≡ PDF Free Willy Robert Dunbar 9780983045724 Books

Willy Robert Dunbar 9780983045724 Books

Download As PDF : Willy Robert Dunbar 9780983045724 Books

Willy Robert Dunbar 9780983045724 Books

Before setting down my thoughts about Willy, let me just say that I have never read a book that describes in such painful, perfect ways the loneliness inherent in a young, scared outsider. I read Willy on my Kindle, and highlighted many passages that resonated with me--a former painfully shy outsider--and brought back some blue memories. Willy is a darker more brooding version of Dead Poets Society--without the caring teacher, and About a Boy--without the affable playboy. I was expecting a horror story, but Willy is dark fiction.

We know nothing about the Narrator's life, what sent him to this institution where boys end up because there's nowhere else for them to go. Where are his parents? His relatives? His past? He has no one, and on his first day at the school even the staff don't care enough about him to tell him where to go, what to do, what to expect. He is to share a room with a boy named Willy, who is currently away...somewhere. And the whispers from staff and students about what Willy may be like sets the Narrator and us on edge.

But the rug keeps getting pulled out from under us as we continue to expect certain bad things to happen and they don't; or expect a character to act a certain way and he won't. Willy isn't a monster, he's kind. He isn't an outsider, he's a leader. And he empowers the Narrator to reach down deep inside himself to find his worth. But bad things happened, are happening, and will happen, and the details are murky, confusing, and slowly revealed to us as if we too are students at the school.

And now I am thinking about what will become of these throwaway boys: Where will they go? Will they make it in the world? Who will love them? At least now, as the Narrator tells us, "I am from somewhere."


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Willy Robert Dunbar 9780983045724 Books Reviews

Complex, challenging, engaging and at times heartbreaking, Dunbar takes us deep into a school for troubled young men and from the moment we arrive, he never lets us go. With immense tension, likeable and frightening young men, and a never-ending sense of dread, Dunbar builds a quiet suspense that sneaks up on you and leaves you one the edge of your seat. It's a wonderfully literary take on suspense and horror, managing, at times, to evoke both the ennui of Rebel Without a Cause and the danger of Lord of the Flies. While that might seem incongruous, in Dunbar's hands it works beautifully. It's expertly crafted, intensely moody and infinitely suspenseful. If you tend to like your suspense and horror a bit on the simplistic side, with clear-cut good guys and bad, this may not be the novel for you. However, if you prefer well-crafted suspense with a literary style that is both cryptic and creepy, there is much here to appreciate in Dunbar's latest -- one that continues to haunt long after the reader puts it down.
I'm not sure how to review this, it is such a unique book I can't really compare it to anything. It doesn't even seem to belong to a particular genre, although I guess its a horror novel or a suspense novel. I think I really consider it just fiction. Creepy bits and details accumulate which really drives the plot. Kind of the ultimate unreliable narrator but you still get the drift of what's going on, only it seems all fuzzy and weird. Adds to the sense of being just about to figure it out, but never quite getting there. Just when you think you have the point of view figured out, then something comes along to make you question it. Even when it ended I wasn't sure what had happened, but I was sorry it was over.

I suppose someone could come along and spoil the whole thing by hammering it into a conventional plot walk through, maybe. I wouldn't read it though, it would spoil the magic.

After thinking about this for awhile now, I get a Catcher in the Rye vibe from it.
We all have them, our favorites...authors from which we would purchase any new novel simply because their name is listed on the byline. If Robert Dunbar had only written the classic tome, The Pines (never mind his two other excellent works, The Shore, and Martyrs and Monsters) it would have been enough to put Dunbar into that "must purchase" category for me. So when Willy was released, I purchased it within minutes of discovering its availability. And after reading it, not only was I delighted with my purchase, but I believe it his most rewarding novel yet. But rewards are earned, and readers will initially need to put some effort into Willy.

Dunbar begins Willy with a chaotic and sometimes incoherent style, mimicking the turmoil and frustration of its nameless lead character. As this character develops, so does the narration. Readers will find themselves mesmerized by Dunbar's prose as the plot progresses; we can't help but be awed by the author's masterful manipulation of words and thoughts as this character slowly comes into his own.

The main character, sent to a school for emotionally stunted children, has been assigned to be a roommate with a boy named Willy. The two are complete opposites; while the main character is withdrawn and lacks even the semblance of an identity, Willy is outgoing and strongly opinionated. The two bond immediately, with Willy becoming a mentor to his new roommate. But Willy was sent to this school for reasons, some of which causes the faculty to fear him...and with good reason.

Willy is the blackest of dark fiction. It works on several levels, all of them leading to the same goal, to terrify the reader intellectually as well as viscerally. And while Willy will take some patience while reading, it was not meant to be a quick read, done in one or two sittings, instead, Willy is meant to be savored. I would highly recommend Willy to anyone who asked.
Before setting down my thoughts about Willy, let me just say that I have never read a book that describes in such painful, perfect ways the loneliness inherent in a young, scared outsider. I read Willy on my , and highlighted many passages that resonated with me--a former painfully shy outsider--and brought back some blue memories. Willy is a darker more brooding version of Dead Poets Society--without the caring teacher, and About a Boy--without the affable playboy. I was expecting a horror story, but Willy is dark fiction.

We know nothing about the Narrator's life, what sent him to this institution where boys end up because there's nowhere else for them to go. Where are his parents? His relatives? His past? He has no one, and on his first day at the school even the staff don't care enough about him to tell him where to go, what to do, what to expect. He is to share a room with a boy named Willy, who is currently away...somewhere. And the whispers from staff and students about what Willy may be like sets the Narrator and us on edge.

But the rug keeps getting pulled out from under us as we continue to expect certain bad things to happen and they don't; or expect a character to act a certain way and he won't. Willy isn't a monster, he's kind. He isn't an outsider, he's a leader. And he empowers the Narrator to reach down deep inside himself to find his worth. But bad things happened, are happening, and will happen, and the details are murky, confusing, and slowly revealed to us as if we too are students at the school.

And now I am thinking about what will become of these throwaway boys Where will they go? Will they make it in the world? Who will love them? At least now, as the Narrator tells us, "I am from somewhere."