Book Review: The Bastard Year by Richard Lee Zuras

I finished reading "The Bastard Year" by Richard Lee Zuras.  I bought it on Friday night at a Banners Series poetry reading by John Wood.  (Dr. Wood was my English professor for my English 105 and 106 classes - the freshman Honors College English classes at McNeese State  University).

I thought, if anything, I would buy the book and read it because I bought it.  However, I started on it that night and I couldn't put it down.  I can't say exactly why I couldn't put it down.

I'd say that the text is very much how a main male character would describe things.  Most of the things are very matter-of-fact without details about how things look.  There are a few details about clothes and physical attributes and some of the buildings, but not much.

At times, I had no idea where the book was going.  I wondered why I was reading the book.

"The Bastard Year" is divided into both seasons and chapters.  It goes from one winter to the next.  By the time I got to Fall, I had an idea of the reasons everything had been mentioned.  I had an idea of why the author used the main character to tell the stories he did.

However, while the very end of the book somewhat went where I expected, it wasn't quite what I expected.  It was nice to read a book and have somewhat of an idea, but still be able to be surprised by the end of it because it didn't conform to the typical outline of how things are going to happen to have that sudden, "I knew it!" moment.