Blog Post 3 -- Review of Free Pick
Topic -- for Blog Post 3 you will be reviewing your free pick book choice. Inform your readers of what you have read and what you thought of it. Give your personal response, make a recommendation as to the type of reader who might like it, tell of its unique qualities, don't reveal any spoilers, compare the book to others like it.
Participle Practice-- Include 2 introductory participial phrases.
Big Lies in a Small Town
This book has been sitting in my “To Read” pile next to my bed since the holidays. I had purchased it in hard copy form after it appeared in a recommendation pop up on Amazon. Looking for a book to read this past weekend and wanting to avoid screens, I decided that Big Lies in a Small Town would be my first read for Readers’ Choice 2021. I was not disappointed.
Alternating points of view constitute the structure of the book. Embarking upon her career, Anna Dale is a young artist who wins a national contest in 1939 to create a mural for a post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Anna travels to the small town to get a feel for its people and its history. Conflict arises quickly as Anna is seen as an outsider from New Jersey who has stolen the job from local artist Martin Drappler. As she befriends many of the town’s residents, including aspiring black artist 17 year old Jesse Willams, Anna also makes powerful enemies. She and her mural suddenly disappear until Lisa Williams reads the terms of her father’s will almost 80 years later. Racing against time, Lisa needs to hire Morgan Christopher to restore the mural in less than 2 months for a set opening of her late father’s gallery. But first Morgan needs to be released from prison where she is serving time after a DUI and then she will also need to learn the art of restoration as she has never restored a piece of art before. Mysteriously,
Jesse’s terms make it clear that she is the one who must restore the mural. As she takes on the assumes the daunting task of restoring the bizarre mural, Morgan becomes drawn to the mysterious Anna and seeks to uncover her story.
Big Lies is a Small Town is similar to many contemporary best selling novels. Lovers of When the Crawdad’s Sing will find a similar setting in the North Carolina back waters and a similar mystery in a long unsolved crime. Similarities to one of my favorite books of recent years, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, appear in the structure and the stories of the two main characters whose paths are destined to meet. Additionally, the book should appeal to fans of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours with its similar structure and time periods posing modern perspectives against historical.
The book should also appeal to mystery and art lovers. Anna Dale's fate is a mystery from the beginning of the book. As her story is revealed, a reader cannot help but wonder what happened to her. The bizarre, ominous images on the mural suggest something went seriously wrong while she was painting it. Art lovers will respond to insights into the artist's process and the process of restoration.
