Earl, Honey

"Ever since Pa hit him in the head with the two-by-four, Earl had lived with blinders.” If you can read that opening line and not be curious about what comes after it, check your pulse, because there's a good chance you are already dead. As for me, I was drawn to it immediately, and I thank Net Galley and Matador Publishing for the review copy. This book is for sale now. When we meet Earl, the year is 1921 (although occasionally, we skip forward to 1970.) Earl is in the courthouse watching his father's trial: ‘I di'nt fornicate with no donkey. Es ist eine dirty lie!' From the back of the darkly paneled room, he feels his pa's rage like a ground tremor rippling its way through the crowd the crowd to the spot where he sits, surrounded by family. Well, except for Rose. She's up front in a special seat… ‘And what about the other charge, Mr. Hahn? Is it true your daughter, Rose, is carrying your child?' Boom. So right in the first chapter, you can plainly see that if you are someone that needs to know about triggers before reading a novel, this may not be your book. And that's a shame, because the quality of the writing is phenomenal, from the riveting opening line, all the way to the last. Earl's pa does, in fact, go to jail; even if he wasn't guilty as sin (and of it,) which he clearly is, everyone in town hates him with an abiding passion, most of all his wife and ten children. "There wasn't a man within a hundred miles of Sampson County who would stand up for Reinhardt Hahn.” It is unusual for me to include so many quotes in a review, but as you can see, the writing is so clear, strong, and resonant that I cannot do it justice any other way. As the title and first line suggest, the story is Earl's, and we follow him through the remainder of his childhood and adolescence. At its end, I am thunderstruck when I read the author's note explaining that the whole story is based on the truth. Earl was her grandmother's brother; Reinhardt Hahn, or "Pa,” was her great-grandfather. Friends, this is easily one of the best novels to come out of 2022, and I am convinced that the only reason it isn't parked on the New York Times bestseller list is because it was self-published, and therefore it didn't receive the kind of publicity that a major publisher could have provided. I won't say more; to do that, I'd have to fish out some more quotes, and they are even better when read in context. Highly recommended; D.S. Getson is an author to watch.

EARL HAHN is slow and takes a while to understand especially taking conversation literally. His father hit him on the head with a 2x4 piece of pine, he's struggled with a "thickness in his brain.” It takes him longer to make the connections others arrive at easily. When his father is prosecuted for the crime of incest, it feels like deliverance for Earl, his mother Lizzie Belle, and the entire Hahn family. Unfortunately, everyone in the household will pay for their patriarch's crimes – no one more than Earl. As a shy, damaged boy he must overcome unimaginable personal tragedy – both as its victim and its perpetrator. Raw, honest, and filled with heart, Earl, Honey recounts an extraordinary search for redemption amid the perilous world of the 1920s American South. I absolutely loved this book. I must admit that the first few pages were difficult and emotional to read. But it was SO worth it. I can't remember enjoying a book so much. It made me laugh and cry. I didnot want the book to end and was so engrossed that I could not put it down, This surely will become a classic and I am in awe that it was based on true family events. Thank you so much to Netgallery for my copy in return for an unbiased review.

--I have received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are purely my own and not influenced in any way.-- This is one of those books where I really had to think about how exactly I felt about it and how exactly to review it because there was something about it that just didn't quite click with me like it did and will do with others. The pacing is a bit strange at times, such as starting the book with an adult Earl in the 1970s before switching to a thirteen year old Earl in the 1920s. All right, that's a pretty common framing device in historical fiction books, except future Earl is NEVER revisited ever again. It felt out of place, like it should've been an epilogue or like we should have had another scene with him to bookend the story. Equally, we start right off at the trial of Earl's father, which will shape most of Earl's summer along with another tragic event that will make this perhaps the most turbulent summer of his life. I like books that get straight to the point, but personally, I wish we had seen more of Earl's family life before his father was taken away so we would be able to see how the family functioned, what the siblings' relationships were like, and even how their relationships with their parents were as opposed to being told what it was like before. Show don't tell, essentially. That said, I do get it: the trial involves child rape and the impregnation of his own daughter. I understand not wanting to dwell on that or get into the nitty-gritty of it nor would I want to read it, but the trial seemed to happen a bit too early for it to have as big of an impact as it could have. This book is a bit of a slow burn as it meanders from place to place, plot point to plot point, before picking up with Earl making a grave mistake with far reaching consequences that permanently splinters his already badly deteriorated family. And after that chapter is over, it's back to slowly meandering from one plot point to the next, one place to the other. I know it seems like I disliked this book, but I really didn't: I just found it kind of slow and in some cases directionless. Barring his fatal error, things just kind of happen to Earl, which I THINK was intentional to show how powerless he was in his situation and how helpless he felt he was, but after a while you just wanted to shake him and tell him to "DO SOMETHING" (a sentiment echoed throughout the book by other characters, interestingly enough). One thing I will absolutely give this book is that there are a TON of really strong, interesting female characters. His sister Lucy was amazing and absolutely unyielding at only seven years old, Earl's mother was a very quietly strong woman just trying to keep her family together, and I loved Mrs. Phipps. Therein I think was my problem with the book overall: I just did not find Earl interesting. I think if this book were in Lucy's perspective, Earl actually would have been an interesting character because her story alone was quite tragic and heartbreaking and we would get to see him as the person she saw him as: a lovable boy who just wants to keep his last remaining family intact. Though that sentiment wasn't quite lost in the book we got, Earl would actually have to SHOW how he plans to keep them intact as opposed to him just TELLING us that's what he intended to do. Overall, to me, this book is just kind of okay. There's some great characters, the cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the book is really not afraid to go in dark places. That said, the book tends to suffer from telling rather than showing and our main character just wasn't all that interesting in comparison to some of the other characters introduced in this book. I truly do think I'm going to be in the minority here and I absolutely see why people will like it, and if you do, good for you! I think this one is just not really my cup of tea. If you think it sounds interesting, absolutely give it a try: just because it didn't quite work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you.

When Earl Hahn accidentally shot his mother it ended all the safety he had ever known in his life. Prior to that before his papa went to jail for impregnating his sister Rosie he was physically and verbally abused. It was because his papa hit him in the head with a shovel that caused people to think of him as "simple." Earl is a good boy and all he wants is to be safe and to be with her sister Lucy, but first he will have to revisit more frightening abuse and then maybe just maybe he can feel safety again. This book was so so so so so good! I could read books about crime and not cry, but I have never cried with a book and did happily and I did with Earl, honey. I even cried at the happy ending. I wish I could invent more social media sites so I could put this book on there and this book was so good and I mean IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD! I highly recommend this book I gave it five stars and it definitely deserves all of them. If you love historical fiction and happy endings you need to read this book. I absolutely loved it!

This book was so sad and from the very first sentence I knew that this was one that would pull on every heart string. Our main character is a young man named Earl and he has a lot of disadvantages thrown at him. For starters he is a little simple after has father abused him by hitting him over the head with a a two by four. This leaves poor earl struggling to make connections that other people make easily. When Earl's father gets charged with incest, the whole family feels like justice has been served and they are one their way to redemption however it isn't only the father who must pay for his crimes the entire family is forced by society to pay as well. While this alone would be a hard pill to swallow the book takes place in the South in the 1920s so things are even more treacherous and hard. When Earl accidentally shoots his mother is turns the whole family on an axis and ends everything that he has once knows. One of the things I liked the most about this book was while it was written with a disabled main character it was written through a third persons point of view. This made it much easier for the reader to actually see what was happening at times when Earl is unable to fully comprehend what is going on before him. I loved this book and even though it was very sad at lots of parts the characters were very well written and the plot was one that really pulled you in and had you thinking about how something so terrible can happen to such innocent people. I loved the way that the author took what could have been a very dark and depressing story and made it more on the lighter side but just as believable and realistic as possible. This was an amazing read and I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it. The only down side was I found myself unable to put this book down and was quite sad when it finished. I can't wait until this books comes out and the world gets to experience this pieces of literary genius.