REVIEWED BY TAYLIN

TITLE: The Infinite Onion

AUTHOR: Alice Archer

PUBLISHER: Shine Even If

LENGTH: 439 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2020

BLURB:

The truth is harder to hide when someone sharp starts poking around.
Grant Eastbrook hit the ground crawling after his wife kicked him out. Six months later, in Seattle without a job or a place to live, he escapes to the woods of nearby Vashon Island to consider his options. When he’s found sleeping outdoors by a cheerful man who seems bent on irritating him to death, Grant’s plans to resuscitate his life take a peculiar turn.
Oliver Rossi knows how to keep his fears at bay. He’s had years of practice. As a local eccentric and artist, he works from his funky home in the deep woods, where he thinks he has everything he needs. Then he rescues an angry man from a rainy ditch and discovers a present worth fighting the past for.
Amid the buzz of high summer, unwelcome attraction blooms on a playing field of barbs, defenses, and secrets.
Standalone romance. HEA.

REVIEW:

Grant is a middle-aged underachiever, emotionally battered, considered un-coachable by his ex-wife, and living one day to the next in a dead-end job. He’s lost, surrounded by an estranged family of go-getters. A horoscope note tells him to be creative. As a result, he finds himself out of a job. Sometimes one must sink to rock bottom before the climb to something better.

Oliver is zany, artistic, and creative. As well as being a professional artist, he is qualified to help remove the stick from people’s behinds. He says that he doesn’t care what people say to him as long as they are honest.

Grant is attracted to Oliver, physically, but is repulsed by his wacky, colorful lifestyle of multiple ovens, ornaments, sculptures and naming conventions. As for Oliver, something about Grant unsettles him but, he is convinced he can help Grant improve himself, thus his life. After discovering that Grant is living in a tent on his land, the two come to a contractual agreement – work for privileges.

The story is told in the first person, with named chapters in the viewpoints of Grant and Oliver. Technically, it ticked all my boxes. The cast is diverse – all with something off the beaten track about them. There are also plenty of mental ghosts to contend with.

At 439 pages, this is no short read. The further into the book I got, the more I appreciated that the intricate life metamorphosis process couldn’t be rushed. I was dragged into the world as Oliver and Grant see it.

Oliver grabbed my attention the moment his character hit the page. He’s eccentric, engaging and he doesn’t hold back, saying what is on his mind, with an artistic touch. In many respects, Oliver comes across as the non-martial arts version of Mr Miyagi. He purposely pushes Grants buttons to see what his default setting are. However, it soon becomes apparent that Grant isn’t the only one who needs help. Both are lost in different ways.

It’s interesting how one’s opinion of a character changes during a story. At the start, I could take or leave Grant, but he grew on me, and I got to understand him. A combination of Oliver, camping, and some misfit kids – Grant becomes a teen agony aunt. They help him see life from a different perspective, and thus he finds his niche. He grows into a man to be proud of, and it was a pleasure to read the change.

At the start, Oliver enamored me. Then as the story continued, I went through several differences of opinion. At one time, he confused me more than I understood him; aided by artistically enhanced flashbacks that were difficult to tell whether they were buried memories, versions of memories or complete fantasy. These occasions had me wondering if he was worth the hassle. I had to remind myself that the guy was in denial and had troubles that needed tackling. In many ways, the confusion was a representation of what was happening in Oliver’s mind, which helped me connect with him. Freddie – Oliver’s friend with benefits (when he’s in town) adds to the tossed salad that is occasionally Oliver’s brain.

The title of the book made me think twice. But once I read the story, the symbolism of the onion became apparent. It is the number of layers it needs to make it whole. Like a human has many layers to their personality. Some are obvious. Others are not revealed until the previous layer is peeled away.

The Infinite Onion is an occasionally obscure saga detailing the intricate beauty of the mind, and how a person’s past can get their present tied in knots. It shows how helping others can, not only be rewarding but in return, the helped can become the healer to the helper. The tale gave my emotions a rollercoaster of a ride, which is something I love in a story.

RATING:

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