The long winded, overly complex sentences with awkward phrasing made the book difficult to read. The random unrelated details and incidents slowed down a slow story about a wrought iron artist living alone in a rural setting. The unexpected arrival of a bipolar? wandering miscreant introduced a possible distraction, but when the 40ish male protagonist reveals he still pines on his love from 20 years ago (a woman who was right to dump him) I had to roll my eyes. When he feels compelled to drop in on her a week or so after her husband dies in a car crash, and when she eventually lets him in to her kitchen and confesses he died after hitting a cow because he was driving drunk after being with her sister, I got bored. What a ridiculous soap opera with excessive drama and emotions. It felt like I had been reading the book for ever and was barely over a third through. I skipped ahead a bit and saw more ridiculous drama and didn't care a wit. Not wanting to waste any more time, I put the book in the donation bin. ( )

Jeffrey Lent’s heroes face challenges out of the run of the mill. Some of these, as in In the Fall and Lost Nation, face an onslaught of outside forces strong enough to bow or break even the strongest protagonist. In A Peculiar Grace, hero Hewitt Pearce’s toughest tests result instead from his own past and his not-always-healthy ways of coping with it. In this book, Mr. Lent has shrunk his canvas down from the sweeping, heroic backdrops he used in Fall and Nation, to the emotional life of one stubborn yet searching man, who trusts his emotions and views of life maybe a little too much. And he succeeds beautifully again, the author does. This book makes me feel many things; however, surprise at the author’s skill is not one of them.

Vermont blacksmith Hewitt Pearce was lucky enough as a teenager to feel the desperation and euphoria of deep love. When this affair ends unhappily for him, he lets it sink him into an alcohol-soaked despair which he survives only through the last-ditch efforts of his friend Walter. Twenty years later, he’s essentially a hermit with a good blacksmith’s practice, and a tractor for getting to the store. Suddenly twenty-something Jessica crashes onto his property and into his life. She’s a fugitive from life’s vagaries, somewhat in the mold of Hewitt himself. Their quirky exploration of each other’s boundaries, beliefs, and personality form - and charm - the bulk of the book. This is the “peculiar grace” of the title. Although Hewitt’s life and heart become torqued up again when his onetime great love is widowed, he cannot revert to form - to chase her and/or pine after her - because of the new presence in his life.

I did what I very seldom do after finishing a book. I went back to re-read scenes of especially well-done dialogue, because they are some of the great charms of this charming book. We sink neck-deep into Hewitt’s psyche, and watch him take his painful steps toward a more balanced emotional outlook. Mr. Lent grants his hero the capacity to give and also gives him the knack of communicating, through a forthright and laconic way - almost a shorthand - that captivates. His writing captures this perfectly.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from A Peculiar Grace, after the previous heroic entries I mentioned. What I got demonstrates Mr. Lent’s mastery. He remains one of the very best practicing the craft today, as his every book amply proves. Take this up. It’s also one of the few that I definitely plan on rereading, even with my reading time at such a premium.

http://bassoprofundo1.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-peculiar-grace-by-jeffrey-lent.html ( )

Beautifully written, dense and layered. I was particularly intrigued by the descriptions of iron smithy and the artistry it can hold. ( )

Compelling supporting cast: I found the minor characters more interesting than the main protagonists. After a couple hundred pages of his self-indulgence and moping around, I wanted to smack Hewitt and tell him to snap out of it. I was grateful to best-friend Walter when he did just that. And, it seemed to help clear Hewitt's head a little!

By contrast with Hewitt and his equally irritating star-cossed love, Emily, I thought Jessica and Walter rocked! Now, they would have made a great couple!

Let's cast the movie:

Hewitt...Kevin Costner
Emily....Who cares?
Walter...John Goodman (circa "The Big Lewbowski"- doesn't even have to change his name!)
Jessica...Lindsay, soon as she's up for it.

Oh yeah, the location was pretty well evoked, I thought.

Overall, an enjoyable novel.

I have been a fan of Jeffrey Lent and was so pleased to see he had written another book. The previous two books he authored were Civil War era Vermont tales. This book is very different. It almost didn't pass my "50 page test", but I'm really glad I hung on. His character development is incredible. This is not a book you can whip through in a day or two. At times the writing is somewhat distracting (run-on sentences, no punctuation - not the whole book, but a few parts) as well as a time or two where an obscure reference was made and you don't get the gist of it until a chapter or two later, but a story worth investing the time in. Give it a try : ) ( )