Julie Mars

Margaret Shaw, a New York bartender/artist, decides to go to Albuquerque and learn the art of welding. There she meets Rico Garcia, a low rider welder of remarkable skill, and after she hires him to teach her welding, a complex friendship develops. Both are in need of healing; Margaret's parents disappeared on a pilgrimage to India while she was young, and Rico's wife inexplicably detached herself from him emotionally and sexually years ago. The two of them draw strength and insight from each other, and both find a resolution of their inner conflicts. This is a strong and satisfying story, with heart and wit and characters who bond with the reader. My only quibble is the nature of Margaret's final resolution regarding her long-missing parents; it stretches credulity. But there is such an undercurrent of mysticism that weaves in and out of the book that it didn't particularly bother me.… (meer)

ARC Giveaway & Review: You know by now that I’m a sucker for a beautiful book cover and this one was no exception. There’s just so much potential in that gorgeous sky. When I read the publisher’s description for Rust by award-winning author Julie Mars, it touched something in me and knew I wanted to read Rust whether I reviewed it or not. Although I could have reviewed it closer to its release date, I knew it would be the perfect novel to share with you for Valentine’s Day. If you like grown-up stories of love and redemption, stories about the Southwest, or just plain excellent fiction then read on. Read the rest of my review & enter our giveaway at http://popcornreads.com/?p=2910… (meer)

Rust is ostensibly the story of how two very different people who meet as teacher and student change each other's lives in unexpected ways, and as such, it's an interesting window into the intersection of lives and cultures.

Julie Mars has a little trouble getting out of her own way, though. She can't resist telling the reader when showing would do as well, so we get drawn-out descriptions of everyone's emotions and how this thing that just happened reminds them of this other thing that happened a long time ago. She's working with multiple close third-person narrators, but they don't have distinct voices, and that's a little jarring to the reader. Mars is also working with a lot of stories - Margaret's artist's journey, Rico's marriage, Rico's family history, Margaret's family history, Margaret's dad's disastrous trip to India, Margaret and Rico's is-it-or-isn't-it-a-romance - and she never seems to settle on which one is most important to the action of the book. They each get equal treatment within the structure of the narrative, including the bafflingly boring subplot of Margaret's dad, which is told in italicized flashbacks interspersed with Margaret and Rico having deep emotions about things. It leaves the reader wondering what the story is really about.

This isn't a bad book, but it's not a great one, either. I had trouble staying involved enough in the story to finish it, in part because of the degree to which Mars doesn't trust the reader to follow along, but instead feels the need to spell out endlessly how the characters feel about everything, instead of showing us how they're living though it.… (meer)