Review of Wild World
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Taylor Eagan
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- Latest Review: Wild World by Peter S. Rush
Review of Wild World
[Following is a volunteer review of "Wild World" by Peter S. Rush.]
Wild World is a piece of historical fiction set in 1970s America, shortly after the Kent State massacre occurred. The protagonist, Brown University senior Steve Logan, is horrified by the shootings, feeling that America has begun devouring its young and that he could have been one of the victims if things had gotten hot on his campus instead. Driven by a recruitment pitch by a reform-minded sergeant from the NYPD, Steve joins the police department in Providence, RI, with the intention of reforming the system from the inside instead of going to law school. While sorting out his professional and political lives, he is also involved in a steamy romance with his fellow student, Roxy; some erotic content is present throughout the book as their relationship develops, but it isn't the main focus.
I found the depiction of 1970s America in this book to be fairly believable; the author lived through the era, and it shows in his attention to small details, such as product names, music, slang, and the attitudes of the characters toward each other and toward society. The author does not shy away from the ugly, reactionary currents in American society of that era, including racism, sexism, and other forms of hatred. This is a novel with a strong sense of time and place. The writing is a little bit stilted and feels like it is coming from a relatively inexperienced author, with fairly simple characters and straightforward relationships between them, but I didn't find myself bored while reading. However, I found some of the characters to be a bit stereotypical, such as the police captain Steve first interacts with on the force, who is intimidated by Steve's education in a way that felt a bit too blatant and one-dimensional.
Wild World touches heavily on themes of police brutality and the perspective that it is a systemic plague in the United States. Steve faces heavy opposition from conservative, bigoted officers and cadets when he joins the force, as well as attitudes about shooting unarmed civilians that are cavalier and even excited. There are numerous instances of police brutality and corruption throughout, echoing many historical police brutality cases throughout the US. This book is a heavy indictment of policing in the US, both in the 70s and today. However, I didn't feel like the story was unbalanced in its portrayal; some of the police Steve works with are better than others, and the story does a good job portraying the legitimate difficulties of law enforcement, such as contact with unpleasant smells and substances, brushes with death, the threat of physical harm and handling cases of sexual assault. Steve's struggle to find meaning in what he is doing amidst both danger and corruption resonates with the reality of policing, especially in that era. His job places strain on his friendships, relationship, and everything else in his life, in ways that sometimes feel believable and sometimes don't. However, I found that the overall theme of the book, that police work done corruptly and brutally ruins the lives of both the police and their victims, resonates both with the time period the book is set in and the world we live in today.
The author struggles sometimes to find a decent balance between showing and telling, particularly in Steve's relationships with Roxy and his other friends. Roxy is often an afterthought in the narrative until there is suddenly an issue in their relationship. These are issues that we often do not see develop on the page in any meaningful way but rather ones that seem to come out of nowhere. She often mentions difficulties with their other friends that aren't reflected elsewhere in the narrative as well. It's possible that this is intentional as a reflection of Steve's difficulty in balancing his job and his life outside of work but hints that the reader could pick up on which Steve is ignoring would make that a lot clearer. I found that the author improved in his execution of this subplot as the book continued. Ultimately, I was satisfied by how this part of the book was resolved.
Overall, while it wasn't my favorite book of all time, I did enjoy it more than I expected to based on the premise. The author's writing strengths allowed him to write a compelling story set in a time and place he knows well about topics that he is clearly passionate about. I feel like if the character dialogue sounded a little more natural instead of being somewhat stiff and formal and the characters themselves had more depth, I would have been able to rate it 5 stars, but these issues lowered my rating a little bit to 4 stars. However, this shouldn't be taken as a recommendation not to read it if you have an interest in the premise and time period. Wild World is a strong start to the author's writing career and with more writing experience I feel that his books can only improve over time.
******
Wild World
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Wild World is a piece of historical fiction set in 1970s America, shortly after the Kent State massacre occurred. The protagonist, Brown University senior Steve Logan, is horrified by the shootings, feeling that America has begun devouring its young and that he could have been one of the victims if things had gotten hot on his campus instead. Driven by a recruitment pitch by a reform-minded sergeant from the NYPD, Steve joins the police department in Providence, RI, with the intention of reforming the system from the inside instead of going to law school. While sorting out his professional and political lives, he is also involved in a steamy romance with his fellow student, Roxy; some erotic content is present throughout the book as their relationship develops, but it isn't the main focus.
I found the depiction of 1970s America in this book to be fairly believable; the author lived through the era, and it shows in his attention to small details, such as product names, music, slang, and the attitudes of the characters toward each other and toward society. The author does not shy away from the ugly, reactionary currents in American society of that era, including racism, sexism, and other forms of hatred. This is a novel with a strong sense of time and place. The writing is a little bit stilted and feels like it is coming from a relatively inexperienced author, with fairly simple characters and straightforward relationships between them, but I didn't find myself bored while reading. However, I found some of the characters to be a bit stereotypical, such as the police captain Steve first interacts with on the force, who is intimidated by Steve's education in a way that felt a bit too blatant and one-dimensional.
Wild World touches heavily on themes of police brutality and the perspective that it is a systemic plague in the United States. Steve faces heavy opposition from conservative, bigoted officers and cadets when he joins the force, as well as attitudes about shooting unarmed civilians that are cavalier and even excited. There are numerous instances of police brutality and corruption throughout, echoing many historical police brutality cases throughout the US. This book is a heavy indictment of policing in the US, both in the 70s and today. However, I didn't feel like the story was unbalanced in its portrayal; some of the police Steve works with are better than others, and the story does a good job portraying the legitimate difficulties of law enforcement, such as contact with unpleasant smells and substances, brushes with death, the threat of physical harm and handling cases of sexual assault. Steve's struggle to find meaning in what he is doing amidst both danger and corruption resonates with the reality of policing, especially in that era. His job places strain on his friendships, relationship, and everything else in his life, in ways that sometimes feel believable and sometimes don't. However, I found that the overall theme of the book, that police work done corruptly and brutally ruins the lives of both the police and their victims, resonates both with the time period the book is set in and the world we live in today.
The author struggles sometimes to find a decent balance between showing and telling, particularly in Steve's relationships with Roxy and his other friends. Roxy is often an afterthought in the narrative until there is suddenly an issue in their relationship. These are issues that we often do not see develop on the page in any meaningful way but rather ones that seem to come out of nowhere. She often mentions difficulties with their other friends that aren't reflected elsewhere in the narrative as well. It's possible that this is intentional as a reflection of Steve's difficulty in balancing his job and his life outside of work but hints that the reader could pick up on which Steve is ignoring would make that a lot clearer. I found that the author improved in his execution of this subplot as the book continued. Ultimately, I was satisfied by how this part of the book was resolved.
Overall, while it wasn't my favorite book of all time, I did enjoy it more than I expected to based on the premise. The author's writing strengths allowed him to write a compelling story set in a time and place he knows well about topics that he is clearly passionate about. I feel like if the character dialogue sounded a little more natural instead of being somewhat stiff and formal and the characters themselves had more depth, I would have been able to rate it 5 stars, but these issues lowered my rating a little bit to 4 stars. However, this shouldn't be taken as a recommendation not to read it if you have an interest in the premise and time period. Wild World is a strong start to the author's writing career and with more writing experience I feel that his books can only improve over time.
******
Wild World
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Wild World by Peter S. Rush
