Suanne Schafer Interviews Mark Guerin for her blog, THE ART OF WORDS

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Category: Books
Published: Monday, 23 September 2019 19:15
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Please open the link below to read Suanne Schafer's in-depth interview with Mark Guerin, author of You Can See More From Up Here.
 
https://suanneschaferauthor.com/interview-with-mark-guerin-author-of-you-can-see-more-from-up-here/?fbclid=IwAR1UQ6y3JiYgLBtPOu363j6DLsqiNCXTLOyF1sammOcx98gIvbqBJ2I-xNYp-
 
 
 
And here are two brief reviews, one by Danny Rubin, screenwriter for Groundhog Day, and the other by Christina Reed of Reedsy.

— Danny Rubin, BAFTA-winning screenwriter of the movie and Broadway musical, Groundhog Day has this to say about the novel:

A fellow writer often hesitates before reading new work by a friend — will I find something nice to say? Please let it be good! — but only a few lines of Mark Guerin’s exquisite, elegant, compelling prose removed all hesitation and paved my way to an extremely satisfying read. What a pleasure to discover a fresh new novelist in an old friend. In You Can See More From Up Here, Mark Guerin captures with evocative clarity both a unique time and place in American life and the complex emotional bonds of family and community that can tear and heal over a lifetime. It’s rare and exciting to find such self-assured prose, raw honesty and unwavering momentum in a first novel. I just loved it. For anyone who has struggled with identity, purpose, integrity, righteousness and self-doubt in the face of an overbearing parent, You Can See More From Up Here offers familiarity, clarity, and for all of the complex emotions explored, a sense of satisfaction.
 
--REEDSY's Kristiana Reed has this to say:

Loved it! ?

A novel which reflects on refracted childhood memories can fracture as well as mend the future.

Guerin’s narrative switches between the past and the present as his protagonist, Walker, attempts to reconcile his memory of his summer job when he was nineteen, with [his sense that] his father was involved in the disappearance of a Mexican family.

[Guerin] immediately transports you to Walker’s summer job at AMC, a car manufacturing plant. Walker’s first days and subsequent stand-offs fill you with trepidation; [his] presence at AMC for the summer seems far more dangerous for him than beneficial. ... [These memories are] intermixed with silent snapshots of a middle-aged Walker beside his father’s hospital bed. 

Although the pace begins to slow upon Walker meeting Connie, and the time line becomes less linear, and how much time has passed is unclear, the desire to uncover the truth behind the family’s disappearance never wanes. Nor does the predictable plot twist matter. This is due to Guerin treating this revelation with a tone of acceptance rather than forgiveness.

Walker does not forget or forgive his father’s past actions but he approaches them with empathy; with the will to move on and let go.

Thus, You Can See More From Up Here actually felt like a coming-of-age story - Walker learns plenty about himself as well as his father - and despite this ‘coming-of-age’ arriving twenty years too late, Guerin’s description of Walker’s drive in the Cadillac is enough to reassure you the past has finally been left where it belongs.