BOOK REVIEW - RON DIONNE: SAD JINGO

Sad Jingo by Ron Dionne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Sad Jingo, Ron Dionne takes the reader on a journey through the dark secrets of two lost souls, through the valleys of their depression as they search for something that is just out of their reach. He explores the psychology of desire for success and the fear of that success.

Jingo and Diane don’t know each other; their lives are worlds apart. But Jingo and Diane share a secret, one that Diane desperately wishes to remain so and one that Jingo is unaware he has.

Jingo wants to be a great musician, like his idol Thelonious Monk, but he is impatient and prone to rash decisions. In some ways, Jingo’s mind never really left age 13, with all its fears and uncertainties about life, and now he struggles to live in a ‘grown-up’ world, unaware that the consequences of his actions are like ripples on a pond and others will suffer as he struggles for something his mind refuses to accept he can’t have.

For Diane, a published writer with a very successful novel, that isn’t enough. She is all too aware that her success is like a house of cards built on shifting sand, waiting for a wind to come and blow it down.

Jingo is that wind.

Can two broken people find healing in each other? Or, will they only inflict more damage on themselves and, catching those closest to them in the maelstrom of their deceits, hurt those they care about the most?

I’m going to stop there because I don’t want any spoilers. Sad Jingo is a well-written story, with a building suspense that keeps the reader engaged. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Thank you.


Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw
4 February 2013
Cannon Beach, Oregon


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BOOK REVIEW - MARTHA MOODY: THE OFFICE OF DESIRE

The Office of Desire by Martha Moody

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Martha Moody's keen observations on the human condition make The Office of Desire an entertaining read as she takes us through a year in the life of the doctors and staff of a small Midwest medical clinic... the trials and tribulations of marriage and family... the pitfalls of office romances and the re-examination of one's own life life amidst the rise and fall of others.  She writes inter-personal relationships quite well and the unraveling of office unity when those relationships falter.

The Office of Desire is insightful and compelling, thought-provoking and poignant.  Martha writes with a narrative style that is comfortably-paced and descriptive, yet doesn't bog the reader down in 'place', instead allowing us to identify with the characters... their thoughts and emotions.   There is a strong sense of reality to the characters and the situations they face.  We get to see them 'warts' and all; Martha doesn't 'air-brush' them into the stereotypes so common to television and movies.

I would recommend The Office of Desire to anyone looking for a story that goes beyond the superficiality of a lot of the fiction out on the market today.  This book will make you think... and that isn't a bad thing in a market flooded with sugar-coated story-lines and one-dimensional characters.

I gave The Office of Desire only four stars... and I struggled a bit over that decision... not because it isn't a good story - it is - but because I felt there were a couple of plot points that were a bit weak.  This doesn't take away from the story as a whole, however.  I really have only one criticism and that is in regards to the HIPAA violation committed by one of the characters in discussing confidential patient information.  I don't know if that was done on purpose, and it does make for a good discussion point for a book group; it just unsettled me a little bit.   I would like to think that doesn't happen in real life, but that may be wishful thinking on my part.  We are after all... only human.

One of the characters, Caroline, says this - "Desire is a dog impossible to train."

We've all been bitten by that dog, and as the story shows... there really isn't a cure for the pain that follows.

Thank you.


Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw
Cannon Beach, Oregon
Silverdale, Washington
9 June 2012



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