I finished reading Honk and Holler Opening Soon about ten minutes ago. A thumb and a half up.
Now, I don't know what you've read by Billie Letts, but I have to say I enjoyed Where the Heart Is just a little bit more than this book. I found the characters in WTHI to be a little more believable. I guess I'm naive, or maybe I just don't know that many homeless people, but my gosh! A flock of homeless people drift into this poor Caney's life. I mean, the man is in a wheelchair, running a restaurant, dealing with his Vietnam depression and he's supposed to take care of all these drifters? Unbelievable.
However, maybe the message of the novel is that the good ol' USofA is still a country of drifting, no-home nobodies. The one bond all these characters have in common is their lack of family. I mean Vena has no one except for a three legged dog. Ms. Ho (ha!) has a dead husband and a vagrant for a daughter, and poor lovable Bui has a wife that is continents away. Getting bogged down in their own troubles could be easy for these characters. Instead, they choose to meld together a makeshift family. They're of different races, different cultures, different religions, but they manage to put aside those differences for the good of the soul (because let me tell you, family is what it is all about).
You don't have to be with your biological family to be complete. I've always believed (and maybe because my mom died when I was young) that friends are the family you get to choose. If you fill your life with people who care about you and who love you, then you've made a family even if you don't share the same parents or crazy aunt.
Read this book.
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