Play Book Tag discussion

I was well into Hell of a Book and still wondering what the hell it was about. Was it going to gel into some kind of plot and message or was it just going to wander around drinking with an author named_______ and all of his Lisas or was it going to have both a plot and a theme so we could understand why it became the National Book Award winner?

Now at that point I did understand that it was both inventive and creative, we have a book called Hell of a Book about an author on a book tour for his book called Hell of a Book and there is a boy named Soot that only the author sees. So a little more about the author:

I’m sorry. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m an author. My name is ———. Maybe you’ve heard of me and maybe you haven’t, but you’ve probably heard of my book. It seems to be selling pretty well. It’s called Hell of a Book. And, according to the reviews, it’s a hell of a book.

The author has a unique psychological condition:
Basically, I’m a daydreamer. But my daydreams tend to persist longer and more intensely than most people’s do. At least, that’s what I’ve been told by every doctor I’ve ever seen. The end result of it is that reality is a very fluid thing in my world. It’s probably the reason I got into this whole writing thing to begin with.

So you have a Hell of a Book with an unreliable narrator, circling in an out of his life and Soot's life on a seemingly endless book tour. I'm thinking of leaving this tour, but then the author warns:

Anything worthwhile takes time. Maybe that’s what time is for: to give meaning to the things we do; to create a context in which we can linger in something until, finally, we have given it something invaluable, something that we can never get back: time. And once we’ve invested the most precious commodity that we will ever have, it suddenly has meaning and importance. So maybe time is just how we measure meaning. Maybe time is how we best measure love.

And so I hold out for a bit longer, it begins to gel, formulate and to mean something and I begin to appreciate its brilliance. I hope that you take a chance to find out or maybe not .

This is a great review. Thanks for posting. And thanks for taking the time to tell us about it. I love Jason Mott - he has not quite hit his peak yet but I will keep reading this black Southern boy's stuff because I do get most of it. Thanks again. peace, janz

This does sound like something that I will like. But your excellent review tells me that it is not a good book for me to try before the end of this year. Too many holiday distractions at the moment. It will still be there in 2022.

Jgrace - absolutely. That book is not going away and neither is Jason Mott. peace, janz

Peacejanz wrote: "Jgrace - absolutely. That book is not going away and neither is Jason Mott. peace, janz"

What else have you read by Jason Mott? I was unfamiliar with him when I read this.

I read one of his first books - in fact we got 12 of them for a book box for the library. It was made into a TV series but did not last long. Not enough to keep going. Either Returned or The Returned. I can not remember if there is a The in the title. It is like this book - maybe ok at first but then requires some thinking. I had to do some of my own family thinking before I answered you. What do you wish for? Do you want some friends and family members back? I read something else by him - good writing but did not stay with me. Good luck. peace, janz

Very nicely put, BnB! I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.