Occlith
Well-Known Member
* SPOILER WARNING * (there may be spoilers in this thread)
Skeletons is a novel by Joseph R. Sims. The story is told by Kale Helmer, who enrolls in college in part to get away from his family, especially his physically abusive father.
Kale misses his best friend Cassie and is a loner at college until he meets with Alexis. She picks up a vibe that he may be homosexual, an aspect of his life he isn't sure about, himself. They spend a lot of time partying and trying out the latest high when Alexis introduces him to a friend with a sixteen year old brother, Jordan.
A kiss between the two young men leads to more but fear of homophobic reactions and Kale's increasing drug use brings a possible relationship to a halt.
Meanwhile, Kale deals with the friends he left behind and the family that he sporadically interacts with; a mother he loves, a father he hates, two brothers he wants to be closer to, and an extended family that uses family gatherings as hunting grounds to prey verbally and psychologically on whoever the weakest and most vulnerable may be at the moment.
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I would have liked to have read more about the relationship between the brothers. Instead of Kale telling the reader about the abuse his brothers endured, perhaps there could have been a scene where the brothers share personal horror stories with each other that strengthened their bond and would have tied into the events near the end of the novel.
There have been many self-published authors posting their excerpts on this forum and it is not uncommon for their writings to contain errors in punctuation and grammar. Unfortunately that is also the case for Skeletons. The errors are not as glaring as most but it is noticeable. There are also omissions that may be editing or publishing related. Clichés and unnecessary adjectives make an occasional appearance on the pages.
In some chapters, events may be described in detail; other chapters may be a few paragraphs in length and are used to update the life of the narrator before the following chapter. I believe Kale doesn't mention his major until near the end of the book. This didn't bother me but for those who like to know everything about the main character, things like that could be exasperating.
I liked Skeletons; even with flaws it's a fairly good self-published book from a first time novelist.
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