Book Review: "The Ordinary Truth" by Jana Richman


Well friends, I am taking a little detour this week from my usual gooey delights to review the work of a very amazing writer named Jana Richman.  Jana, whose blog can be found here,  writes modern westerns.  This work is a raw and emotional tale about one family.  If you're looking for a break from the undead, clockwork, or other things that go bump in the night, check out her work.  Here is my review:
 
Jana Richman’s “The Ordinary Truth” is a raw, compassionate portrayal of the experiences of four women from one Nevada ranch family.  The plot line is tension-filled, the work is beautifully descripted, and the message makes for a poignant read.  I often felt the novel had me by the “emotional guts,” and I found myself holding my breath—much, I suspect, like the characters—until I reached the end of the novel.

In its chapter by chapter construction, the novel centers around four characters:  Nell, Ona, Kate, and Cassie.  It is Nell, however, who steals the show.  Nell, a hardened rancher, is so realistically described that I likened her to many of the matriarchs in my own family: stubborn, bossy, and narcissistic.  Nell is in the golden years, and her self-centeredness seems childish at times, but in Nell, Richman draws a character who is real—real is not always nice.  Ona, soft-hearted and compassionate, is the observer of the novel.  It is through Ona’s eyes that we can see, understand, and often fairly judge the difficulties many of the characters face.  Kate, Nell’s daughter, is a remarkably modern mess.  Haunted by the loss of her father, Kate’s stiffness paired with fragility hits home.  Losing a parent early and traumatically often rocks a child, and Richman portrays Kate’s struggle with deftness.  Cassie, Kate’s daughter, devises a plan to crack open the secrets that have lain buried in the family for years.  Her determination, though somewhat misguided, is admirable.

“The Ordinary Truth” provides for a rich read.  While the family struggles are the most important plot element, the backdrop alludes to the ecocritical theme of the growing rarity of water in the west.  A Floridian, I have no experience with and limited knowledge of struggles over water scarcity.  Richman brings the problem to the reader’s attention as part of the plot but is not overly “preachy” about the issue.  In fact, a deeper look at the work suggests that the struggle over life-giving water, and whether or not drilling a pipeline under ranch land to redistribute water, serves as a metaphor for the experiences of the characters: what happens when the essential elements of life are rerouted, misused, or sucked dry?  Perhaps Richman is alluding to something more than water here.

Richman has a number of great lines in the book that provide criticism of modern life.  Kate remarks on the cult of busyness in stating that we are all in “the perpetual quest for keeping oneself occupied, entertained, and important—which burns at the edge of addiction.”   Her daughter Cassie later remarks that in its most bureaucratic incarnations, Kate’s generation “goes right on fucking everybody over and apologizing along the way.  Your apologies are meaningless, insulting.”  I have to agree on both counts.

If you are looking for a masterfully written modern western, Richman’s work is sure to please.  
 
 

2 comments

  1. Get A second Chance In Life with New Identity; protect your privacy, build new credit history, bypass criminal background checks, take back your freedom . We are unique producers of Authentic High Quality Real Genuine Data Base Registered Citizenship documents.(puredocuments21@gmail.com)(WhatsApp:+19254121971)

    We offer only Original high-quality data base registered passports, Drivers Licenses, ID cards, Stamps, Visas, School Diploma, working permits, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, green cards, credit cards, bank receipts and other documents for a number of countries like: USA, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italia, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan, China and This list is not full!
    Our Team has years of experience producing high quality Real genuine data base registered passports, data base Citizenship Documents, Other Identity documents. We use high quality equipment and materials to produce documents being registered by our insiders working in the various passport agencies. All secret features of real passports are carefully duplicated for our falsified documents. Over 17 million of our documents are circulating around the world.

    -WE DO OFFER A LEGITIMATE SERVICE:-
    (puredocuments21@gmail.com)(WhatsApp:+19254121971)

    we offer a service to help you through to meet your goals, we can help you with;

    •Getting real government issued ID under another identity,
    •A new social security number (verifiable with the SSA),
    •Checking and saving accounts for your new ID,
    •Stamps
    •Credit cards
    •Relocation.
    •Passports(USA, Canada, Australia, EU Countries, Asia..)
    •Biometric Passports
    •EU Passports
    •Green Card application
    •Permanent Residence Card (PR)
    •Construction and obtaining identification documents,
    •Coaching services available
    •Working permit
    •Driver's license
    •Birth Certificates
    •Marriage Certificates
    •School Diploma
    •High quality Fake Dollar/Euro Bills
    •ID cards
    •Private and offshore banking
    •Visas for USA, Canada, Australia, Europe & Asian Countries and much more!

    WhatsApp contact:============== +1 (925) 412-1971

    Our contacts include ex private investigators, consulates, high ranking government personnel and experienced seasoned experts, We have solid connections with higher personnel on all areas of identity and passport change in these Countries who are linked to the passport agency in each of these countries and with the help of their connections, all our clients demanding any citizenship document or passport from any countries are 100% assured as well as guaranteed of receiving very high quality real genuine registered documents that can never be identified as fake!! Not even an expertise custom official or machine can ever dictate the document as fake since the document is no different from Real government issued! All our Real genuine data base Registered citizenship documents have your personal data registered in the data base system and 100% machine readable. Feel free to get the additional detailed information about our services. Sincerely hope to find a way to cooperate with you.

    If any of these products interest you, please feel free to contact us. We will give you our best price upon receive of your detailed inquiry.

    Get your new identity to work or travel in any country of your choice.

    Send private messages to either contacts;

    Email:======================= puredocuments21@gmail.com

    WhatsApp:============== +1 (925) 412-1971

    ReplyDelete
  2. She laughed loudly and replied, '1208. '"That's my room. "The futanari sex doll girlfriend said, "Do you want to come up?

    ReplyDelete