Ravens by George Dawes Green

The novel chronicles a family’s serendipitous win of the lottery. It looks at the changes they may face and then disrupts the process by suddenly becoming the prey of a pair of unscrupulous and unlikely hoodlums.

Green painted a vivid picture of a dysfunctional family wallowing in self despair. The precipitous change in fortune seems to reunite the family bonds. The self absorbed teen was almost stereotypical. The two losers who invade the family’s sanctity are not in any way stereotypical. They seem too inept to successfully pull off a monumental scam. The tension in the story was palatable. The characters were memorable, some frighteningly so. The gullible and needy nature of many of the self perceived down trodden was also well, but disturbingly portrayed. I have to doubt that a circus could have characters more colorful, Green did a terrific job in his character portrayals. I found the book disturbingly entertaining. The depiction of a variety of psychotic behaviors were all too believable.

I recommend the book but don’t plan on a laid back, relaxing read, it has a compelling nature.

Body of work of George Dawes Green

Review: http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/interview-with-george-dawes-green-plus-giveaway/

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