So I have one more short but positive review to add to the list. This one appeared in last Friday’s St. Paul Pioneer Press, in a book column titled “Worthwhile midsummer fiction from Midwest writers.” You can follow the link to the article by clicking here, but there’s no real need to bother since I’ve reproduced the two paragraphs about No Going Back below:
Posts Tagged ‘Reviews of No Going Back’
St. Paul Pioneer Press Notice
Monday, July 26th, 2010King’s English Local Author Showcase July 13
Friday, June 25th, 2010So guess what? I’m scheduled to appear at King’s English bookstore in Salt Lake City at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13, as part of a Local Author Showcase. The way I understand it, four other authors and I will each read for up to five minutes from our books, answer questions, and sign book copies. Woo-hoo! My first reading/book signing! For more details, read here.
ALA GLBTRT Review of No Going Back
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010Every couple of days, I google “Jonathan Langford No Going Back” just to see what’s out there. It’s kind of a game to see if I can locate something that Google Alert hasn’t already told Chris Bigelow (my publisher) about. Usually I don’t find anything. But today there was a link to a review in the Spring 2010 GLBTRT Newsletter, a publication of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Round Table of the American Library Association. Here’s what it said:
Writing Mormon Literature for a non-Mormon Audience
Friday, March 26th, 2010It’s always interesting seeing what non-Mormon readers of No Going Back have to say about the book. For one thing, it includes an awful lot of Mormon detail. Since I never imagined that it might have a large non-Mormon audience, I didn’t go to any trouble to explain that detail. No real accommodations for any readers who don’t happen to be Mormon.
At a more basic level, I’ve wondered if non-Mormons would even be able to identify with the characters and their motivations. Sure, there’s a lot of universality to the basic conflicts in the book. Every teenager struggles with issues of identity and peer pressure. Every married couple struggles with issues of communication and priorities. But that doesn’t necessarily make the particulars of one person’s conflict easy to identify with on the part of readers whose lives are very different.
Hometown Review
Friday, March 19th, 2010A sad thing I’ve learned since No Going Back was published is just how few newspapers actually publish book reviews anymore. One reason I’m so spoiled in this regard is that my own hometown newspaper, the River Falls Journal (serving a city of about 15,000) has its own weekly book review column by Dave Wood—who also just happens to be the former book review editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and past vice president of the National Book Critics Circle. Our local library has a shelf specifically featuring books Dave has reviewed, many of which have a local or regional connection.
A few weeks ago, I gathered up my courage and gave Dave a call (you can tell it’s a small-town paper when they list the columnist’s home telephone number). He said to drop off a copy of No Going Back, dismissing my concerns that it might not be all that interesting for non-LDS readers. And this week, a positive review appeared in my local paper. (Sadly, the link to the online version that was working earlier today now takes one to a page where one must log in to see the review. Pout.)
Review of No Going Back in U of U Paper
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010A positive review of No Going Back was published in today’s issue of The Daily Utah Chronicle, the newspaper of the University of Utah.
Positive Review at A Motley Vision
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Earlier today, a positive review of No Going Back was posted at A Motley Vision: Mormon Arts and Culture blog. That’s one of the blogs where I hang out, so the positive response is particularly gratifying.
Annette Lyon: NGB Avoids “Didactic Landmine”
Monday, January 18th, 2010I was reading a post over at the AML blog by Annette Lyon, an author of six LDS novels, when I started to get nervous. She was talking about the importance of not writing didactically, where the message drives the story. I was wondering what she would think of my novel, when I encountered the following:
Positive Review by Danyelle Ferguson
Friday, January 8th, 2010LDS author, editor, reviewer (and mom) Danyelle Ferguson was reluctant to look at No Going Back for a variety of reasons, but when it came up for consideration for shortlisting in the Whitney Awards category for which she’s a committee member, she felt she had to give it a chance.
No Going Back — Young Adult Novel?
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010A somewhat different version of this column, oriented more toward broader questions related to the YA literature genre in the Mormon market, is posted at A Motley Vision website under the title “Some Definitional Thoughts About YA (Mormon) Fiction.”
Who’s the intended audience of No Going Back? In particular, does No Going Back fit the definition of a young adult (YA) novel? That’s proved to be a tricky question.
(more…)
Tags: American Library Association, coming-of-age novel, Jonathan Langford, Marketing, Mormon, No Going Back, non-Mormon readers, publicity, reader comments, reader responses, realism, Reviews of No Going Back, teenagers, Young Adult fiction
Posted in No Going Back Issues | No Comments »