Sunday, July 7, 2013

eBook Review: Colorado Mandala by Brian Francis Heffron

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Verdict: 5 Stars

Books as insightful and alluring as On the Road or The Dharma Bums pulled the reader into a whole different world that lived and died in America. Heffron’s title, Colorado Mandala, treats readers to the same effect, instilling in them the sense that they are living right alongside the characters in a whole new plane.

Set in the early 1970s, Colorado Mandala follows the experience of a hapless narrator, Paul, whose business partner and friend is sinking in his own pit of guilt and adjustment following a gruesome event during his last tour as a Green Beret in Viet Nam. Michael escapes the torment of the event by tracking down the widow of a fellow soldier, vowing to care for her and her orphaned son, only to find solace in drugs and wandering when he is unable to keep a tight control on his anger and hurt.

It’s been a long time since I read a book whose author does such a thorough job of putting the reader in the setting, in this case, the scrub outside Manitou, Colorado, without having to resort to lengthy passages of overdone description or flowery language. Heffron quite simply drops the reader in an utterly familiar place, even without having been there before. He eloquently does the same for the characters, aptly describing people I’ve never met and never will, without having to expound on every physical or emotional detail. I quite simply know these people now, and I’m not sure how.

Colorado Mandala is available from Amazon.

eBook Review: Colorado Mandala by Brian Francis Heffron is a post from: E-Reader News

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