Reviews of My Debut Novel, The Last Page

The following is meant to be a list of the reviews I have received for my recently published novel, The Last Page. It also will include links to features, spotlights and the like as I become aware of them:


Excerpted from www.christianeducation.ca:

At first glance The Last Page could look like a typical grocery store paperback novel: boy meets girl in a coffee shop in the pacific northwest. This debut offering by American author, Brian Palmer, however, is much more. The boy is Travis Miller, a mysterious and reclusive figure who silently occupies a booth at the Coffee Cove, typing without interruption on his laptop. The girl is Karen Sanders, a barista at the Cove surviving another break up, whose curiosity finally gets the best of her after months of serving coffee to the stoic writer. If Karen was looking to meet the strong, silent type, she was sorely mistaken. It is only after several rebuffs that Travis finally looks up from his computer. His cautious glances and monastic ways fail to curb the enthusiasm of the outgoing waitress and she finally manages a conversation. The journey that continues is not the stereotypical path of two people falling in love. The way is twisted as each one works through memories and fears that emerge from the past. At points it seems most likely that these two will most sink back into the soul-destroying comfort of their own fears rather than risk love. The great strength of The Last Page, however, is not the plot. Instead, it is a character study—my favourite type of book. Palmer respects his characters enough to do more than give them flat lives puffed up with pop psychology and drama-queen scenes. Resolutions are not perfect, successes are not without doubt, and forward steps are taken with hesitation. Brian Palmer has done well at the outset as a person of faith, wisely writing a book without a Billy Graham moment at the end. Palmer dares to step into the real world and characterize that searching we all experience as humans, and without trite caricatures we typically see. Palmer has some room to grow as an author, but hopefully this isn’t the last page from him.


Tacoma resident Brian Palmer has crafted a tale of loss and isolation, and how two people move beyond difficulties in their past and get on with their lives in his novel “The Last Page.” Palmer is a good writer who develops his characters as the book progresses. The plot carries a strong amount of emotion, and one could imagine the plot coming from personal experience. “The Last Page” isn’t about romance, although the two characters certainly have feelings towards each other. Rather it is about two young adults, who happen to be male and female, helping each other move beyond the pain of their childhoods and move forward in life.

The entire review can be read at
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/_story.php?q=792&p=20


"THE LAST PAGE is a refreshing story of healing and love. This story is unique as the female character is more assertive and extroverted while the male character is more introverted and troubled. This realistic yet rarely written about twist of traditional gender specific character traits makes for interesting reading. Likewise, this book does an exemplary job of creating fully developed characters, likely because of these specific, well thought out personality traits. Furthermore, even as these characters evolve with the story, each character stays true to his or her foundation personality. This creates a seamless storyline with depth and a credible feel."
--Tami Brady, Round Table Reviews


In this debut novel, Palmer profiles a young Tacoma barista named Karen who spends her days watching customers and trying to figure out what makes them tick. She's darn good at it, too--that is, until Travis Miller, a laptop-toting stranger taken to slipping handwritten notes to the wait staff, enters the coffee shop. "People in her mind tended to be that obvious, transparent; nothing to hide in some cases, unable to effectively hide things in others, Palmer writes. "But the young man she was presently looking at was different." Eventually, Karen's unrelenting curiosity prompts her to conquer her distrusting nature and introduce herself. Possibly autobiographical, Palmer's book vividly details young, single, post-graduate life and carries a weird appeal. Puget Sound alunmi might get a kick out of the frequent mentions of Tacoma landmarks.
--Andy Boynton, Arches (quarterly publication of The University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA)


Brian Palmer has brought this story to life in a way that draws you in and makes you feel like you are right there with his characters. The story is full of drama, forgiveness and the power of love. It will keep you interested from beginning to end. I was unable to quit reading and finished most of it in just a few hours. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone. It is a must read kind of book.
--Julie A. Bowles, author of Her Uncertain Future & Elizabeth’s Ultimate Sacrifice


Palmer created two interesting characters, from different backgrounds, which turn out to be very similar in their expectations of the world...the constant flow creates an interest.
--Sandrine Hope, The Northport Gazette, Alabama, 3-2-2005


Palmer's first novel...started kinda slow...but when it was over I was glad I'd read it. It felt good.

The Last Page may not make the best sellers list, but it is not to be missed if you: 1. Are a loner; 2. Are "into" jazz; 3. Have ever been called an underachiever; 4. Are from the Tacoma area (or loved Sleepless in Seattle)

Brian's style is not so polished, but has a raw edge, and at times reads almost like a diary. But it feels real. And like life, at times, it is really good.

It passes my test: I like the people and care what happens to them. I'd pay cover price to trade places for one hour after [the nove] ends.

I'll be looking out for Palmer's next novel.
--Daniel Gooch, Today Newspapers, Texas, 6-9-2005


The Last Page (PublishAmerica) - Far from Texan-ese by origin, but one of the more striking début novels to issue from a newly burgeoning
small-press industry. Tacoma, Wash., author Brian Palmer spins an emotive, richly evocative tale of the inevitable collision between two lost souls with troubled pasts - and the need for contact that will teach both of them about second-time-around redemption. (On the Web:
www.publishamerica.com.)
--Michael Price, Fort-Worth Business Press, Texas, July 2005


Palmer's book is rather refreshing for a first time novelist fresh out of college and I recommend it to readers who enjoy good character development and strong settings.

The story is engaging and the characters grow as the book progresses which keeps the reading fun and interesting
--Josh Humphries, The Daily Courier, North Carolina, July 2005


This one here is the most thorough review I have received to date. From a publication in Lowell, Massachusetts:

Title: The Last Page
Author: Brian Palmer
Publisher: Publish America 2004
Genre: Fiction
Rating (1-5): **

Readability: Initially a stuffy read, but it warms up as other characters enter the novel and begin interacting with the book's fictional author.

Quote: "Forgiveness is a two-way street, all right? Sure, he may be seeking mine, but I don't have any to give to him, nor do I wish to. It's not enough that he wants me to forgive him. It never will be. You can't make a person feel something that they don't feel, okay?"

By ANN CONNERY FRANTZ
Sun Staff

My first impulse, in reading this novel by Tacoma, Wash., author Brian Palmer, was to stop. Put it aside. Life's too short, I say, to read some books...

Glad I didn't follow my impulse.

As I realized what the author was doing in creating a drab, lifeless cafe customer and the friendly, determined waitress who prods him back to life, I sailed along with his drift, and found The Last Page worth finishing, enjoyably.

His book, albeit his first, is not bad at all.

Palmer's topic, essentially, revolves around the walls people put up to avoid genuine contact. Rather than risk emotional pain, some will remain alone, choosing to rebuff others' attempts at friendship. At the same time, they deprive themselves of meaningful relationships.

Palmer brings out this sad trait in the difficult birth of a relationship between an over-friendly waitress at the Coffee Cove restaurant and the young writer who tries his best to ignore her.

And that's what put me off in this book at first. I couldn't stand the silent, analytical knots twisting around in Travis Miller's mind. This is a character most folks would gladly avoid, as he would wish them to do. He silently rebuffs any attempts at conversation, helpfulness or, even, basic service in the coffee shop he haunts each day, typing away at what everyone working there thinks must be a serious work of literature.

It is, more aptly, his safe substitute for human contact.

He's morose, self-distanced from human contact, trapped in a world in which all communication is internal, not between him and someone else. He even types imagined conversations into his computer, rather than actually having one.

Earlier on, there's not a lot of action beyond his memories. Essentially, he's friendless and non-communicative, so shut off from contact that I nearly gave up, in reading about him. Who wants a character who won't talk, won't touch and won't, we're ready to believe, feel anything either?

But Karen Sanders takes a conversational crowbar to his defenses. Increasingly challenged by his reticence, she tries to first politely, then more insistently, break through Miller's shell. When she does, he's incapable of human warmth.

For instance:

"Wow," she said, "you can't give any straight answers, can you?"

"And you cannot stop prying into my life, can you?" he retorted.

"Well, I'm sorry that you don't make complete sense to me. You would certainly be a lot less interesting to me if you did."

"Frankly, Karen, I could care less ... I do not bother you, so why must you bother me?"

"Wait, wait, wait a minute," she said ... "You come in here every
single day for God only knows how many months, you never talk to anyone, you never eat anything, and you give one of us twenty dollars and that note of yours ... and I'm not supposed to find you a little bit curious?"

"Be that as it may, my life is still none of your business," he stated evenly. "To assume anything after that is your problem, not mine."

"You are unbelievable," she said.

We have as much trouble trying to understand why anyone would want to approach him, as Karen Sanders has. Her refusal to give up perhaps is based on an instinctive need to know him, and find something redeemable in that aloof person.

While she suffers from her own torments privately, in public Sanders is not divorced from human contact. She seeks it out. And she won't take "no" for an answer. She confronts her customer:

"You've been doing something or living your life a certain way for so long that it becomes comfortable for you. ... You eventually begin to believe that you are truly
happy living your life this way, when in fact you aren't happy. It's just that you don't know any other way."

As they go forward, however precariously, we learn each has reasons for living as they do, and that they need each other to help untangle the messy threads of their lives. And, fortunately for the reader, once Miller opens up a bit, he's not so hard to read about.

That they do find a way to each other is somewhat improbable, but then, so is life. People who have no business carrying on with each other begin to do just that, for better or worse.

Palmer's resolution, which some will find too neatly wrapped, has a hopeful edge to it. Karen and Travis have something to give to each other, and they find a way to do it, however convoluted a path they must take.



Here are some newspaper blurbs/spotlights concerning my novel. This first one is a smaller alternative paper near where I grew up in the Bay Area, and it talks briefly about how my novel came to be written. It's under the headline "Crayon and On and On" about halfway down the page:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/issues/2004-10-27/culture/books3.html


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2002089212_localbooks14.html


http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/living/books/01162005briefs.htm


--Featured in the February 6th, 2005 edition of The Idaho Statesman


http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005503060306 (My novel is featured prominently in this one, including a shot of the book cover)


http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/life_20029432.shtml (It appears at the bottom of the page under the heading "Good Debut.")


--A detailed summary of the novel appeared in the March 16th, 2005 edition of the Catro Valley Forum


http://www.entnews.com/newother.html (A big mention of my novel is made in the April 8-14, 2005 edition of this South Florida paper. Look for it halfway down the page online.)