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These are reviews originally posted to Amazon as customer reviews. They're intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. (Apologies for any typos, bad grammar, or offensive language.) This isn't sponsored by Amazon or represent them in any way, although they do have a very nice site and I recommend checking it out for your next book purchase. Feel free to comment on the books if you've read them or tell me how much my reviews suck or whatever.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Up So Down

Up So Down
by Briane Pagel
(5/5 stars)

I remember when I read "Breathing Lessons" by Anne Tyler what impressed me was that while the story didn't have much of a PLOT--a couple is on their way to a funeral--the author captured the normalcy of their lives so brilliantly that I was never bored with it. That's something Briane Pagel does so well in his previous book "The After" and in his latest "Up So Down." While the book doesn't have much of a PLOT, the author does such a great job to create real characters that it's still a great read.

The story focuses on two siblings. Sarah is a nurse in Madison, Wisconsin, whose fiance Peyton drowned before they could get marry. Her brother Dylan, aka Bumpy, has recently moved to Las Vegas where he starts a shop to sell photographs of the Vegas scenery while he works on a pilot for a television series.

That's really all there is to it. The rest of the book is more or less getting to know these characters and their histories. The book is told in a seemingly random fashion that jumps around over the course of a year or so to add pieces to the great big jigsaw puzzle that is the story. Although at the end it feels like there are still a couple of pieces missing to the puzzle. Maybe that will get resolved in a sequel. I hope so.

That is all.