East of Denver

When I first started reading this book, I thought "Brilliant! I'm going to give it five stars! I love character-driven novels and these characters are so compelling! They remind me of people down home in southern Illinois. They're lovely and charming and unique and frustrating and annoying and so he......more

"East of Denver" is evocative, moody, funny, bleak, desperate and, somehow, optimistic all at the same time. The story is chock full humanity and the images are chiseled with sharp, clean strokes. Hill had me from the opening paragraph, an 11-sentence beauty that packs the kind of energy and forward......more

On the surface, this is a simple book. A 40something Denver man, Stacey "Shakespeare" Williams takes an unscheduled trip to his boyhood home in Dorsey, CO only to find his father living in deep dementia and profound squalor. Shakes finds his caretaker dead in the bathroom (a week ago, from natural c......more

This book left me feeling conflicted. I picked it up because it's a book about Denver (kind of) by a local author, and it won an Amazon award. I kept reading it because the first half was beautiful, and then the later plot elements were too fantastical and weird to ignore. I chuckled and smirked at......more

Grade: A- L/C Ratio: 70/30 (This means I estimate the author devoted 70% of his effort to creating a literary work of art and 30% of his effort to creating a commercial bestseller.) Thematic Breakdown: 35% - Senility 30% - Small town culture 20% - Farming 15% - Humor East of Denver won the 2011 Amazon Break......more