Official Review: The Bramble Tree by Randy Lee Purdy
Posted: 27 Jun 2020, 16:23
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Bramble Tree" by Randy Lee Purdy.]
The Bramble Tree by Randy Lee Purdy is a short fiction book about a son’s journey to recover his greatest memory of his father. Jacob was raised on a ranch by his father, Rory. Rory’s parents traveled the rodeo circuit together until a tragic accident left Rory alone. He finds his way back to the light through the help of a few friends who own a ranch. There, Rory finds love and begins a family, which includes Jacob, his son, who shares his love and respect for animals. Rory buys Jacob a baby Brahma bull which becomes his closest friend. When a resentful family member sells the bull away from Jacob, he goes on a quest across the country and the rodeo circuit to recover the animal which embodies his relationship with his father.
After reading the compelling summary above, you, like me, are likely thinking this could be an interesting book that includes complex characters and rich world building. This is definitely what I was hoping for when I chose to read this book. Unfortunately, I found that many of my expectations were not met. To begin, the book is quite short (about 100 pages), and there is a lot of history told within the first 20 pages. Before the reader really has a chance to connect to the characters, they are moving quickly through life, falling in love, getting married, and having children. I hadn’t even begun to care about Rory’s story before I was then supposed to care about his love story with his wife. The book continued to zip along with many characters being added along the way, and there was never enough time between each character appearing for me to understand their particular motivations, interests, or emotions.
I think one of the main reasons I felt that the story was speeding by was because the author spent a lot of the book summarizing- telling instead of showing. The majority of the book is made up of narration explaining what happened over a period of time. There are very few scenes which actually involve dialogue between characters to help them develop. Also, all of the characters feel one-dimensional. It’s obvious who are the bad guys and who are the good guys, and we aren’t given enough information about the antagonists to sympathize with them or even just to judge them on our own.
Overall, I would rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I had planned to give it 2 stars up until the very end, but the conclusion of the book was so unbelievable and unsatisfying that I felt I had to give it the lowest rating. Besides the issues mentioned above, I also found a variety of errors in the book, which convinced me that it was not professionally edited.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone in its current state, but the reading level is suitable for adults. There is no sexual content, and the violence is limited to one scene and is not overly graphic. It includes strong themes of Christianity, loyalty to family, and kindness towards animals, but I did not find that these positive themes could overcome the negative aspects of the book.
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The Bramble Tree
View: on Bookshelves
The Bramble Tree by Randy Lee Purdy is a short fiction book about a son’s journey to recover his greatest memory of his father. Jacob was raised on a ranch by his father, Rory. Rory’s parents traveled the rodeo circuit together until a tragic accident left Rory alone. He finds his way back to the light through the help of a few friends who own a ranch. There, Rory finds love and begins a family, which includes Jacob, his son, who shares his love and respect for animals. Rory buys Jacob a baby Brahma bull which becomes his closest friend. When a resentful family member sells the bull away from Jacob, he goes on a quest across the country and the rodeo circuit to recover the animal which embodies his relationship with his father.
After reading the compelling summary above, you, like me, are likely thinking this could be an interesting book that includes complex characters and rich world building. This is definitely what I was hoping for when I chose to read this book. Unfortunately, I found that many of my expectations were not met. To begin, the book is quite short (about 100 pages), and there is a lot of history told within the first 20 pages. Before the reader really has a chance to connect to the characters, they are moving quickly through life, falling in love, getting married, and having children. I hadn’t even begun to care about Rory’s story before I was then supposed to care about his love story with his wife. The book continued to zip along with many characters being added along the way, and there was never enough time between each character appearing for me to understand their particular motivations, interests, or emotions.
I think one of the main reasons I felt that the story was speeding by was because the author spent a lot of the book summarizing- telling instead of showing. The majority of the book is made up of narration explaining what happened over a period of time. There are very few scenes which actually involve dialogue between characters to help them develop. Also, all of the characters feel one-dimensional. It’s obvious who are the bad guys and who are the good guys, and we aren’t given enough information about the antagonists to sympathize with them or even just to judge them on our own.
Overall, I would rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I had planned to give it 2 stars up until the very end, but the conclusion of the book was so unbelievable and unsatisfying that I felt I had to give it the lowest rating. Besides the issues mentioned above, I also found a variety of errors in the book, which convinced me that it was not professionally edited.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone in its current state, but the reading level is suitable for adults. There is no sexual content, and the violence is limited to one scene and is not overly graphic. It includes strong themes of Christianity, loyalty to family, and kindness towards animals, but I did not find that these positive themes could overcome the negative aspects of the book.
******
The Bramble Tree
View: on Bookshelves
