The Painting Of Porcupine City (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I am so late to this party it's almost embarrassing and while that may be true, I will also say that this was the PERFECT time to read this book. I started reading Porcupine City (and when you get to the part where Fletcher explains what this means you will never forget it) the instant I finished The Cranberry Hush (which, again so late to read it's criminal but a book that is absolutely NOT to be overlooked) and from the very first sentence I knew it was going to be different. I wasn't sure how, but I knew it would be, and boy was I right. The Painting of Porcupine City is not a romance but oh my heavens is it ever a love story. There is SO much love in this book, it's almost hard to breathe at times. It's not always obvious either, but what happens is this ... you read a line or a paragraph and then a few pages later you get this feeling where you can't decide if you want to laugh or cry and it's because that line, those words are still playing in your head. Fletcher -- what to say about him? There were times I wanted to shake him (one time in particular I think I hated him so much I didn't want to keep going, even though I knew I would) and times where he is so beautifully crafted it is like he leaps from the page. He's definitely NOT perfect, but perfect is boring, and Fletcher is definitely not boring. He's so complex and his growth from the beginning of this book until the end is perfection. Mateo -- if there was EVER a character that will stay with me for a long, long, VERY LONG time, it is him. He's not perfect either, but oh how he shines. He'll break your heart, he'll make you smile. He will make you look at everything around you in a new way. I have a feeling that I'll think of him often, think of him in his heaven spot. Mateo is one of those characters that you wish you could invite over to dinner and then pepper him with a thousand and one questions only because there is no telling what his answers will be. I won't explain anything about this book, I couldn't do it justice. Like the blurb says, Fletcher and Mateo will take you on an adventure and you'd best be ready for the ride. It's one unlike any other you've been on. I promise. Dive in, you won't be sorry. This is not a novel for reading. It saddens me to say this, because both of the author's other novels are compelling--even beautiful. I have no doubts as to his talent and creativity. But it also saddens me to see that many other reviewers here have been played, taken in by The Painting of Porcupine City's overwrought pretense toward the literary and substitution of detail for depth. The book is static. The characters are flat. The story is hollow. All that keeps you reading is a smattering of pretty prose. But pretty pose is not writing. This novel is not writing; it's typing. It is not a book to be lightly tossed aside. It should be thrown with great force.
What do You think about The Painting Of Porcupine City (2011)?
I can't say enough good things about this book, the story lingers long after you've finished it.
—elong6283
I read a spoiler by mistake so it ruined it for me. Just hate when that happens!
—Nick223
I am so upset. I loved it. I feel so much melancholy but it was worth it.
—courtneyyak
I do not have the words yet for this book, I may never. Ben is genius.
—johnpicha
