For my first official book review, I chose Greasewood Creek by Pamela Steele. I had high hopes for this little novel. Greasewood Creek is set on a ranch in eastern Oregon, a place I’ve been several times. I thoroughly enjoy books set in real places, especially places I’ve experienced. Usually I enjoy them. Greasewood Creek? Sigh.
If I was only given one word to describe this book, I’d choose “choppy”. The writing style was difficult to follow, and it took me three-quarters of the book to get into the swing of it. The chapters (most of them 2-5 pages in length) jumped back and forth from when the main character was a girl to when she was an adult to when she was a teenager to when she was an adult to back when she was a kid. Back and forth, back and forth – it took me the first three paragraphs of each chapter to reorient myself on which time period I’d landed in.
If it hadn’t been such a tiny book, I wouldn’t have finished it. I did finish it, however, and turning over the last page left me with a “what was the purpose of this book” feeling? The ending did little to tie anything together, instead falling off the edge in a mid-sentence type of way.
I wanted to like Greasewood Creek, but I didn’t. The only true useful thing I got from it was Writer Me wondering why this particular writing style was chosen and if I was in the minority of people who don’t enjoy reading this type of style.
