Official Review: The Winnowing by Chris Fyles

[Neleh403]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Winnowing" by Chris Fyles.]

This story starts with Richard Brot in an extremely hungover state. To say he has a drink problem is putting it mildly. As he goes on yet another bender this time encountering a prostitute who happens to be male he begins to think about his life and when it all started to go tragically wrong.

Richard is a teenager being brought up in an average household, mum, dad and brother. However he feels he is different in some way. He knows between what is right and what is wrong to him there are no grey areas. He is a protector of what is right. However to be a protector you need the courage and conviction to put right the wrongs, unfortunately for Richard he has neither.

An incident on the way to school involving some younger children terrorizing a cat causes Richard to meet Laurie, a friend of his mothers who then becomes the focus of his twisted attention. Laurie is in no way innocent as she gives the ill destined Richard all the wrong signals. She also introduces him to Jack. A homeless man, who having had serious problems of his own in his younger days can see right through Richard and tries to warn him about himself with very little success.

This story encompasses all the problems which some teenagers encounter throughout their teenage years, all be it a bit more fanciful. From school bullying, animal abuse, racial hatred and obsessive encounters all are involved in Richards’s life.

The story was very well written with excellent descriptions of surroundings, thoughts, feelings and characters. The author really does get the reader into the mind of Richard, which at times is not a pleasant experience. You can almost feel the rage and resentment coming from the pages.

I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. As mentioned before it is well written but a little confusing at times and some parts I had to re-read to get the general idea of where the story was heading. How Richard gets into the situation he first finds himself in at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book could do with a bit more clarifying, or it could be the author’s intention for the reader to draw their own conclusions. If that is the case it was well done.

***
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