Title: Spit!
Author: Nancy Long
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1-9845-6019-3
Pages: 446
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Christa Hill
Pacific Book Review
Nancy Long’s book is a long read. She writes most of her dialogue in verse to give a sense of the social-class and personality of the people talking. However, as the reader the dialogue can be challenging and creates a sort of mind pretzel for the reader. The style of writing places all of the events in the story the past tense building a day-to-day type of urgency which during the story made the characters feel distant and hard to connect with.
Nancy’s memoir-style retelling of her childhood has a genuine all-American feel and a sense of family that many stories often don’t focus on. In many ways Ms. Long’s creation is almost like a letter to her siblings, which in its own way creates a sense of intimacy. It is nice to engage with a story that is not centered around making a point, but rather something that is about the events of a person’s life. She keeps her story casual, varied, and family focused throughout.
This book is composed of events and activities that Nancy, her friends, and her brother, Benjy, participated in during their childhoods. She doesn’t weigh the story down with historical dates or the lives of the adults in her life, it is a story about children and the adventurous lives that they lead. At times the concept behind the narrative reads like the book “Because of Winn-Dixie”. It has a small-town charm and steady pace that remains consistent throughout. The character of Nancy does grow up and thus provide the reader with a new perspective on the challenges of growing up. Her days move from exciting and unexpected to mundane and predictable, in a way that life itself seems to move.
Spit! is a story about the life of Nancy Long and her journey through life with her older brother. The book is a memoir aimed at a vast audience of people that occasionally made the story hard to connect to. She takes time to give details and maintain a steady realism, even as the story is told in 3rd person. The sibling relationship are endearing and the title intriguing which will grab the attention of many different readers.
