Review: An oustanding, unusual read.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
Swisher has raised the bar a little higher with his new book, How Bridge McCoy Learned to Say I Love you. His style of writing is distinctive and this book is highly original, verging on a brand new genre. What I love about his writer, is his ability to create unusual but believable characters and deliver a highly entertaining read, with hidden depths.Swisher has mixed the mundane, the surreal and the plain odd into a moving story with a perfect logic of its own. At times sad, often funny and sometimes totally bizarre, this is a thought provoking tale of loneliness, acceptance, deep friendship and love. Full of interesting insights into the unavoidable fact that the cost of playing it safe is the aching pain of loneliness.The Lost City is a place where people with broken dreams can hide away from the harsh realities of the world and find acceptance. A place people can drink and dance, worship rocks and talk to lamp posts, heal their wounds and find genuine friendship, and can speak their mind, while being bombarded with life’s issues, both big and small.Bridge saw horrors in Vietnam, was disillusioned by life as a hippy, has done being a cowboy, and is now a novelist, with an art gallery in the Lost City. He is afraid of change and has perfected protecting himself from being hurt or betrayed again. Problem is, he has fallen in love with Vivian, a large, kind-hearted, pot-smoking woman, who owns the local coffee shop, and he chokes every time he tries to tell her. Through his internal dialogue, the reader gets a real sense of his fears and his vulnerable self, he tries so hard to keep hidden.The town’s inhabitants are well drawn in their oddities. My favourite character was Vivian and her dancing fairies.“Vivian peeped through the window … Occasionally he would type a few words. Am I in your words? … Am I a comma that needs to be moved or a word that fulfils the complete paragraph?”The narrative often seems dream-like (or drug induced!) but within the context it all makes perfect sense. The streams of thought, mixed in with lively dialogue make this book an exceptional read.I highly recommend you read this book before the end of the year.