EBR Guest Review: A Native's Tongue by Michael D. Dennis (Angela Vasquez)

EBR Guest Reviewer: Angela Vasquez

Synopsis:
A Native’s Tongue, by Michael D. Dennis, was published in June 2014 and is available for sale on Amazon in ebook and paperback, and on Barnes & Noble

“A Native’s Tongue is about a young man trying to find his way in the world. He struggles to keep the woman he loves while entangled in the sex, drugs, and tragedy of Los Angeles. It was inspired by real events,” says Dennis.

Charlie Winters has never been an overachiever. He is used to just getting by while living with his single mother and working a dead-end job at a cheesesteak stand.

Meanwhile, he’s constantly grappling with the voice of his sister, who died in a tragic car accident years earlier, echoing in his head.

So when Violet, an older woman, sets her sights on Charlie and refuses to let go, he follows along. He soon finds himself immersed in a destructive relationship that still fails to fill the void within him.

But then he meets Jennifer, a mystical young woman whose energy and life convinces Charlie to pursue her, even through the darkest corners of Los Angeles, and sets their lives upon a path that can’t be stopped.

Escaping to the California coast, Charlie and Jennifer finally find what they’ve always needed. But a sudden illness quickly pulls them both back to LA. It is there, amid the sex, drugs, and split-second decisions that pulse through the city, that tragedy strikes—threatening to tear Charlie and Jennifer apart forever.

Love and tragedy collide in Dennis’s poignant new novel, A Native’s Tongue. (Taken from Goodreads)

Stars Given: ★★★☆☆ (2.7 Stars)

Overall View:

***this book was given to me by the author through Ethereal Book Reviews (Guest Reviewer Program)***

A native's tongue is a story of manipulation, lies, and people who definitely aren't sane.

 Charlie is a young man struggling in his life, he doesn't know what his going to do with it, with a job that it's not going anywhere; he wants to find the trail to a good life. But there's something that it's tormenting Charlie's mind and it's his sister, she passed away a long time, but her soul still remains, she appears like a ghost in certain moments of Charlie's days. So went he meets Violet he decide to go for it, they aren't good for each, he knows that he never is going to love her, but he doesn't care he wants someone who take care of him, and she is going to do that, he doesn't see his sister's ghost when it’s with her.

 The thing is that Violet it's a manipulator she wants something she got it, nothing can stop her, and she wants Charlie. She controls everything in his life, his job, where he lives, where he is, everything. But she take care of him, she is in love with him, in this crazy way, that you know it became an obsession. She is desperate to get Charlie's approval, to get his love, but that's something he can't give it to her.

“But even now, Violet wasn’t happy. Not having a companion who loved her chipped away at her confidence. The most unattractive element in a human being is desperation, and Violet wore desperation like a mink coat in the middle of a New Orleans summer. It was obvious to anyone of either sex that the aim of all her hard work was to attract a man who would love her.”
He meets Jennifer in a bar when he is with Violet, and he fall for her right away, it was love at first sight, their soul mates and they both know it, but it wasn't the right time. He likes the frame of innocent that it's around her, he doesn’t even know her name but he knows she is the girl for him. When Charlie realize that he is wasting he's time with Violet he leave her, she isn't find about this she things it's a phase, that he just want to fool around with Jennifer, that he is in love with her. But he wants to find Jennifer, but there are things in his life that aren't good. He isn't planning to find her but when he does it's not in the way he had in mind. Their re-connect and they thing that everything in their life are falling the way they shut be. But something happen, and they are falling apart again, but this time it's forever, they only were together for a couple of days, and people who you might thing that has nothing to do with, were involve.

The thing is, this character were really hard to understand, Charlie is so vulnerable, for me he can't be in a relationship in this moment, because, he isn't taking care of himself, and he is depending of everyone, including Violet, who is confusing, love with gratefulness, Charlie never loved her but in her mind he is and that made her do things that weren't pretty. It was really frustrating, and Jennifer well, SHE IS CRAZY, she's too weak for the word of Violet and she paid the consequences. All these

character were insane.

Pain make people act with no logic, no mercy, and this story is proving of that.

“You have to burn a forest down if you want it to grow back again.”

 The character are well made, but there were a lot of things that Michael Dennis, didn't say, like what happen to Violet after she find out what happen to Charlie. And time, it was confusing; in a moment we were with Jennifer in the present, and the next page we were with Charlie years ago.

 This is a story full with drama, with surprises, it's written beautifully, in a poetic way, but it's heavy, it's not for a trip or waits in an airport. I have to said, it was good, but it's not a must read, if I have to ranking it, I would give it 2.7 of 5.

 What can I say I'm a fan of good ending, even if are nice or bad, but this was an awful ending.