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Walking Through Brambles Hardcover
$28.99
Walking Through Brambles
A Narrative of Circumspection
by G. W. Latimer
Walking Through Brambles covers a year-in-the-life of a self-proclaimed middle-aged, mainstream exile as he re-discovers himself and builds a new life in a small coastal town in southern Oregon.
Adam Moore reveals an environment that is bucolic and an ethos that is perplexing but warm as he learns his way around his new town, meets his neighbors, and copes with his fantasies around the mysterious woman who lived in his house before him.
As Adam seeks counsel from his cat and other inhabitants of Valencia, he invents histories of strangers while he recovers from a loneliness masked with insight and humor, finding peace at last.
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Additional information
| Weight | .881 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 8.5 × 5.5 × .625 in |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-947210-98-1 |
| LoCCN | 2018911737 |
| Page Count | |
| Cover Type | |
| Publication Date | February 12, 2019 |
| Genre | Fiction Literary |
17 reviews for Walking Through Brambles Hardcover
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Guest –
Advanced Reading Copy Reviewed on NetGalley by Mystica V., Reviewer
“A self proclaimed exile is rediscovering himself and trying to build a new life for himself in a small town in Oregon.
Adam has to find himself before he interacts with others. He is also fascinated by the history of the woman who lived in the house before him.
The book is peopled with a lot of day dreaming and life seems to be a bit dreamy. Moving to a small town and starting a new life in a library could be considered idyllic by many. For Adam it was a way of life he looked at whether this would work for him or not. There was a fair amount of negativity as well and altogether it was not an easy read to pin down to review. I never really got to grips with the book but this could very well be my fault not that of the author.”
Reviewer –
Teri Case (Reviewer) has just reviewed Walking Through Brambles.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Full Text:
Walking Through Brambles by G. W. Latimer was a relaxing escape, and so much funnier than I expected. From his observations about yellow cat and fatherhood to his day to day life at the library, his observations and dry sense of humor had me laughing several times. I can see how many might miss the humor, but it’s there and so rewarding. This book reads more like a diary or journal than a novel, but I took to reading it at night before bed. The authors’ voice is calming–a perfect end to a busy day in this noisy and often stressful world. The title is very appropriate.
Final note, I spend a lot of time in my local libraries writing, and I constantly make up stories about regular visitors too, so I enjoyed this component of the story very much. I think someone has to spend a lot of time in libraries to appreciate why.
I would read more by this author.
Guest –
Mia D (Reviewer) has just reviewed Walking Through Brambles:
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
“I’m the first person reviewing this book (the publishers do not count and frankly I find it shameless and obnoxious that they even rate their own books) and I wish I had nicer things to say about it, but maybe there is a reason this book has received no other attention. Circumspection is a quality of being wary and cautious. So as such this novel’s subtitle is essentially a misnomer or at the very least a misadvertisement. Contemplation would have been much more accurate. In fact, this is very much a novel of contemplation…and not much other than that. It looks interesting originally, to me at least. The concept of moving to a small coastal Oregon town and working at a library sounds like a dream. Apparently the main character had the same idea, so he did just that and then proceeded to contemplate his life in a dream, plodding, pseudopoetic way. Armed with a feline and a supposed ghost of a former tenant who was an artist for company the protagonist ambles through his days in a gauzy daydreamy meditation, walking through his metaphorical brambles. Not just metaphorical, actually, going by the amount of text dedicated exclusively to the descriptions of local flora and, to a much lesser extent, fauna. The town appears charmingly quaint, but some of the appeal is diminished by the fact that it’s pretty much described as a place one goes to die. There is no plot as such to speak of, just thoughts and ponderings strung together. It sort of reads like one long prose poem. The language has a sort of studied very deliberate prettiness to it, but there isn’t much in a way of substance and the protagonist’s musings (for me, anyway) didn’t really comes across as all that profound or even especially compelling. Maybe I was just hoping for a very different sort of story. Or just more of a story would have been nice. Something more than descriptions, observations and reveries. This book read quickly, but offered almost nothing in return for the time, too ephemeral in its ways to care about or enjoy. A proper daydream about a coastal town idyll would have been more pleasant quite possibly. Thanks Netgalley.”
Guest –
Sam Sattler (Goodreads Reviewer) has just reviewed Walking Through Brambles:
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
“I’ll admit it right up front: “Walking Through Brambles” is one of the strangest modern novels that I’ve ever read, the kind of book that I’m still a little surprised that I finished. I struggled with the first half of the book, but I kept pushing through my doubts, and I’m happy that I did because, in the end, “Brambles” is really something.
G.W. Latimer tells the story of Adam Moore, a librarian, a loner, and a thinker, who lives in Valencia, a coastal town in Oregon. There, Moore works as the little town’s only librarian, a job that seems to demand very little of him other than being there. That’s perfect for a man like Adam Moore who seems to live more of his life inside his head than in his physical surroundings In fact, the man feels a closer kinship to his cat (Yellow Cat) and the ghost of the painter who inhabited his home before he arrived than to anyone else in the world.
“Brambles” explores the evolution of Adam Moore as he gets acquainted with his new hometown and the rhythms of life there. But as it turns out, the man seems to be learning as much about himself and humankind as he learns about Valencia – and he shares it all in detail with the reader.
Latimer is a good writer, and he has the ability to paint little pictures that stick with the reader. For instance there’s a brief scene during which Moore has taken shelter under a bridge during a brief rain shower. There he encounters a bunch of grackles who have the same idea: “They bullied me from their perch as I backed up on the berm and sat down, still aware of them turning around to heckle me. I tossed a few stones at them but they just looked at each other and squawked. They liked the rain less than I did and continued to act as if a stranger had just walked into their living room.” I love that description.
Bottom Line: “Walking Through Brambles” is not going to appeal to everyone – few books would- but if you give this one the chance to surprise you, it might just do that.”
Amazon Reviews –
Nola Lace, Reviewer (Amazon)
4.0 out of 5 stars
May 16, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
This is definitely a different style and not for everyone- it’s more like reading a beautiful journal someone has left behind. The descriptions are beautiful and exquisite. It’s a place I’d want to visit and a life I’d enjoy living!
I liked this book & I would read more from the writer in the future.
I won an ARC due to a Goodreads giveaway.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Sean, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 25, 2019
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I requested this book, but I’m sure it wasn’t what I got. There’s not much of a story, it’s more a quiet series of observations would be the best way I could explain it. If you’ve read Nicholson Baker, you’ll have an idea of what I mean.
It starts out a bit slow….the first 20 pages had me worried about slogging through the rest of the fairly short book. Fortunately, it settles into a better pocket after that and continues up until nearly the end when I felt it lost its thread again. It’s kind of a book about nothing, but it’s not Seinfeld. You’ll find some smile-inducing passages, but not laugh-out-loud moments. It’s just a comfortable read and Latimer is a decent weaver of tales.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Draak, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 22, 2019
This book was kind of slow and hard to keep my attention. For me not much of a story as just ramblings of someones day. I hate to say it but I couldn’t finish it. I received this from LibraryThing Early Reviewer for an honest review.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Mmoj, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 7, 2019
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
I was so interested in receiving this book from Early Reviewers. But this is one of the cases of it not living up to expectations. It didn’t catch me from the beginning partly because I couldn’t connect with the characters.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Yukon92, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 7, 2019
I received a free copy of the book through LTER in exchange for my honest opinion.
I found the book very boring. I am glad the author can find life in the small town of Valencia, Oregon so exciting. However, I fell asleep every time I tried to read the next few pages. So I can only recommend it as an alternative sleeping aid.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Squeex, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 5, 2019
This was not my cup of tea. It suffered from lack of editing or imagination or something. It never ever grabbed my attention whatsoever. I think I know what it wanted to be, but it didn’t seem to make it. It felt like it was trying to be more than it actually was. Tried to hard.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
MM_Jones, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Mar 30, 2019
Walking Through Brambles” is an interesting book though I found the description provided to be misleading. The book was subtitled “A Narrative of Circumspection”, but I found more akin to contemplative vignettes. To quote the author “results can be either maddening or inspiring”. Not so much a narrative, rather the author’s musings on a number of subjects including his cat, butterflies, a bridge, the backyard creek, the dead. Bits are intriguing, you might find yourself underlining passages for future reference.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
BevFuller, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Mar 6, 2019
This was a very unusual book.
LibraryThing Reviewer –
Mrmapcase, Reviewer (LibraryThing)
Apr 23, 2019
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I really had a great time reading this novel, it was filled with thoughtful dialogue, scenic descriptions, breathtaking peril and a great closing.
Free review copy.
Amazon Reviews –
David Drake, Reviewer (Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and unique. Looking forward to the next book this author writes.
Amazon Reviews –
W Drake, Reviewer (Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delicious read!
This narrative reads more like light-hearted poetry. The graceful descriptions of space, time, light, dust, foliage, elements, pets and people were all masterfully written. I found myself wanting to be in the small Oregon coastal town, among its quirky inhabitants .
Amazon Reviews –
Ladymargaret, Reviewer (Amazon)
5.0 out of 5 stars
It’s the journey, not the destination.
The author’s writing style is intimate and more poetry than prose to me. I found particularly delightful his perceptive descriptions of the character’s relationship with his environment, and his willingness to be in the moment.
Waking Through Brambles … is a book I will read again and again.
netgalleyreviewer –
Karly C, Reviewer (Netgalley).
Rating: 3/5 stars
The cool thing about this book is that you can pick it up at any time and read a passage. It’s definitely a relaxing read. Although not usually my kind of book, I enjoyed it for the most part.