Never Give Up

that's what I learned when reading Jewelweed by David Rhodes.

It was slow moving. I just couldn't attach myself to the characters and then I had nothing else to read so I rather ploddingly plowed through.

And then I was hooked. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them and I had to return the book because I was leaving and time was running out. I ended up spending the last hour and half before going to the airport racing through the book.

I ended up loving the characters. I've thought about them as real people, people that I have known. I don't know how the book creeped up on me but it did, which goes to prove that sometimes you must persevere. Patience people.

David Rhodes is a graduate of the Iowa Writing Project. He lives in Wisconsin and was partially paralyzed in a motorcycle accident. I hate to be biased but truly I do love the authors who come out of the Iowa Writing Project.

The book is organized with each chapter being a character, telling the story of that character at that moment in time. The next chapter carries us forward as each character intersects with another. There were five or six main characters and slowly we are exposed to their past and present life.

Rhodes weaves a great tale and I found myself rooting for them, wanting the best for them, yet not knowing if that would be possible in the end. I love that. The lack of predicability and my desire to devour the pages.

I highly recommend the book if you like well developed characters, not a lot of action, and depth in human understanding.