Official Review: Get Back on the Horse by Bill Orton
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jazziemommie
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Official Review: Get Back on the Horse by Bill Orton
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Get Back on the Horse" by Bill Orton.]
1 out of 4 stars
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Get Back on the Horse – Tales of Love, Ghosts and Presidents is the final book in Bill Orton’s “Hope For Change” fictional trilogy. The series is set in modern day America, amidst the political clash between Democrats, Republicans and the TEA party movement. As governmental conflict builds and civil rights and liberties are threatened, everyday American citizens’ who are fed up decide to take action.
Orton’s third and concluding novel follows the main character, Larry van der Bix, on a peaceful protest crusade across the country. Larry was an invisible man until he won over $200 million in the lottery and entered the local political scene. Shortly after taking office as Long Beach City Council President, Larry finds himself being pulled away from local politics and thrown into the national spotlight as he defends gay marriage and fights for justice for his best friend, Sergeant Lori Lewis.
Larry heads to Washington D.C. on the back of a horse with a handful of supporters and a simple message, “Leave Lori Lewis Alone”. As the journey continues east, he gains support, and his posse grows to an almost unmanageable size. Over 2000 citizens ultimately join the horseback ride over the six-month journey, displaying their humble protest signs that silently express various injustices. Although their messages and causes vary, the riders are united in their sentiments of being fed up with politicians.
Although Get Back on the Horse had the makings of a decent story, I felt Bill Orton mistakenly twisted it into a bizarre fantasy novel. It was impossible for me to take this story seriously. Events involving military combat, sexual assault, a Senate confirmation hearing, and marriage equality in the armed services were exaggerated and described unrealistically. Then to make the story even wackier, the author added in ghosts, a highly unlikely masquerade ball at the White House, and some cheesy romance scenes.
In my opinion, Orton did not fully develop his characters, nor did he create at least one likeable character in his novel. I really wanted to like Larry because, at first, he seemed to possess some promising qualities. He was a simple man with few words, shy and socially awkward in an endearing way, and very charitable and generous with his lottery winnings. Plus, he was sticking up for the rights of his best friend, a lesbian army soldier. However as the story continued, I started to see Larry as a spineless man who wasted money, he took his supporters for granted, and he disrespected his trainer and fellow riders countless times. My opinion of Larry was brought even lower when he showed no attachment, respect, or compassion for his horse, even after spending countless days riding on its back.
In addition to poor character development, I found that certain elements of the author’s writing technique distracted from the tale he attempted to weave. This made it difficult for me to become engrossed in the story. Most off-putting was Orton’s overuse of dialog. Instead of describing characters and settings in order to paint a picture, he used page after page of conversations. This often left me puzzled, wondering what feelings might be behind the words being spoken. In addition, the interchanges contained a variety of dialects and slang (what’cha, heya, yer, Mist’ah, Fix’ah, etc.). Larry’s dialog was especially annoying because he was a poor communicator to begin with. As a result, most of his dialog included “uh,” well,” and “um”. If he’s not a talker, then why include what he is struggling to say each and every time? A more effective technique would have been to describe and narrate Larry’s awkward stammering moments once in a while throughout the novel, without giving him dialog.
I debated between giving Bill Orton’s Get Back on the Horse 1 or 2 stars but ultimately gave it a 1 out of 4 stars. I almost gave up on the book after the first chapter, but I “got back on the horse”, so to speak. After all, I’m not a quitter! I overlooked the run-on sentences (a few of which were a page long) and the overuse of dialog, as I search for the actual story underneath. For the most part, I did not enjoy reading this book. I expected to read about Larry’s cross-country horseback adventure and Lori's gay/lesbian military drama. Instead, the story veered off course multiple times and headed into a confusingly bizarre fantasy tale. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
******
Get Back on the Horse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
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1 out of 4 stars
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Get Back on the Horse – Tales of Love, Ghosts and Presidents is the final book in Bill Orton’s “Hope For Change” fictional trilogy. The series is set in modern day America, amidst the political clash between Democrats, Republicans and the TEA party movement. As governmental conflict builds and civil rights and liberties are threatened, everyday American citizens’ who are fed up decide to take action.
Orton’s third and concluding novel follows the main character, Larry van der Bix, on a peaceful protest crusade across the country. Larry was an invisible man until he won over $200 million in the lottery and entered the local political scene. Shortly after taking office as Long Beach City Council President, Larry finds himself being pulled away from local politics and thrown into the national spotlight as he defends gay marriage and fights for justice for his best friend, Sergeant Lori Lewis.
Larry heads to Washington D.C. on the back of a horse with a handful of supporters and a simple message, “Leave Lori Lewis Alone”. As the journey continues east, he gains support, and his posse grows to an almost unmanageable size. Over 2000 citizens ultimately join the horseback ride over the six-month journey, displaying their humble protest signs that silently express various injustices. Although their messages and causes vary, the riders are united in their sentiments of being fed up with politicians.
Although Get Back on the Horse had the makings of a decent story, I felt Bill Orton mistakenly twisted it into a bizarre fantasy novel. It was impossible for me to take this story seriously. Events involving military combat, sexual assault, a Senate confirmation hearing, and marriage equality in the armed services were exaggerated and described unrealistically. Then to make the story even wackier, the author added in ghosts, a highly unlikely masquerade ball at the White House, and some cheesy romance scenes.
In my opinion, Orton did not fully develop his characters, nor did he create at least one likeable character in his novel. I really wanted to like Larry because, at first, he seemed to possess some promising qualities. He was a simple man with few words, shy and socially awkward in an endearing way, and very charitable and generous with his lottery winnings. Plus, he was sticking up for the rights of his best friend, a lesbian army soldier. However as the story continued, I started to see Larry as a spineless man who wasted money, he took his supporters for granted, and he disrespected his trainer and fellow riders countless times. My opinion of Larry was brought even lower when he showed no attachment, respect, or compassion for his horse, even after spending countless days riding on its back.
In addition to poor character development, I found that certain elements of the author’s writing technique distracted from the tale he attempted to weave. This made it difficult for me to become engrossed in the story. Most off-putting was Orton’s overuse of dialog. Instead of describing characters and settings in order to paint a picture, he used page after page of conversations. This often left me puzzled, wondering what feelings might be behind the words being spoken. In addition, the interchanges contained a variety of dialects and slang (what’cha, heya, yer, Mist’ah, Fix’ah, etc.). Larry’s dialog was especially annoying because he was a poor communicator to begin with. As a result, most of his dialog included “uh,” well,” and “um”. If he’s not a talker, then why include what he is struggling to say each and every time? A more effective technique would have been to describe and narrate Larry’s awkward stammering moments once in a while throughout the novel, without giving him dialog.
I debated between giving Bill Orton’s Get Back on the Horse 1 or 2 stars but ultimately gave it a 1 out of 4 stars. I almost gave up on the book after the first chapter, but I “got back on the horse”, so to speak. After all, I’m not a quitter! I overlooked the run-on sentences (a few of which were a page long) and the overuse of dialog, as I search for the actual story underneath. For the most part, I did not enjoy reading this book. I expected to read about Larry’s cross-country horseback adventure and Lori's gay/lesbian military drama. Instead, the story veered off course multiple times and headed into a confusingly bizarre fantasy tale. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
******
Get Back on the Horse
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
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Latest Review: "Noise" by Brett Garcia Rose
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billorton
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What a spectacular effort by the reviewer! Cheers!
-- 25 Feb 2015, 21:28 --
The only character worthy of remembrance, aside from Lori, who represents the power and majesty of this beautiful country, and December, who embodies the charms of youth, it would be the Osgoods. It is on their farm (not in NY) where the Barn Dance occurs. It is Dory Osgood who tells Larry his neighbors don't like that he's there, his message, or him. Yet there is Mr. & Mrs. Osgood, feeding sandwiches and tea to Larry and his team, letting hundreds of horseriding strangers set up camp on a fallow field, and allowing a huge barn dance. Why would they do that? Well, of course, yes, that their daughter is now in Oregon, married to a woman, perhaps THAT affected the decisions of Mr. & Mrs. Osgood. But, truly, their definitional moment as characters is in the confrontation of the beast Floyd Boseman. It is that moment which captures where we are as a nation -- right now -- on a hard social question. Who, then, is Dory Osgood? To my eyes, as the author who gives him voice, I see Dory Osgood as the manifestation of the innate fairness of the American people. That, my reviewing friend, is a humble suggestion of at least one character -- be it in cameo -- worthy of sympathy.
-- 25 Feb 2015, 21:28 --
The only character worthy of remembrance, aside from Lori, who represents the power and majesty of this beautiful country, and December, who embodies the charms of youth, it would be the Osgoods. It is on their farm (not in NY) where the Barn Dance occurs. It is Dory Osgood who tells Larry his neighbors don't like that he's there, his message, or him. Yet there is Mr. & Mrs. Osgood, feeding sandwiches and tea to Larry and his team, letting hundreds of horseriding strangers set up camp on a fallow field, and allowing a huge barn dance. Why would they do that? Well, of course, yes, that their daughter is now in Oregon, married to a woman, perhaps THAT affected the decisions of Mr. & Mrs. Osgood. But, truly, their definitional moment as characters is in the confrontation of the beast Floyd Boseman. It is that moment which captures where we are as a nation -- right now -- on a hard social question. Who, then, is Dory Osgood? To my eyes, as the author who gives him voice, I see Dory Osgood as the manifestation of the innate fairness of the American people. That, my reviewing friend, is a humble suggestion of at least one character -- be it in cameo -- worthy of sympathy.
