This was fine. Not really my thing, It felt more like contemporary fiction or literary fiction which takes A LOT for me to love, but it was an interesting character/family study. I think people who read a lot of contemporary fiction that is in the darker realm of life would enjoy this one.

Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux/MCD on March 13, 2018

Most chapters in Whiskey are divided into three sections. The sections titled Exodus are set in the present (1991) and bring us to the story’s end. The sections titled Genesis begin in the 1950s and tell the story of Pork White’s family. The Lamentations sections pick up the story of Pork’s two sons during the 1980s. The typical order within each chapter is Exodus - Lamentations - Genesis, so the story is told both backwards (within each chapter) and sideways (as it moves from chapter to chapter). Whiskey is like a winding river that flows through and connects the parts of the story.

When Whiskey begins, a lawyer walks into a bar and hands divorce papers to Andre White, who promptly burns them. Several drinks later, Andre and his brother Smoker have enlisted the lawyer’s armed assistance in a search for Smoker’s daughter Bird, who has been spirited away by Smoker’s wife. A chance encounter with a bear delays that mission before the bear joins it.

Andre and Smoker were born after Pork White, a Native American, fell in love with a white high school girl named Peg who used Pork to carry out her agenda of retribution. The relationship was a wrong turn in the lives of both of its participants. The reader learns how life turned out for Peg in one of the Lamentations sections of the book.

The brothers are distinctly different. Bruce Holbert portrays Smoker as “sharp-featured and rakish; women tripped over one another to be his fool. He had a knack for appearing to have feelings and the prospect of excavating his heart kept them on.” Smoker has no money and clearly never will, but he listens when women talk and for that they adore him.

Andre isn’t as attractive but he has more intellect, or at least more interest in using his intellect, than Smoker. In 1983, when he met Claire, Andre was a math teacher who still managed to remain sober during the day. In the evening, he stalked Claire until she caught him at it and commenced a romance. Given the way the story begins, the romance has clearly fizzled by the Exodus timeframe.

The themes in Whiskey are familiar. They include the impact of growing up in a dysfunctional family, brothers bonding as protection from woeful parenting, and sibling betrayal. Alcohol and violence pervade the story — alcohol consigns painful memories to oblivion (“If knowledge was the apple the serpent proffered Eve, then memory was the first bitter harvest outside Eden’s gates, and angels guard the tree of life, which bears the sweet fruit of amnesia we cannot reach”) — but Holbert softens the drunken violence with moments of tenderness, compassion, and unexpected humor. Just how Bird will turn out, raised with love but surrounded by cruelty, is an open question.

The brothers’ interaction provides a steady supply of surprises and revelations. Even when their relationship is at its worst, their connection is a harbor against a world for which they both seem unsuited. They have been (in Smoker’s words) “gutshot since birth.” They see living as a slow and sometimes agonizing process of dying.

Holbert conveys a strong sense of realism with the detailed setting and distinctive personalities that he gives to each character. His prose combines grace with grit. The rhythm of the brothers’ dialog is uniquely their own, cementing their relationship apart from everyone else in the world. Whiskey is worth reading just for the brothers’ far-ranging conversations. And while the novel as a whole is dark and tragic, it is also worth reading as a powerful reminder that people who endure dismal and violent lives are also capable of love, honesty, gentleness, and insight into the human condition that their more privileged neighbors may never develop.

RECOMMENDED

:I found this book slow and confusing. :I could not get into this story at all. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

If there is any plot to this book I had not discovered it by the time I had read about 35%. It's a series of anecdotes (like a pointless episode with a bear). I didn't care for the writing style and I also didn't like the narration by the author of the audio book. It would have been better if he had used a professional who could modulate his voice. I didn't feel like spending any more time on this. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Thanks for my copy, but this book isn't my type of read. I prefer to pass on reviewing rather than write a review on a book that isn't to my taste.

DNF @approximately 30%.

While this book isn't bad per se, it was confusing, not in terms of plot but in terms of writing choices. I could barely make out which character we were following, or was speaking, at any given moment, since they all shared the exact same speaking patterns, and the setting changed rapidly, without much indication for such change. When I could barely even tell what was happening, it was hard to care about any of these people and keep reading.

I could be wrong, but the book probably needed a better editor.

I received an ARC of Whiskey via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Andre and Smoker are brothers. After Smoker finds out his daughter has been transferred into the custody of a traveling preacher, by his estranged wife, he enlists the help of upstanding Andre to find her and bring her home.

If I could stop there, I would, but the actual story is so much more than just a kidnap caper. It's a case study of a family whose participants took one too many wrong turns on the road to becoming adults, and how those wrong turns culminated in the brokenness of two brothers who both love and hate each other.

Smoker and Andre's parents--Pork and Peg--met under violent circumstances. Neither wanted the other, so much as they were drawn together by a universal need to test their emotional and physical boundaries. Their union isn't healthy, and tragedy eventually sours it altogether, but not before their unflattering example taints the waters of their observant sons.

Andre tries hard to be something more than expected, but can't seem to get out of the shadow of his younger brother (Smoker). Andre eventually finds peace with a woman named Claire, but never feels secure enough in the knowledge that he's enough for her, even though she tries her best to make it clear.

Smoker has a tumultuous, but passionate, relationship with DeeDee. However, the presence of their daughter leads to jealousy as they each vie for Raven's (called Bird)love and affection. Determining them both unfit, DeeDee ultimately decides to give the girl to a preacher named Harold--unbeknownst to Smoker--because DeeDee feels the girl would be better off with someone who can take up time and teach her something, rather than a couple of alcoholic headcases.

Once Smoker finds out what has happened, he asks Andre to help him find his daughter, and bring her home. Fighting his own demons, Andre not only feels obligated to help his brother, he feels he may be able to redeem himself along the way.

It's a slow-moving tale, bolstered by great dialogue, but it can be confusing at times to keep up with the various tangents it takes.

By the end you have an understanding of everyone's angle, but that doesn't mean you're necessarily happy with how it ends.

It's a human story, with a lot of dysfunction, but it is also about forgiveness and finding peace.

“Is that your dog?” he asked

Andre shook his head. The man wore pressed gray slacks and a blue polo shirt and leather loafers with wine-colored socks.

“Seems friendly.”

“Anything’s friendly if you feed it.”

Not a lot of ‘friendly’ encounters in this novel about two brothers, Smoker and Andre, going back and forth through the years with their feral parents and broken marriages, and never quite reaching the bottom of the whiskey bottle. There’s a saying, “A cat’s a better mother than you”, in truth, a demon would be a better mother than Peg. As a child, “she was mean weather, not a misguided urchin.” To be fair, her upbringing wasn’t exactly all sunshine and daisies. When their father Pork and Peg are together, its hurricane season and the boys are the collateral damage. How could they come out of this wreckage without clenched fists and wild in their eyes?

Why did Claire and Andre’s marriage fall apart? Why has a religious cult taken Smoker’s daughter? Rest assured, the brothers are going to go after Harold and find his girl. Run ins with the law, detox, their parents, bears, cults… these two seemed doomed from the start set on rescuing others, but unable to save themselves, it’s more a lament on hard living.

With an eye on their parent’s courtship and fleeting glimpses into their upbringing, the savage birth of their futures seems foretold. Love can’t be maintained for either men, and if Smoker’s fathering skills serve as anything, it’s a warning that maybe the child is better off without him, or his careless, messed up wife. Nature, nurture, either way they were screwed. The writing style won’t be for everyone, and at times I got a little lost. Big things happen, but it’s over before I followed what was happening. I would have loved more story into Peg and Pork’s past, particularly the tender spot in the novel, Penny. Penny could have been the heart that beat a little longer, but it was such a fleeting moment, horrific and sad. Too, I wanted more about Harold and his little cult. Engaging one moment, losing me the next yet there was a lot of humor. It’s a barren existence for every character. Don’t look for hope. What happens to their mother, what they chose to do was heartbreaking, despite her meanness. Just when I started thinking things might turn around for the brothers, the author pushed my optimism off a cliff, and it ended just as it should. It’s a novel that is more like sitting at the bar as liquor burns your throat and belly, while a drunk is regaling you with tales about the lives of crazy folks he used to know.

Publication Date: March 13, 2018

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

I read this entire book yet when I finished it, I couldn't tell you what the plot was. 🤷🏼‍♀️Whiskey is the story of brothers Andre and Smoker, broken and flawed and the product of their parents dysfunctional relationship. Also happening in this book: a cult leader disappears with Smokers daughter and the brothers set out to find her and bring her home. Whiskey covers three generations, plus the daughters disappearance, and unfortunately it just didn't work for me. It felt disjointed and confusing, I oftentimes had to read back to figure out who/what was happening. I enjoyed some of the stories told but overall, this book was not for me. Thank you @fsgbooks for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

A really strong start with interesting, engaging characters, but by the halfway point, my interest waned.

There were times during the first half of this book where I didn't know if I would continue. What kept me going was the dialogue between the brothers - Smoker and Andre. They reminded me of characters Richard Russo may write about (and I love Richard Russo). It takes a bit to get in to the story but then the characters are so broken and flawed they grow on you. This could actually make a great movie.

This review is based on an ARC of Whiskey which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

Whiskey is a masterpiece of prose! This novel is a sibling story as well as a family saga. Chapters are divided into EXODUS, LAMENTATIONS, and GENESIS, each section set in a different period of the brothers' or their parents' lifetimes.

This novel is deeply personal and full of quite raw emotions. I found Whiskey addictive; every time I set my iPad down for a break I found myself unlocking it once again within the next five minutes.

My favorite part of this story was definitely the atmosphere! Oh, how I wish I were in bleak rural Washington, reading this book snuggled under an Indian blanket in a window seat. To me, Whiskey was reminiscent of Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone (another of my favorites).

The only two problems (and I use this word lightly) that I found in Whiskey were (1), a few excess words or typos missed in editing, and (2) sometimes as I was reading events came on so suddenly that I wasn't quite sure what was happening or why. However, Bruce Holbert's excellent voice amended this, writing with a confidence that makes you just go along with the story regardless.

I DESPERATELY want to own my own copy of this book (preferably a paperback), and I will read it to tatters! Not only is this book marvelous, it has great potential for re-readability. I have already been telling friends and family to mark their calendars for the release date of Whiskey by Bruce Holbert. Do I smell a 2018 Goodreads Choice nominee?