Ringside, 1925

Bryant, Jen. 2008. Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial.

I'll keep this one short. And I mean it. Something about this one just didn't work for me. Maybe it was the fact that it was in verse. (Verse novels sometimes exist when they should just be prose. And nobody--but the author perhaps--know why they're in verse in the first place.) Maybe it had too many narrators to suit me. (I liked one or two of the narrators, but there were just too many in this case. All the shifting P.O.V's annoyed me. Maybe if it had been told in two--or just one for that matter--I would have liked it better.) The title says it all: Views From the Scopes Trial. It's historical fiction. It's based on fact. It's got multiple voices represented. If you're interested in the Scopes Trial and/or you're interested in American history in general, then you might want to seek it out. It may work for other readers. It may even work well for others. But not for me. Reading is subjective after all. So still give this one a chance if you come across it. You could end up liking it much more than I did.

Read Sarah Miller's review for a really positive spin on the novel that will completely balance mine out.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews