Books I've Read; A Lite too Bright

This was an interesting book, but ultimately, not quite as interesting as I thought it was going to be from reading the back-cover copy.

It opens with a dream - always a risky move - that you're not 100% is a dream or not until well into the book.  It's important, but again, that's not something that becomes clear unitl much further into the book. What is clear right from the start is that Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is one messed up dude.  He's lost his girlfriend, broken his hand, lost his scholarship and has very little hope about anything as he and his father make their way to his aunt anf uncle's house.  He's going to stay there a while, to get away from the place all his problems began.

But when he arrives at his aunt and uncle's, Arthur finds a journal written by his grandfather who died five years ago after going missing for a week.  Deep in the throes of dementia, no one has ever managed to figure out why the first Arthur Louis Pullman ended up dead in Ohio, although there has been considerable speculation due to his status as an author with the status of a Salinger or Kerouac.  The journal is confused, but offers the younger Arthur a clue in a sentence about a train route.

Determined to solve the mystery that's been hanging over his family for years, Arthur jumps on the train and begins an eye-opening journey across America in search of answers.  Each stop offers new clues and insights into his grandfather and his legacy the young Arthur had no idea about.   Things become complicated when he builds a fragile alliance with a British girl with secrets of her own, and even more so when he runs into a group of fantatical fans of his grandfather's only booke.

As he grows closer to discovering the truth, Arthur has to face the fact he knew very little about his grandfather and the life he'd lived, but more importantly, he has to face his own demons and acknowledge the parts of himself that caused his personal downfall.

There were parts of this book I enjoyed very much.  I loved the idea of this cross-country journey fuelled by fragments of demtia-driven poetry.  How little bothe Arthur and his father actually knew about the famous author living under their roof was both sad and painfully real.  The final reveal of what it it was that had the oldest Arthur Louis Pullman running was also heartbreaking.

Yet I never really felt connected to young Arthur as he went on this journey.  I never cared that much about what happened to him or if he found the answers he was searching for.  I never felt like he had any real connection to his grandfather, that the years he lived with the family were ones filled with frustration at an old man with a fading mind.  So, it didn't feel wholly realistic to me that Arthur would, in the depths of his own personal despair, hare off on this journey to find the truth about him.  If he'd been close with grandpa and had never really managed to come to terms with the fact he died, the trip would make much more sense.

But I did enjoy it.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if I'd connected more with the main character, but I guess when he's lying to himself and hiding things from his own mind, the reader can't truly be in his head.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

For fans of literary classics such as The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower comes a stirring new thought-provoking novel from debut author Sam Miller about a loss shrouded in mystery with twists and turns down every railway.

Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is on the verge of a breakdown. He’s been stripped of his college scholarship, is losing his grip on reality, and has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle.

It’s there that Arthur discovers a journal written by his grandfather, the first Arthur Louis Pullman, an iconic Salinger-esque author who went missing the last week of his life and died hundreds of miles away from their family home. What happened in that week—and how much his actions were influenced by his Alzheimer’s—remains a mystery.

But now Arthur has his grandfather’s journal—and a final sentence containing a train route and a destination.

So Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive his grandfather’s last week, guided only by the clues left behind in the dementia-fueled journal. As Arthur gets closer to uncovering a sad and terrible truth, his journey is complicated by a shaky alliance with a girl who has secrets of her own and by escalating run-ins with a dangerous Pullman fan base.

Arthur’s not the only one chasing a legacy—and some feel there is no cost too high for the truth.