OLD BUILDINGS IN NORTH TEXAS
by
JEN WALDO
Sub-genre: Literary Fiction / Dramedy
Publisher: Arcadia Books
Date of Publication: April 1, 2018
Number of Pages: 213
Scroll down for the giveaway!
After rehab, Olivia, a 32-year-old cocaine addict, is required to move back in with her mother and pregnant sister. Having left a promising career in journalism in New York, she’s now working as a sales assistant for a family friend in her home town in North Texas.
Under pressure from her court-mandated counselor – an old high school friend – to take up a hobby, Olivia decides on “urbexing.” Soon she’s breaking into derelict homes, ex-prisons, and old drive-ins across North Texas, and it’s not long before she’s looting state property and making money off the possessions, fixtures, and fittings that have been left behind.
Old Buildings in North Texas is about a modern woman’s search for personal equilibrium and wild adventure — the attempt to find stability in existence without losing sight of what makes life worth living. Jen Waldo’s style modulates effortlessly from domestic nuance to taut adventure, tackling social and moral transgressions with incisive observation and vivid humor.
PRAISE FOR OLD BUILDINGS IN NORTH TEXAS
“A lot of Jen Waldo’s debut novel takes place out on the porch of Olivia’s mother’s house. […] With its casual, confidential tone, Old Buildings in North Texas puts the reader in one of those porch chairs, reclining on a warm evening with a cool drink.” — The Skinny
“Old Buildings in North Texas is an amusingly written and well worked book” — Trip Fiction
“This novel is an absolute blast. There are serious moments of course, but Jen Waldo looks for the comedy in everything to create a memorable scenario that reminded me very much of the style of Six Feet Under.” — Shiny New Books
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“Why does one person fall hard when another doesn’t stumble at all?
Old Buildings in North Texas is a study in contradictions. At first glance, the title implies a non-fiction about old buildings in North Texas, but this thought-provoking literary fiction is both humorous and tragic, filled with characters that are both strongly determined and a fragile mess. Olivia is more than a recovering cocaine addict. Olivia is a self-destructive survivor, from the first page to the last page. Everything she does is based on both self-preservation and her inability to stay out of harm’s way. She is both compelling and repulsive in her laugh-out-loud cynicism.
Urban exploration, or urbexing, is a fascinating topic that is intriguing in its mystery and oddly ethical rules and controversial in its illegality and danger. Olivia needs a hobby, but instead of choosing something safe and within the boundaries set by her parole officer, her mom, and her therapist, she stumbles across an abandoned mansion filled with forgotten treasures, and a hobby is born. From the moment Olivia gains unlawful entry into her first abandoned building, she embarks on a journey that is full of witty dialogue, internal musings and observations, and interactions with characters that are equally if not quirkier than she is. But this journey is filled with deceit and self-harm as well as self-discovery and healing. Olivia is her own worst enemy, and the reader is left wondering if she will make it through this journey intact. With each passing page, Olivia struggles to follow the rules while flaunting them at the same time. She can’t have it both ways, but she sure does try hard to have just that.
Jen Waldo’s writing style is fantastic. The characters, both Olivia and those orbiting around her, are richly developed but without the need for superfluous prose and dialogue. The author definitely knows how to paint the perfect scene, the perfect interaction between characters, and the perfect buildup to an ending that is not quite an ending because Olivia is still a recovering cocaine addict after all. She is still trying to rebuild her life. She is still trying to follow the rules and yet not follow the rules. I like her. I want her to succeed and become a healthy productive citizen, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend, but I’m glad she is who she is. Olivia is flawed and real. She is honest with herself about her dishonesty, but she is truly trying to do better in her own unique way. It’s all we can ask of her because that’s all she can give right now.
Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a singed copy of Old Buildings in North Texas by Jen Waldo and some other great prizes.
Jen Waldo lived in seven countries over a thirty-year period and has now settled, along with her husband, in Marble Falls, Texas. She first started writing over twenty years ago when, while living in Cairo, she had difficulty locating reading material and realized she’d have to make her own fun. She has since earned an MFA and written a number of novels. Her work has been published in The European and was shortlisted in a competition by Traveler magazine. Old Buildings in North Texas and Why Stuff Matters have been published in the UK by Arcadia Books. Jen’s fiction is set in Northwest Texas and she’s grateful to her hometown of Amarillo for providing colorful characters and a background of relentless whistling wind.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
1st Prize: Signed Copy of OBiNT + $10 Amazon Gift Card
2nd Prize:Signed Copy + $5 Amazon Gift Card
3rd Prize: eBook Copy of OBiNT
October 2-11, 2018
(US ONLY)
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Fantastic review — you get Olivia. I felt the same way — she’s giving all she’s got. I do respect that she knows that, too. And it’s cool to live vicariously and let Olivia do the law breaking and I get to watch!
Thanks! Yes, she’s a mess, but she’s real. It’s not believable when an author makes the main character perfect (or almost perfect) by the end of the book.