Original hero, original author

[plumbozredux]

I have been trying for a few days to get Amazon to post this review, but since they are taking their sweet time about it, I'm spreading the word where and when I can. It has been a long time since a book spoke to me in such a personal and profound way and who would have guessed it would have come from a protagonist who is not the exclusive tenant of his own shoulders? Here's what should be on Amazon as soon as they see fit to slide it in there.

It has been a good long while since a book has taken hold of me and pulled me through the last 200 pages, but Phil Whitaker's "Freak of Nature" did that and more. It starts with what seems a gimmick, rather heavy handed even, and for a while I was finding myself finding fault: why so many fractured sentences? why use all those references that are so exclusively British? doesn't the man know he is killing his chance at a wider audience with this silly tale of a two-headed man? (I'm a Yank) not to mention the medical terms that on some pages fly thick and were largely indecipherable to this reader. And give me a break about one of the heads being married and a doctor and a television personality, I like a good willing suspension of disbelief as much as the next guy, but this Whitaker fellow is really testing the limits. And then it gained a grip, it found where I lived and it spoke to me. There were times when I called foul, times when I felt my inner-self had been peeked at and announced on the page for all the world to gawk and comment, and that's when I couldn't put it down, medical jargon and Brit-speak be darned.

Whitaker could have addressed his theme in a number of ways I am sure, but none would have been as audacious or successful. This books speaks to who we are, rather who you are and who I am and, I am confident in saying, who Phil Whitaker is, bless his heart. Grab a copy and read it. It is one of those books that will stay with you, and they come all too infrequently.

Spread the word folks, this one is worth telling people about.

Alan

[plumbozredux]

I modified the review ever so slightly, resent it to Amazon, and there you are, nice as can be. After a few queries as to why the first was unacceptable, all I got was a canned note saying they had been experiencing a high volume of reviews, leading to an unavoidable delay in posting them. Right.

In any case, I must repeat that this is a book worth telling people about, the kind that will make its mark through "handselling" by those of us lucky enough to have read it already. I can't imagine it will not blossom in popularity as word gets out.

Best,
Alan