fiery_arrow's review
5.0
Matthew Reynman, still miserable with grief over his wife's murder and emotionally depleted after two years of mourning, emerges from self-imposed isolation to throw a party to help himself reconnect with what remains (no pun intended) of his old life without his wife, Haidee. In the wake of a successful party, however, he discovers one of his friends has stolen Haidee's ashes. The party had been a way to help him let go of her so he could move on with life, but he cannot let her ashes go because he must do what he can to see to it that her wish for her ashes and his to be made in a stream of stars in a fireworks display. What ensues is a weird, wonderful romp through all the strange connections that create a life as Matthew tries to figure out who took Haidee's cremains and -- even more mysteriously -- why.
Under all the apparently farcical strangeness of Matthew's quest, there is a subtlety at work that you must experience to understand. My dad once told me with great gusto that Stephen King had a way of making the most everyday details interesting and that, because of that, he would gladly sit and read the ingredient list on a cereal box and all the back copy over and over if the man had written it. Don Webb also possesses a talent for this. Essential Saltes is one of those rare treats -- a book I wanted to read immediately upon finishing, just to be able to enjoy all those little goodies in their totality.
Under all the apparently farcical strangeness of Matthew's quest, there is a subtlety at work that you must experience to understand. My dad once told me with great gusto that Stephen King had a way of making the most everyday details interesting and that, because of that, he would gladly sit and read the ingredient list on a cereal box and all the back copy over and over if the man had written it. Don Webb also possesses a talent for this. Essential Saltes is one of those rare treats -- a book I wanted to read immediately upon finishing, just to be able to enjoy all those little goodies in their totality.
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