Setting Free the Kites
It's 1977 and Robert Carter's father owns the amusement park that is also one of his Maine town's biggest source of employment and crucial tourist dollars. It doesn't make life easier for him though, far from it. His parents are so preoccupied with the park and with caring for his older brother they don't notice him much. Then Nathan Tilly rescues him from a bully and his whole life changes.
'Setting Free the Kites' will be released soon so I don't want to give away too much about the story, but I can tell you it's highly readable and is worth all three of those stars. However, I can't help myself, I've gotta say it, Alex George was reaching for the brass ring of 'Great American Novel' too hard with this. He even makes a defense for himself by making the power of pulpy high-emotion storytelling as a integral part of the narrative, I've gotta respect that, but as readable as the book is, it didn't rise above the herd for me.
The comparison I kept making was to 'The Prince of Tides', Pat Conroy's epic about Tom Wingo's growing up on the North Carolina seacoast, his family history, and the tragedy that consumed his brother and sister set against the backdrop of the 1960s. High drama and improbable circumstances help make a novel memorable, but in the wrong hands come across as more farce than literature. Much of the tragedy in 'Setting Free the Kites' came across as funny, which if it was meant to...isn't funny. With that in mind I ended the novel not feeling much of anything.
