A Review of Alsoomse and Wanchese:

Book Moves at a Snail’s Pace Dishonest

 

If you google my name (Harold Titus) and the title of my second novel (“Alsoomse and Wanchese”), you will find almost immediately a book review with the title “Book Moves at a Snail’s Pace.”  The reviewer is entitled to her opinion.  Expressing any opinion when she has read no more than one/tenth of the novel and does not admit it is outright dishonest.

 

In January this person solicited author/members on goodreads.com to contribute material for her web site.  Included was her offer to review their books.  I accepted her offer.  Her review of “Alsoomse and Wanchese” appeared on her web site April 18.  I know that she could not have read past the third of fourth chapter of the 40-chapter novel because of the paucity of what she wrote.

 

Her “summary” of the novel is information about the two protagonists that appears in the first chapter.

 

She stated that one of the themes is “gender roles” and the consequences of what can happen if a person goes against what is expected.  This information is available on my goodreads.com author’s page.  She offered this one-sentence quotation as support.  “Why could she [Alsoomse] not accept who she was, a female meant to do female work to benefit every person of the village?”  The sentence appears on page 9 of chapter one.

 

She also wrote under the category “themes” this statement.  “The difference between Native American and English culture are quite evident from the scenes that alternate between the two civilizations.”  It is a safe statement.  Could she not have stated a specific difference?  Like Humphrey Gilbert nearly beats to death his cabin boy for carelessness of performance of duty and Wanchese, demonstrating firm patience, strives to teach his chief’s petulant, entitled-minded son how to extract wood from the trunk of a hazel-wood tree to be fashioned into a bow? (chapter two). 

 

What she liked about the novel is said in one sentence: “Glimpses of Algonquian culture including storytelling, rituals and religion add authenticity.”  Story telling is introduced in chapter 2.  A dance ritual at a corn festival is portrayed in chapter 5.  (Did she get this far?  Doubtful)  The wicked god Kiwasa is spoken about in chapter one, as is the ritual of offering him sacred tobacco to secure his protection.

 

What she did not like about the story is also stated in one sentence: “The plot of the story moves very slowly, which is a turnoff for readers expecting action.  It is instead more a series of slice-of-life pieces.”  The first several chapters establish setting and reveal character traits of the protagonists and several supporting characters.  The reviewer had 400 plus pages to read.  She probably had other books waiting that she had promised to read and review.  She did not want to read past chapter 3 or 4.  Had she gotten a quarter of the way through the book she would have witnessed plenty of tense action that continues to the novel’s last page.  The novel is not a “slice of life” story, i.e. random events having little correlation.  The plot focuses on Wanchese’s strenuous attempts to become the most essential warrior of his tribe.  It focuses on Alsoomse’s on-going struggles, one, to resolve whether she should look to the needs of vulnerable tribes people instead of continuing to pursue her selfish wants and, two, whether she will receive tribal punishment for her questioning, non-conformist behavior.

 

The reviewer used more space to complain about my placing a glossary of native words and a list of characters in front of chapter one than she did to criticize the story.  In fact, other than the one quotation mentioned about, she offered no detail to support any of her opinions.

 

The English teacher that I once was tells me she read two or three chapters of the book.  As of the date of my writing this rebuttal, 32 of her blog readers have read her review.  What are the odds of any of them rushing out to purchase my novel, or of anybody who happens upon her review as a result of goggling “Alsoomse and Wanchese”? 

 

Dishonest.