{Review} The Way Up by Ward Jones

ISBN #: 978-1477429372

Page Count: 320

Copyright: February 28, 2013

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Book Summary:

(Taken from Goodreads)

Emotional, painful and often sensual, The Way Up follows the trials and tribulations of John Howard, a 26-year-old law school graduate who works through family tragedy, turbulent relationships, and an unexpected series of career changes. Jones' complex characters come to life in The Way Up, as Howard comes to grip with his ever changing reality in this intriguing and dramatic tale.

Kathy's Review:

Hi, it's Debbie Downer here with another book review. Today I am reviewing The Way Up, which should have been titled, Up, the Way Is, Hmmm? because I think it was ghost written by Yoda. Now, I'm all for different writing styles, because as they say, variety is the spice of life. But I'm also a stickler for correct grammar and punctuation, because I judge your intelligence by the way you construct a sentence.

The author's writing style is very ... jarring. It's not natural and it doesn't flow correctly. It's almost like it was written in a different language and then copied and pasted into Google Translate. So, right off the bat, that was hard to get past.

I made it through the whole book, but nothing really stuck with me. The plot doesn't seem to be building toward anything, it just goes from one thing to the next to the next. The characters aren't that compelling. The most interesting relationship, in my opinion, is the one between John and his parents, and that's over within the first third of the book. The relationship he has with his wife, Kathy, seems like a mis-match from the start. She is not a likeable character, but then again, he isn't, either. Everyone is kind of flat, depressed, not much dimension.

I'm not going to recommend The Way Up at this time. Between the writing, lack of plot and character development, The Way Up needs to find its way up to snuff.


*A paperback copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.