 stars for the author’s handling of such intimate and heartbreaking realities of the human condition. This story would be an excellent read for anyone who likes emotional stories that also provide intimate character study and development. Jones brings in a diverse and interesting cast of characters, all with their own unique voices, and I think that a large audience could find some kind of connection with at least one of the characters in the story. I loved getting insight into Bec’s personal thoughts and emotions, and felt drawn to her as she tried to find her way through all of the ups and downs her new life brought to her.
******
And Throw Away The Skins
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Latest Review: And Throw Away The Skins by Scott Archer Jones
