A review by ginger_curmudgeon
American Pop, by Snowden Wright
3.0
Finally finished this one. That makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy it, which isn’t the case. I did enjoy it. My issues were more external - not being able to focus on reading when I had COVID and then a lack of time when I was working my third job.
I actually really enjoyed this novel. I’m a sucker for historical fiction that blends fact and fiction, and that reads almost like a historical account. I appreciate that the reader was meant to believe this novel to be a historical work about the Forster family and Panola Cola. The inclusion of actual historical books as reference points only adds to that fun. (Side note, if you have a physical copy, look at the pages toward the very end of the book.) You can tell Wright spent some time and effort fine tuning the details of the story. He returned to Mississippi for, I think, a year and a half to work on this book.
Non-linear storytelling can be difficult - trying to keep characters straight and trying to maintain some semblance of events. But, I think Wright’s version of this works well. You might get a couple of sentences or less telling you something happens, only for the details to come much later in the book. I think of it as spoilers within the text. In this case, they made me that much more interested in finding out what happened later.
I did occasionally have difficulty maintaining interest. I think in some instances it was due to the level of detail, whether it was too much or too little. Ramsey’s time in Paris being the one that stands out the most. Take out the prostitution part (I kept wanting to ask her why she went along with it) and the Paris story would have been more interesting, but I do appreciate how he tied that into Ramsey’s overall story.
I think some of the delivery can be thought of as Wright taking the easy way out or him wrapping up arcs he doesn’t care about, but I sort of appreciate the quick hit details around how some of the family members met their demise versus having more chapters devoted to those details. I also think there are some families that just have luck that follows that path so it doesn’t bother me how “messed up” the family wound up being. If you think about it, we have those families in real life too.
I actually really enjoyed this novel. I’m a sucker for historical fiction that blends fact and fiction, and that reads almost like a historical account. I appreciate that the reader was meant to believe this novel to be a historical work about the Forster family and Panola Cola. The inclusion of actual historical books as reference points only adds to that fun. (Side note, if you have a physical copy, look at the pages toward the very end of the book.) You can tell Wright spent some time and effort fine tuning the details of the story. He returned to Mississippi for, I think, a year and a half to work on this book.
Non-linear storytelling can be difficult - trying to keep characters straight and trying to maintain some semblance of events. But, I think Wright’s version of this works well. You might get a couple of sentences or less telling you something happens, only for the details to come much later in the book. I think of it as spoilers within the text. In this case, they made me that much more interested in finding out what happened later.
I did occasionally have difficulty maintaining interest. I think in some instances it was due to the level of detail, whether it was too much or too little. Ramsey’s time in Paris being the one that stands out the most. Take out the prostitution part (I kept wanting to ask her why she went along with it) and the Paris story would have been more interesting, but I do appreciate how he tied that into Ramsey’s overall story.
I think some of the delivery can be thought of as Wright taking the easy way out or him wrapping up arcs he doesn’t care about, but I sort of appreciate the quick hit details around how some of the family members met their demise versus having more chapters devoted to those details. I also think there are some families that just have luck that follows that path so it doesn’t bother me how “messed up” the family wound up being. If you think about it, we have those families in real life too.