|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionHistoricalMoonshine Harvest |
|
|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
From : Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains; Vol. 29 No. 4 Jan 23, 2007
The following review appeared in the Winter, 2006-07 issue of Kansas History Journal.
Although Moonshine Harvest is a work of fiction, readers will value this excitement-filled adventure set in post-World War II Kansas. The author was born in Marion, Kansas, which serves as the basis for his fictional town of Afton; his memories of being a teenager during this historically significant time period are the foundations for this work. By cleverly using the murder of the town drunk as his central plot, Hayen is able to explore important issues such as political attitudes, fundamentalism, and bigotry through his characters. Both humorous and insightful, this novel can be enjoyed by everyone from young adults to those who actually recall the Truman era. In writing about small-town Kansas in the late 1940s, Hayen tries "to give the reader a fell for that time and place." For those Kansas who remember that time, Moonshine Harvest will be an enjoyable journey back to their early years; for those too young to remember, this book will be a pleasant look at what they missed.
 Surprisingly good work from a rookie writer Aug 17, 2006
Don Hayen is from a small town in Kansas near where I grew up. This book captures the essence of these places. I don't know if it is autobiographical or not. At any rate it is a slender volume, well written with a story line which kept me reading.
Highly recommend - excellent read May 30, 2006
I found the book hard to put down. Each chapter left me hanging, wanting to read further. A great insight into another time and place in America. Very different from my boyhood!
Very well written - moves right along, with seemingly simple plot, but paints an interesting image of the actions, places and emotions of the characters.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Unique, provocative, and enjoyable May 09, 2006
This novel should be read twice. At first glance, the book has the standard earmarks of a well-written Young Adult novel: a blow-the-doors off opening; a young, confused protagonist; a plot full of trouble that forces the hero to grow. Hayen's simple, steady narrative delivers an excellent read.
The second time through, however, Hayen's true command of his craft becomes more obvious. Through Johnny's simple, first-person narration, he shows the dark shadows behind the brightness. Not a character, not setting, not a scene is cut from cardboard.
1948 Kansas seems idyllic only on the surface. The characters in this novel have histories, faults, anger, despair and loneliness. Johnny's difficult task is reconcile his youthful, idealized view of his world, with the more complicated reality, and take a step to manhood.
Hayen does an astonishing job recreatring the look and feel of a (supposedly) simpler time and place, in a book that will be read again and again.
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
