Red Weather

Wow! Each paragraph brings unexpected & unforced giggles that seem to just creep up! Paul's insight into people, their motivations, aspirations & daring is refreshing, to say the least. As a Latvian-American familiar with Latvian pagan tradition, I am just amazed at his delicacy of spirit & understanding of the sources of this tradition's solace and power - e.g. sitting in a tree. What a broad vision of the human spirit! Savor each word! Nebrauc tik dikti, tie nav tavi kumelini!

I loved this book. It took me longer than usual to read it, about two weeks. I just wanted to savour it and not end it. I loved the "cast" in the book and found my heart racing at the anxiety of the narrator! The capturing of the 2nd generation aspect was DEAD ON (2nd generation Persian_italian here). WOW WOW WOW!!! Pauls, come to CA so I can lavish you with praise. My new favorite author. Just ordered another of his works.

I am excited to share my opinion about this new novel, and new writer who I discovered a few weeks ago, after hearing his novel reviewed on NPR. I loved this book. The narration was touching and light-hearted. Maybe not as funny as I would have liked in places, but it definitely kept me hooked and moving forward. I loved the scenes with the father. Red Weather has truly captured -- at least in my opinion -- the essence of the father-son relationship. It was a book that reminded me of my own dad (recently passed away). I could hear his voice in the father's voice, and that was tremendously moving to me. When I logged on, I noticed that one reviewer, in particular, took objection to a couple things here and there in the book. It seems funny to me to take objection to small factual mistakes in a novel; everything in a novel is subjective, right? Did these characters actually exist? Of course not. Why would you imagine that everything they say would be perfectly accurate? It's the heart of the details that matter! And Toutonghi's attention to detail is wonderful. I did a little bit of simple research and noticed that he got his MFA in poetry -- not fiction -- from Cornell University. So: his work is hardly the derivative product of an MFA program. A funny book! I really loved it.

I thought this book was captivating. I have reccommended it to anyone and everyone I know. It is such a stunning first novel by Toutonghi-- it is hard to beleive that this is his debut novel. I couldn't put it down. Buy this book.