Revenants - The Odyssey Home

Hello, we're back (this is Heather posting)! Now that exams are out the way, we hope to be updating this a lot more. I need to really really apologise to the author of this one – I said I’d read the novel during the start of my exams but underestimated the amount of time I’d have to read so had to pause it up till now; so, better late than never, here’s my review. As usual, it’s an honest review in exchange for a free read.

Information

Author: Scott Kauffman

Published: December 2015

Publisher: Moonshine Cove Publishing

Length: 306 pages

Overall Rating

★★★★

Brief description (from Amazon)

ONLY BETSY CAN GET HIM HOME IN TIME; ONLY HE CAN BRING HER BACK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

A grief-stricken candy-striper serving in a VA hospital following her brother's death in Viet Nam struggles to return home an anonymous veteran of the Great War against the skullduggery of a congressman who not only controls the hospital as part of his small-town fiefdom but knows the name of her veteran. A name if revealed would end his political ambitions and his fifty-year marriage. In its retelling of Odysseus' journey, Revenants casts a flickering candle upon the charon toll exacted not only from the families of those who fail to return home but of those who do. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Revenants-Odyssey-Home-Scott-Kauffman/1937327817)

Review

Struck by grief at the death of her brother Nathan, Betsy responds to her brother’s death by slacking in school and struggling with life in general, going through a rebellious stage of life. However, as she works in the Veterans hospital, she gets more determined to help and work out the secret of the anonymous patient locked upstairs who seems to only be alive through the twitching of his finger. Betsy is an intriguing character to follow and has some great character development throughout (she’s also a book nerd so naturally I liked her).

The content and topics covered in the novel were well-executed. I loved how bold the book was, addressing alcohol and drugs as well as the ugly, less poetic side of grief. It was really interesting to see the different perspectives as to what war meant and whether enlisting is good or bad. Perhaps best of all were the patients in the hospital; having just done an exam on how war is portrayed in literature, I applaud all authors that draw attention to the survivors of war and those at home, suffering the aftermath. Their injuries were all severe, and Betsy was initially shocked and rather scared of them, this stigma was interesting to view; Betsy’s maturing and adaptation even more so. Their injuries are looked at both with compassion, understanding and a little bit of humour, making its portrayal realistic.

The author chose to instill proper dialect and speaking style from the Ohio area. At first, I was slightly concerned that this could become too much; I’m sure we’ve all heard stories whereby the styling of a character’s voice becomes superior to their emotions and backstory. But Kauffman succeeds in shaping endearing characters, using the dialogue tone as a charming addition that does not override the plot. With a lot of characters, it can be challenging for authors to make each memorable enough, yet again Kauffman succeeded. During conversations in the book, I got a little confused as to who was speaking sometimes, so would recommend putting in a few more ‘[…] said’ here and there, but other than that the characterisation was great.

I was warned that the first fifty pages have been flagged as less eventful than the remainder of the novel – I actually didn’t find this was the case. Many authors use the standard rule of having a very dramatic opening to draw the reader in, then toning it down a little, but that does not mean that it is essential to all novels. Personally, I really enjoyed the start of the novel, and the middle, and though I liked the ending too I did think that it could have been more concise. Points of the book moved at an excellent pace, others were a little slow, but I was never bored.

My only qualm with the book was its use of the ‘n’ word in description, whilst I understand that it was not intended in such a way, it can be seen as racially offensive. Because of this, some swearing and darker topics, this is definitely a book for older readers. Anyone interested in war, like I am, will be sure to appreciate how its aftermath affected those at home – something the author definitely succeeded in, making it a lovely read.