Book Review and Ongoing Virtual Book Tour for..Tremolo: Cry of the Loon by Aaron Lazar

  It has been my pleasure to take part in a "virtual" or online book tour for the book, Tremolo: Cry of the Loon, a book written by Aaron Paul Lazar. As a bit of an introduction to this review, I put a "heads up" interview and teaser on Gather yesterday. You can see it here and get a glimpse into the author's world as well as some suggestions and tips for aspiring writers:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleid=281474977233972&Nav=namespace

I also strongly recommend you visit one or more of Mr. Lazar's sites online. They can be found at the earlier article (just click my name and check my other articles if you have touble finding it)

 This time around, I'd like to focus on a review of the book. This novel set off powerful waves of memories and pure nostalgia in me. I remembered those days  when the Beatles were popular and Beatlemania was in full swing, when John Kennedy and Martin Luther King were well-known and children spent summers outside, not in front of video games.

 The power and importance of spending time outside is not a minor them in this book but a major factor. I think nature is almost like another character here, multi-faceted, haunting. Those sections renewed my desire to take the family camping and to enjoy life's simple pleasures, those that are all around us, from a misty morning to the glare of sun on a bright patch of snow. 

 At the heart of this book is a missing girl, the mystery surrounding her disappearance and  young Gus, turning from child to man, coming of age during one memorable summer at a lakeside camp in Maine. From the first sentence in Chapter One: "We're not gonna make it" to the closing lines I felt swept into this book and wanted to know what would happen next.

     From that powerful opening, I was captured by the main story, that lost girl and the three children (Gus and his friends, Sigfried and Elsbeth) who try to find out what happened to her. Along the way, mysterious guests arrive, ominous men appear and Gus has to deal with real danger as well as the inevitable turbulence of adolescence, from those first stirrings of love to the odd feelings he has about changes in his family.   

    One of the hardest jobs as a reviewer is trying to give a sense of the style and power of a book. In Tremolo, I'll note that several things grabbed my attention; the msytery at the heart of the book and also the strong sense of time and details about that particular time in history. I also loved the personality of Gus as well as the way Mr. Lazar intersperses some very real events in his own life with those that are fictional. 

    In many ways, this book came about - and is a testimony - to Mr. Lazar's father. This makes it particularly special for me. It is impossible to read the Preface to this book and learn about the incredible man who was Mr. Lazar's father without feeling his spirit in many parts of the book, from an incident when a bat gets into the house (those mouselike, flying creature) to sections covering racism, To Kill a Mockingbird and other scenes that paralleled Mr. Lazar's upbringing.

    At the same time, this is not a memoir, not in the sense that every event described actually happened in "real" life. If you lived through the '60s, you won't be able to help feeling nostalgic. The icing on the cake is the suspense and mystery in the book, backed up by one boys' take on the whole situaton.

      I urge you to visit the author's website at :

          www.legardemysteries.com

and also to visit the author interview to get a fuller look at the author's life and writing habits and suggestions. Most of all,  urge you to read this nicely crafted book and discover a promising voice whose mystery series and books are worth savoring.