"All different roads we each took to get here. Yet, our personalities and destinies crossed at the same time. For how long, who knows? But it won’t be dull. I can already tell." In his debut novel, Garcia Anthony burns onto the reader’s mind the images and experiences of six college roommates. Poetic, melodic, and imagistic, Raintree reveals a coming-of-age story with unique brushes of varied media. Utilizing prose, poetry, poetic prose, and even song, Raintree guides the reader through the crossroads of six young men. Roommates by choice and not by choice, they must navigate their own lives in the presence of each other. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t, in the worst way. Told through the eyes of Pedro, a clandestine-Latino-Mormon, Raintree confronts contemporary topics—rape, homosexuality, heterosexuality, tolerance/intolerance of difference, gun control, racism—and universal principles—friendship, love, family, individualism, nature, destiny. Raintree is a serene and explosive work, transforming traditional formats and shifting the stagnant expectations of readers. One reading will inspire. Multiples readings will be required. Post-modern and deconstructive in its underpinnings, Raintree is a definite must read for any 21st century reader. From the nuances of Mormon life in Provo, Utah and BYU to the shadowed stage at a gay bar’s drag show to "fresh baked bread" and "pink strokes," Garcia Anthony paints brief, yet complete pictures with a word-brush of six young men growing-up. They, and you, will never be the same again after living at Raintree. |
