William PetrickBesprekingen

The Five Lost Days
By William Petrick

This book was received from the LibraryThing Member Giveaway program in exchange for a review.

In The Five Lost Days by William Petrick, a documentary film crew lead by Michael Burns from the United States is assigned a project to get the story of a Mayan village healer who might have knowledge of ancient plants that could be new medicines.

Trouble is he is allowed only five days to travel to the Belize jungle, film and return. We find out this all takes place during with Wayeb’ (called Uayeb), or the five unnamed days on the Mayan calendar…hence the title of the book.

Right from the beginning, the author, draws us into the mystery and suspense of the unknown through frightening canoe rides, lost supplies, intense heat, strange attractions and gruesome murder. The story line is fast paced and very compelling; the characters are familiar but also secretive. The book’s ending is very thought provoking and did not bother me at all.

This is the William Petrick debut novel and after reading it I look forward to his next novel. I recommend this book to those people who like a good thriller.

Video Verite is a selection of short stories that explores our connection to the media. Our lives are filled with images, but not all of them are real. In a culture overrun with advertising, reality shows and celebrities famous for getting their faces on tv, how do we know what is truth and what is fiction?

William Petrick’s stories touch on various aspects of media culture, although the connection was not always clear to me. In “Turn Around,” a couple in the midst of splitting up head to the airport, while in “Perfect View,” a little vacation rock-climbing has the potential for tragedy. Others are more clearly connected — in “Video Verite,” “Sins of the Father” and “Shooting Harlem” there are definite connections to television and video and the truth of what we see on the screen.

Some of the stories are quite interesting. ”The Captain” is the story of a military man trying to do the right thing. ”Perfect View” has Paul stomping off to prove a point (and nearly get himself killed in the process), while poor, clueless Amy sits idly by, sketching. These were quick reads, short enough to finish the book on the flight between Cleveland and Newark (1 hour, 20 minutes – I know that flight well).

The trend these days seems to be to smaller books – this one is less than 140 pages. The stories themselves are very short, some only 3 or 4 pages long. It all lends to the feeling that the book is somehow incomplete. Many of the stories felt unfinished to me. For example, in “Shooting Harlem,” a producer is sent to film the story of a young black girl who has received an important scholarship. The news team is looking for a particular kind of story – poverty, depression, an escape from the ghetto. When they don’t get that story, when they find a nice, middle-class family, they’re at a loss to know what to do. That’s interesting, so far. But then the producer just walks away, goes back to his newsroom. What did he learn? Did he confront his prejudice? Was it shared by his colleagues? No answers to those questions, and those were the ones that interested me.

The book also paints an unattractive portrait of women. There is only one story told from a female point of view (and that woman is more than a bit nuts), and it ends with everyone in handcuffs. There are bitter ex-wives, women nagging men to talk about their feelings, resentful girlfriends who don’t want their fellas to go out with the boys. A pretty tired stereotype, in my opinion.

In The Five Lost Days by William Petrick, a documentary film crew travels to a Mayan village to record video footage for a documentary in the United States. However, they are only allocated five days, which also happens to coincide with Wayeb’ (called Uayeb), or the five unnamed days on the Mayan calendar.

Their mission is wrought with failure, losing their tapes, having run-ins with irate Guatemalan soldiers, being scrutinized by the paranoid husband of one of their subjects. And with each step forward, they are pushed two or three steps back.

In this story, worlds collide: the street smart New Yorkers mix with former hippie activists (now researching native pharmaceuticals) who mix with traditional Mayans who mix with peaceful Latin Americans who mix with bellicose teenage soldiers. This dynamism comes through in the text, giving the reader a notion of unease and edge-of-your-seat-ocity, as well as realistic blending the real world with the Mayan spiritual world, giving credence to a character’s belief that the real world is merely a reflection of the spiritual.

While I typically don’t read thrillers and felt that the book could have gone a bit longer (though I’m sure there are good reasons why it ended where it did), I must say that The Five Lost Days was very readable, and had a plot that kept your attention up to the very end.

Some parts of the book are grim, and may not be suitable for the light-hearted or the queasy, but for people who can handle that, and enjoy a good thriller with an atypical protagonist, then The Five Lost Days might be something you can read without considering that time to be wasted.½

This book started out a little slow and then all of a sudden when it was really having things happen and be very interesting it ended with nothing being settled. While I liked the story, I really hated the ending, unless there is a fast sequel that will give you a proper ending.

This is a collection of short stories by William Petrick, who is also the author of the newer title The Five Lost Days. I wasn't really sure what to expect, because I've found that many authors are good at one style (like short stories) but not at another (like a novel). Since I had both titles on my shelf, I started with this one, and now I'm eager to read The Five Lost Days to compare. If it's half as good, I'll be pleased!

For one thing, Petrick creates complicated characters with few words. He doesn't spend pages describing them; instead, just a few words of a conversation or a significant pause (or look) tells you what they are about. The stories themselves are not hugely complex either...in fact, they are fairly simple and straightforward. So what is revealed? Petrick's characters do not do what you expect. Their actions are surprising, but at the same time make perfect sense, after the fact.

In the title story, Video Verite, the meaning of the word 'verite' has a chilling significance: "a form of documentary film in which a small, hand-held camera and unobtrusive techniques are used to record scenes under the most natural conditions possible."* In this story, a man volunteers to film his skydiving friends as he freefalls with them, but with a tragic ending. In just a few words, the story fills you with tension and horror, and yet even more revealing is what happens to the video itself. Petrick reveals parts of the human personality that cannot be explained.

Another story is The Captain, about an Army captain stationed at Warrior Base in Haiti. He considers himself a liberator, and has moral questions about his tour there. Yet when he behaves according to his code of honor, he finds himself the victim of an almost mythological punishment. He remembers his father and his advice not to trust emotions: "If you don't control them, they control you,...That's your weakness, young man. You're impatient, and you lose control." Petrick juxtaposes the concepts of warrior, liberator, and loyalty in a very short piece that makes you reconsider the meaning of those terms as well.

The stories revolve around hitchikers and mechanics, prisoners and park rangers. Small things take on special significance: a wristwatch, or a perfect view. This is an engrossing collection, and my only problem with it is that my dentist is named Dr. Petrick, no relation I'm sure, but I kept thinking he was the writer and it gave me a weird sense of apprehension. Alas, this is no trip to the dentist! Much better!

I was loving this book... then it ended. So abruptly I thought part of the e-book had not been downloaded. But that was it, in the middle of a gripping scene it was done. I went back and checked, there were a couple of The Five Lost Days truly lost.
All the wonderfully complicated characters with such interesting well developed identities and backgrounds. What happened to them where did they go? I do feel cheated. I don't need all parts and parties in a book to be tied up in a neat package at the end, but come on.
Even with how much I enjoyed what was written, and how well it was written, I don't really feel I could recommend it without giving the BIG spoiler... there is not an ending. To beat the dead horse a little more... a page turner should have something besides a blank page as The End.

This book is well researched, well written and reflects the author's knowledge of the art of film making. The descriptions of the jungle of Belize transported me there as I read. The illustrated notations of native plants and their uses was fascinating in addition to lending authenticity. However, the plot line was not all I had hoped and I felt that the author stopped writing just a bit too soon.

The reader first meets producer Michael Burns as he is traveling through the mountains of Belize with his film crew to shoot of documentary on the last living Maya healer. While Burns' crew complains about the weather and their accommodations, Burns is completely in his element. From the very start, the motley team meets some quirky natives who help guide them to the house where two Americans live. Frank and Kelly, are a married couple who moved to Belize years ago for work. Kelly works for a pharmaceutical company, trying to find new herbs that can be used in medicines. While Frank, is caught up in the violent war that is spilling into Belize from Guatemala. When Burns arrives with his cameras and lights, Kelly is more than willing to help while Frank is suspicious of the crew's intentions. Problems arise when the crew arrives at Kelly and Frank's only to find that they lost their film somewhere along the way. One of Burns' crew members breaks off from the group to go find the footage only to discover that the country is riddled with much more violence than anyone thought. It is not long before Burns and his remaining crew members find themselves at odds with the people and the unforgiving jungle. Suddenly, what began as a five day film shoot for a documentary becomes a fit for their lives.

There are several things with which I think Petrick did an excellent job. The first was how at the beginning of each chapter, there was a sketch of an herb, its name, and its healing power. I found this to be fascinating and found myself looking forward to this short passages. Second, I loved Petrick's description of the jungle and overall landscape. I felt as if it was its own character that had a back story, feelings, desires, and complicated relationships. There are few novels that I have read that have made me feel so connected to the jungle. Lastly, I thought that Petrick did a very good job in establishing these characters. I am usually leery of any novel that has more than two main characters, mainly because I can never keep more than five characters straight. However, Petrick has SEVEN main characters all of whom were wonderfully developed and very distinct from each other (even I could keep keep track).

Though I thought that Petrick did a very good job, I did have some concerns about the novel. At times, I felt as if the book was pulling me in too many directions. In one chapter, I would be introduced to a possible love triangle between Burns, Frank, and Kelly only to be thrown into a violent confrontation between a boy soldier and one of Burns' crew members. When I had come to grips with that situation, I would be hurled into the mind of the Maya healer and his loneliness only to be shot into Burns' struggle with commitment to his current girlfriend. Each of these stories were interesting, but at times they distracted me and I completed the book without really knowing what the purpose was. Sometimes it seems like a book about the hardships of producing a film, only to shift and be about the atrocities of war or how a marriage can change over a period of time without anyone noticing. Yet, my major concern was over the ending of the novel and the fact that it didn't have one. All of these great plot points keep barreling at the reader only to have the novel just stop without truly ending. I hope this is because Petrick is writing a sequel, but if not...maybe he should think about it because he has enough good material here for a series!

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I just finished The Five Lost Days and was reminded of the reason I don't write a book. Because like Mr. Petrick, I wouldn't know how to end the excitment of the rest of the novel.
A lot of drama and character development was placed in this story all for naught,. It seems nothing is done with the curarndero's feelings of helplessness. Or the tension between Kelly the scientist, and her husband, Frank's marriage. Frank is looking to get money and glory sooner than later, and we never see what happens there.
There is a border war thrown in, it would seem for gratuitous violence.
I am a magnanimous reader and will overlook violence if the story warrants it. But this testosterone romp was beyond my ken. And the last pages swelled with excitment only to end on an ambiguous note. It was not a thought provoking ending as it left me nothing but frustrated.½

I really enjoyed this book. It is intensely vivid in describing the beauty of the rainforest and the characters that live there. Interesting focus on the plants and animals of the forest. This book invites you into an exotic world of danger and excitement that keeps going until the very end. This brings up the problem with the ending. Unfinished, abrupt ending. The author left me thinking someone had stolen the last pages. Great book and if anyone finds those 'lost pages' I'd love to find out how this story actually ends.