Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Dream On by @TerryTyler4 #bookreview

Today’s team review is from Judith, she blogs at http://judithbarrowblog.com/

Judith chose to read and review Dream On by Terry Tyler

Terry Tyler’s novel, Dream On, took me by surprise. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I wasn’t even sure that I’d like the book as much as the ones of this authors I’d previously read. But I took it as a challenge to myself because I know nothing of rock music, intensely dislike television celebrity talent shows and, to be honest, having read the write up about Dream On, thought I wouldn’t be able to relate to any of these characters

How wrong I was. This book, for me, was an exposé on human frailties and strengths; of ambition, sexuality, love, selfishness and compassion. The strength of Terry Tyler’s writing is in the characters that populate her books. I found myself getting exasperated and disbelieving the actions of a character one minute, and cheering on and rejoicing with another, the next.

On the face of it Dream On is a straightforward narrative of the drive and determination of a group of young people for musical recognition. However, threaded throughout the story, are the realities and disappointments of ‘real’ life; the failing of relationships, ordinary humdrum family life, the many different kinds of love and loyalties.

Don’t get me wrong, there is also humour here as well; some laugh out loud situations, some more subtle scenes.

Dream On takes a different narrative format to the books I’d read before. And I‘ve realised that my take on the story and the way I’ve reviewed it are also unlike the way I normally read and give my opinion. I don’t usually give spoilers but here I’m going to do just that. Well almost. So ignore the next paragraph if you like.

To put it simply; it’s a story of Dave, one of the protagonists, and his search for fame by forming a band with other lads and calling themselves Thor. And of another protagonist, Janice; his long-suffering wife and mother of his son, Harley, and granddaughter to Evelyn, who has sunk into dementia. Janice finds love in an unexpected place after her relationship with Dave flounders. And it’s a story of the age-old triangle with the reappearance of an old rival for Dave’s love, Alison – now reinvented as Ariel. The inevitable happens.

And that’s it. But not quite. What I really want to say is that Terry Tyler has a talent for making a relatively common plot into an absorbing story by the clever use of everyday words; narrative that instantly evokes images and situations and digs deep into the psyche of her characters.

Dream On is a difficult book to put down and I can thoroughly recommend it.

Copies available from:

Amazon .co.uk: http://amzn.to/1HfZKPM

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/1R1UYfR