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New reviews coming soon! I'll be importing my work from the past two years, but in the meantime,
I'm reclaiming my small place on the web.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Fiction Review

Ecumenical Death
by David Truskoff
ISBN-10: 1413484751
Review by Heather Froeschl

Ecumenical, literally defined: pertaining to movement for universal Christian unity. When a small town has an Ecumenical Council, one could assume that there would be discord when it comes to any other religion. What David Truskoff's "Ecumenical Death" is about though is discord in the way of one group of the community opposed to another group with a splattering of racism thrown in. It is about small town politics, unhappy marriages, public issues and control over the town.

Not unlike just about any official meeting in Small Town, America, there are differences of opinion, people trying to control others and others trying to maintain control of what they've worked so hard for. The cast of characters is too large to focus on any one storyline, but the main plot revolves around a plot of land that lies adjacent to the elementary school and the desire by some to create affordable housing there. This becomes a huge issue to the neighborhood, the Ecumenical Council (who is running the show) and the businessmen who run the show from behind the scenes.

Truskoff immerses the reader into a chaotic town that just might leave you happy that you don't live there, but afraid to look into what really goes on in your own home place. The characters are realistic enough to lead you through the stories of their affairs, business dealings and idiosyncrasies. In the beginning it is somewhat difficult to follow all that is going on, all of the sub plots that contribute to the whole. This adds to the realistic feeling of never knowing who your neighbors are.

I was a bit bothered by more than a few typos and misspellings, as Truskoff's bio is only that he is the author of seven acclaimed books. I expected better. However, the purpose here is to rate the book overall and considering the art of immersion for the reader I give the book a nod of positive review.

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