(Note: If you have a Kindle, this book is listed as FREE on Amazon until 9/1. Don’t wait to download!)
Raising Jake is a story about a divorced father (Sammy), his 17-year old son (Jake), and their weekend adventure, which changes the course of their lives, and those of the characters they encounter. At the beginning of the story, Sammy is a rather lost, working as a rewriter at the New York Star, not liking his job but feeling trapped by his financial responsibilities—including sending his son to a private school. A phone call from the school one Friday puts the plot in motion as father and son struggle to learn more about each other and their respective childhoods.
The writing is excellent, as is the pacing of the story. The majority of the time, the characters seemed very real, only twice did I find scenes to be a little too over the top…one with Sammy, Danny, and Jake, when they expressed some very deep and seemingly out of character emotions, and the second was toward the end of the book with a flashback conversation between Jake, his mother, and Sammy when Jake was 5. The dialogue seemed too mature and insightful for a 5-year-old (or at least the ones I’ve known). And frankly, you need a pretty healthy suspension of disbelief for all the characters Sammy and Jake meet over their fateful weekend.
Those items mentioned, the book is still excellent. I found the flashbacks added to the book rather than distracting from it. The characters had enough character flaws that they were believable, and the author kept me engaged with the pacing of the action and the unfolding of the stories of the characters’ lives. An important lesson from this book is that it’s never too late to heal from the past and move on.
Carillo is a gifted storyteller and I hope to read more titles by him. Read Raising Jake. It’s time well-spent.
This discussion came up with a prospect recently when there was a misunderstanding that when I said I do (selected) book reviews for free, that should not be confused with doing manuscript reviews and content editing for free.
Book reviews are something I do on my own time, for fun, to keep up with what’s currently being written. I review books I either buy on my own, or that an author offers to me to review and I’m interested in reading. I post them on my blog and on Amazon, noting my emotional reaction to the book, the writing style, plot, characterization, info conveyed, etc. They are a couple paragraphs at most. I also understand, as an author, how important book reviews can be to the buying public. This is not a service to my clients, so I obviously don’t charge for it, but it is related to my profession so I post my book reviews on my blog.
Manuscript reviews are not to be confused with book reviews. They are much more in-depth. These are for unfinished books where the author is aware that he needs a professional assessment of the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses before making final revisions. A manuscript review usually addresses sweeping issues with the book including, (in a novel, for example) characterization, plot, tone, grammar/usage, etc. In my business, clients are delivered a written manuscript review of several pages. In my business, this service ranges from a couple to a few hundred dollars, depending on the length of the book.
Content editing is even more in-depth than a manuscript review. Here, all the sweeping issues are addressed, but also includes a more detailed analysis addressing (chapter by chapter and paragraph by paragraph) areas that need to be expanded, eliminated, tightened, clarified, etc. I do these in Track Changes so the author can see all my notes as they read along, and make the judgment whether or not they want to make changes. In my business, this service starts at several hundred dollars and goes up based on the length, topic of book, and how much work is anticipated. Generally this requires 2-3 read-through’s and the price reflects that.
Something to add? Comments are on (though moderated and checked daily).
That, Which, or Who?
If you are referring to people, use who instead of that:
Correct: John Smith, the book editor who corrected all the mistakes in the 97,000 word book, received a nice mention in the author’s acknowledgements.
Incorrect: John Smith, the book editor that corrected all the mistakes in the 97,000 word book, received a nice mention in the author’s acknowledgements.
Use that instead of which with restrictive clauses.
Correct: This is the rule that people that people break most often.
Incorrect: This is the rule which people break most often.
Use which instead of that for non-restrictive clauses.
Correct: This is the correct rule, which many people overlook.
Incorrect: This is the correct rule, that many people overlook.
Quick tip: If a comma seems appropriate in the sentence, “which” is likely the correct word to use.
Need more editing and writing tips? Check out my co-authored book, Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like the Pros. Want copies for your organization or Writers Group? Email me directly (Lauren at HiddenHelper dot com) for bulk purchasing discounts.
Patricia Volonakis Davis has graciously offered to donate a copy of her book, “Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece” to one of my lucky blog readers. (See my book review here). Since book reviews are so helpful to authors, I’d request that the “winner” of this book (after reading it, of course!) post a review to their own blog, Amazon, social networking site, or any other appropriate book review site of their choosing. Here are the details:
1. Entries are taken until Noon (Eastern, U.S.), Friday, September 11, 2009
2. To enter, just give me a comment on this post and include your email address (spell it out if you want) or provide another way for me to contact you.
3. I (or one of my family members) will randomly pick an entrant’s name from a hat.
4. Sorry, U.S. residents only. Now open to interested contestants worldwide. Thanks, Patricia!
5. BONUS! If you want an additional chance(s) to win, please place a link to this post on your own blog, Twitter about it, talk about it on FaceBook – talk about it somewhere else anyway – pointing out the contest and interview. Make sure to place another comment below with a link.
Good Luck!!
A friend who is always on the lookout for freebie Kindle books alerted me to this one, so I figured I’d give it a try. The Brass Bed certainly wasn’t a book I’d ordinarily buy as I’m not usually a fantasy fan, but I did find it interesting. Though the premise of the sex demon trapped in a brass bed was far-out, the author did a good job of suspending disbelief with that story theme. I’m not sure if the theme of magic in the physical setting added to the book or detracted from the odd-enough-already theme of Randy (the sex demon), Clay (the con man) and Jewel (the slutty cop). I enjoyed the characters, I thought the book was well written and kept my attention, and wasn’t over-the-top with the graphic scenes despite the subject matter.
The “pink stuff” was very confusing to me at first, as well as the theme of magic being prohibited in the town, what happened in Pittsburgh, and the “hinky” stuff. The pigeons with their nicotine addictions were amusing, as well as the genie in the bottle granting wishes. To be fair, I don’t read many novels that deal with these themes! The ending fell a little flat for me. I didn’t get a clear picture of the resolution to the story and it left me hanging a bit.
Overall, I think this is worth the read. The story will definitely stay on my mind for a while and I like the author’s writing style! I’ll keep my eyes open for her future work.
Here’s my latest book review. Stay tuned for a contest announcement to give you the opportunity to win a free copy of the book!
Book Review: Harlot’s Sauce:
A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece by Patricia Volonakis Davis
Too many memoirs have a very self-indulgent feel to them—a very “woe is me” tone. Harlot’s Sauce is not one of them. It is well-written, easy to read, and has a knack for sinking you into the physical setting of where the story is taking place—from New York to Greece. In addition to being entertained, I felt like I got a taste of Greek life beyond what you experience at a local Greek festival!
I especially liked the explanation in the beginning of the book of a “hyphen-American.” Though I’ve known people who fit that category, it was always a perplexing phenomenon to me until now! It’s also an important precursor to understanding some of the motivations of the central “characters” in the book.
The “Explanations and Apologies” chapter at the end of the book (similar to an epilogue) expressed candor unlike what I’ve seen before and also answered one of my troubling questions that stayed on my mind as I read the book: How did Nick feel about how his father and other relatives were portrayed? At times I wondered if truth or anger was influencing how the characters came across. The flip side of that is that this book didn’t feel whitewashed for fear of angering people!
Patricia moved from being rather dependent to rather independent, and I was impressed to see her inner strength emerge through her various trials. I wonder how Patricia is doing now, how her second marriage is different from her first, and where her career took her after returning to the U.S. I’d also like to know how Nick fared as an adult, after his somewhat non-traditional childhood. I hope there will be a sequel.
This is definitely worth the read! I finished it in two days.