TOGETHER WE WILL GO - J. Michael Straczynski

Things haven't gone well for Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer with a grim future.  So he puts together a plan.... Mark buys a beat-up old tour bus and hires an ex-vet to be the driver, and he plans to drive/ride across the country. He places ads in newspapers along the route and will pick up a few passengers to join him on the journey.

But this is not a typical site-seeing tour. Mark will screen all the potential new passengers and only those ready to cash it in ... to give up their mortal coil ... will be riding the bus.  Mark's plan for the end of the ride is to drive the bus off a cliff in San Francisco for a beautiful sunset view as they crash into the ocean.

New friends will be made, and lost; new romances will blossom; there will be multiple betrayals; police chases; politics in play; and a surprisingly 'feel-good' atmosphere despite the aura of pending suicide from cover to cover.

Not many authors could get away with writing a novel about a group of strangers who come together in order to end their lives sooner rather than later; take control of when they choose to see the end; and wish to 'go together.'  J. Michael Straczynski is one of those few who can.

Because there is a very mellow attitude toward suicide here, I was very concerned about the potential appeal here to students, an area where there is already too high a rate of suicides every year. But then I thought,' Ah, Straczynski will clear it all up and show us the dark side of taking one's own life, and why it's better to keep living later in the book.

 Warning: People die. By their own hand. It's almost glorified (it is certainly accepted). It is not made to be a terrible thing.  For those who've known suicide - either family or good friends - this is not a book you will want to read.

And yet...!  I really liked this book.

I know I've repeated this quote before, but this is a good time to bring it up again.  Decades ago, I attended a convention with science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon as guest of honor.  He was asked what the difference was between writing a short story and writing a novel (other than length).  His response has stuck with me: A short story is about things people do and a novel is about people who do things.

I think about this a lot when I'm reading and writing reviews, and I've realized that the novels I've liked the most are definitely those that are about people - and people who draw me in.  This book definitely fits this description.  By all accounts, the people here wouldn't normally capture my attention, but I really felt as though I got to know these people. I came to understand why they were on the bus. I came to root for them, or to boo them - depending on what Straczynski wanted from me - and, yeah, I liked this book.

Looking for a good book? If you want a good, general fiction read, J. Michael Straczynski's Together We Will Go will bring you along on a journey with some other heretofore strangers who get to know one another just before their plan to meet their end together.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Together We Will Go

author: J. Michael Straczynski

publisher: Gallery/Scout Press

ISBN: 1982142588

hardcover, 304 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more