by Ann Pino
Copyright: © 2008
521 Pages
$6.00 E-book
$14.95 Paperback
What draws us to the personal diaries of others? Remember reading Anne Frank’s back in high school? While recently on vacation, I picked up a brochure type stapled printing of a Civil War diary a woman had self-published and made available in a local gift shop. I was immediately drawn into it on page one. Having just finished Ann Pino’s superb Lulu book, My New-Found Land, I yearned for more of the personal and intimate writings of others. Although Pino’s book is of a fictional nature, it reads as the diary of her central character, Diana Channing.
Diana is a tough eighteen year old girl surviving a world at war that has depleted its natural resources. She’s had a military background since she was just thirteen years old. She’s also been married but in love with someone else. The journey that we follow her on through her journal is the trek from New Mexico to Kentucky as she sets out with her horse to find her destiny. Pino does an excellent job of building suspense because we are right on the page with Diana as she is writing her journal. She does not know what lies ahead as she records each day, and neither does the reader.
The book has great character itself because each day in the diary is introduced with a picture that Diana has either taken or drawn. Pino has done an excellent “photoshop” job to make some of the pictures look like actual charcoal drawings, which adds great depth to the story. As we journal or blog in real life today, we tend to “tell” our story rather than “show” it to the reader. In most private cases, we are our own reader so details are left out as we hurry to get the story out. There’s no need for great detail because we are just writing them down as a way for us to remember the events the best we can. The added photos to this book make for a nice balance of show vs. tell since this book is written in diary form.
There were some entries that I got bored with, but not enough to make me want to put the book down and walk away. As I probably would with my own journal or diary, I did skip around to the good parts. As each day is a new adventure for the author’s protagonist, it is also for the reader. If I chose to rush through an entry that wasn’t holding my interest, I definitely didn’t feel lost. Despite the length of this work, it is a fast paced read that kept me intrigued.
Don’t let Diana’s age discourage you from reading this if you prefer an older central character. Pino weaves a very mature tale, in which Diana has probably experienced too much in life and has had to grow up fast. She’s definitely a character that many of us can relate to. Horse lovers will love Flecha, Diana’s four-legged companion. The diary entries are also filled with other deep characters that Diana encounters on her journey. Seeing them from Diana’s perspective alone will definitely keep you guessing.
Female readers will cheer for the strong protagonist and relish the romantic plot lines. Male readers would enjoy the setting and the “western-like” feel of this story. Ann Pino has definitely penned an extensive piece with great care and consideration to her characters and plot. This is yet another great POD read which I hope will find a bloodline amongst traditional publishers. Treat yourself to the download alone and read this one on paper like old diary pages you’ve found in a dusty trunk in Grandma’s attic, or support this author and add the paperback to your bookshelf collection. Either way, you will not be disappointed.
Bravo, Ann, for this breathtaking journey. Excellent prose! In-depth characters! A highly developed setting and an intricate plot that kept this reader reading!
Visit this author at her blog: http://ampfiction2.blogspot.com/
Thanks for your review and comments, Shannon! I’m so excited to have my first review by someone not already acquainted with me or the characters in the story.
This book started as a serial blog. I didn’t intend to make it into a novel, but enough people enjoyed it that I was curious what I would end up with if I cleaned it up and shortened it. The original word count was over 200K and I got it under 123K, which is still high for a novel, but not crazy-long for a spec fiction novel. Those pictures sure raise the page count, but I think they enhance the story and I’m glad you think so, too.
It was a fun story to write. In spite of the rather high body count, it has a lightness and humor that is absent from most of my other dystopian fiction. Certainly I wanted Diana to be tough, resourceful, and able to hold her own in a fight. But I wanted her to be human too, and to aspire to better things. Diana got to see a lot of human nature on her road trip, but I think she found more to laugh about than to despair over.
Thanks for the review and the link! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next on your list!
I just scoped the preview; boyhow, the book looks fantastic. Well designed (which is sometimes a rarity in POD stuff) and unique. It seems to highlight the sort of niche POD is perfect for; the kind of book that lends itself to somewhat experimental formatting (the use of pictures/”sketches” is, quite simply, brilliant).
I’m definitely going to have to pick me up one of these. Nice job, Ann.