Valentine: A Read with Jenna Pick

Wow. This story is powerful and constructs a “ripples on the pond” connection to a single horrific event. The prose is gorgeous and I’m glad I read it instead of listened to it because some sentences I wanted to linger over.

Very beautifully told and constructed story which paints a realistic picture of society in the often cruel, boom-bust, hard scrabble world of cattle ranching and oil drilling. The voices of the feminine inhabitants of this world are so clear and genuine that the story offers us an opportunity to feel the very blisters caused by the shoes these women walk in. Ultimately, Valentine is multiple versions of “what don’t kill ya makes you stronger”. I closed the book feeling proud of these fictional women…and inspired by them.

This author left out some punctuation in her sentences so the reading moved on rapidly. When you begin the first page you are hooked by the introduction to one subject, then another. Each new character helps to set a scene along with her history, so you become a neighbor, too. Their daughters also play in the narrative. You hear this is an author's first book so you begin right away to look for possible weaknesses in story. There are none, as it moves so fast, I didn't want to stop. I was actually in the courtroom ready to curse, myself. The story in West Texas of 1970's. oil fields reminds one of current events today.Elizabeth Westmore presented reality very effectively and must continue writing.

I moved to Odessa in 1980 to start my 4th grade year there. My father was in the oil business and made a very successful career from consulting. I lived there and in Midland until my own daughter was to begin Junior High in Midland. I did not want her to grow up there any longer than she had to. Despite what Midlanders say about Odessa, they are basically the same.I do not believe my second husband, whom I met after moving to Central Texas, understands why I hate to pump gasoline into my own vehicle. If you grew up in Odessa or Midland, you would know why. The cat calls and the disgusting remarks still have left me scarred.As a was researching the 1983 murder of a friend of mine, along with his older brother and mother, I came across the photographs of all the missing young women during the time, as well. I was so young back then and didn’t realize what was happening. No one spoke about these crimes to children. I never even knew what had happened to man who murdered my friend until a few years ago after I had to retire early as a Senior Crime Scene Specialist because of a brain disease. (If you Google Kenneth Venne, you will find out that a monster can kill 2 teenagers, most probably raping, and killing their mother, and is given a ridiculous sentence and set to be released in 2022.)I guess parents back then believed that the less you knew, the better off you were. In my case, that didn’t work out too well. I never stopped sleep walking like most children do when they reach a certain age. So, I was at the FBI Academy in Quantico for training when I woke up and found that I had taken all of my clothing out of my dorm room’s dresser and put them into bed with me. When I arrived back at my agency, I started on the long road to dealing with PTSD.This story has such a familiar, devastatingly honest portrayal of Odessa that I would find my hair standing on end. I even recognized the streets because I lived in the townhomes on either side of the streets where the characters lived when my daughter was born.If I could give this book 10 stars, I would, and I hope everyone who reads this review purchases it right now and takes what they may from it. As for me, I know I made the right choice in leaving. I have a friend who attended the yearly Pow Wow in Big Springs. She was told by a Native American elder that the land is a proving ground. If you can leave it, and stay away from it, you have proven yourself.I believe I and Elizabeth Wetmore have done just that. I only wish more would or could…

Found this book to be refreshingly different in the way the dialogue was presented. No quotation marks or the usual indentations, etc. This book's story line is, all at once, maddening and depressing. The description of the deserts, the stars, the sheer frightening openness of the plains, the desecration of the land to feed the men's greed made me have to stop reading more then once just to catch my breath! That coupled with how the women are treated as just pieces of flesh to be used, abused and tossed away like trash made me want to keep reading if only to read of the women's finding justice in the end. Won't say if they do or not here so as not to ruin it for anyone. Read other's reviews giving the novel only one star due to not being able to follow the writer's style and can only urge them to give it a second read while trying to accept something different - not so "normal" and blah in comparison! Highly recommend this book and await Elizabeth Wetmore's next novel with anticipation!