Great sense of place and excellent characters. Should be a film in the near future. ( )

Great book. Very dark in its humor. ( )

A son with a dead cat in tow comes to visit his father, who is suffering from early on-set dementia. And so it begins, getting slightly weirder and more lovable with each turned page. This book is the story of a family's demise that is filled with hope and optimism and the crazy belief that if you do nothing about a problem it simply doesn't exist. There is the cast of loser characters, led by Stacey (Shakespeare) Williams and his dad and rounded out with old school friends. And when I say losers, I say it lovingly. There is the farm, eroding around them, and the wonderful contraptions Shakey's dad made but took apart and can't put back together. All in all, quirkiness lurks at every turn.

* I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads. ( )

This ebook I received from the author was both humorous and a tear-jerker. A father and son living out their days with a group of “friends”, each of whom have their own uses for each other and their own faulty relationships with each other. Loved it! ( )

Well written for a debut novel, but the lack of a compelling narrative makes for a difficult read. A brutally honest (but dark) tale about a father and son finding their way. Emmet, whose grip on reality is mirrored by the state of the family farm. Crumbling. His son, Shakespeare, kills time with old friends from high school. Emmett entertains wild solutions to his dilemma, such as: a bank heist, stealing a plane. But everything, eventually, comes undone . . . including the plot. ( )