Lisa Reviews: Nancy Klann-Moren's - "The Clock of Life"
In the small town of Hadlee, Mississippi, during the 1980’s, Jason Lee Rainey struggles to find his way amongst the old, steadfast Southern attitudes about race, while his friendship with a black boy, Samson Johnson, deepens.
By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn’t believe he has it in him.
In The Clock Of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father’s son.
This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.
Okay, so before I get into this review, I just want to apologize ahead of time if I sound negative as I explain my thoughts. But as always I strive to give you all my honest review.
When looking at the cover, and if you know me well enough or have just read a few of my reviews then you know this doesn’t look like the usual book I go for. If you guessed it, you’re right! The cover is a little plain, has neutral colours and goes pretty well with the book. The cover does its job, and matches the title of the book.
Even though the cover isn’t usually the type I would pick up in the store, or grab at the library, I couldn’t resist giving it a shot after listening to all the amazing things Nancy Klann-Moren told me about her story! I also did a little research online, and found that many other book bloggers really enjoyed it, and were happy that they got the chance to read it.
My favorite type of book, in the ENTIRE world, is a book that I would usually never give a try, but do, and completely fall in love with the story and its characters! I like when books prove me wrong, I guess. But at the end of the day, The Clock of Life wasn’t one of those books… While I did see all the qualities many reviewers raved about, ultimately it just wasn’t for me.
Going into reading The Clock of Life, I was actually excited to get started and see if I also enjoyed it as much as everyone else seemed to have. But overall the story was a bit confusing to me, maybe because I was picking it up and putting it back down often, instead of reading in longer sittings.
In general I was just having a hard time keeping up with the story, the characters and everything that was going on. I was entirely confused about the death of Jason’s father, the death of his friend, his mother’s mental state and his racist neighbor; as well as how all that tied together.
Going in with an open mind, The Clock of Life did have quite some potential. While the story wasn’t for me, I do see why many others liked it! If the synopsis sounds like something you would enjoy, I say go for it as I think you will!
