Praise for Frail Union:
“I find these poems very moving and admirable for their clarity of vision and deft use of language.”
—Jonathan Galassi, former president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
“A stunning page-turner that stands out in the field of contemporary poetry as distinctly as a solitary sunflower rose from the middle / of the grass like a small yellow sun, Nylah Lyman’s Frail Union is a love letter to all women who secretly know their strength and quietly go about the work of manifesting their ambitions and desires.”
—Lissa Kiernan, author of Two Faint Lines in the Violet and The Whispering Wall
“Frail Union is a hands-in-the-soil search for a down-to-earth spirituality that can nourish the creative life and care for the physical world. Following both the farming season and the seasons of a relationship, these poems take their place beside those of Wendell Berry and Jane Kenyon. At the heart of this collection is a group of meditations that recount a young woman’s experience of a double lung transplant, culminating in ‘Surfacing,’ an urgent, uncanny, and absolutely moving work of art. This sequence is as powerful as anything you will read this year. And the poems that lead up to and follow that life-changing event present the resilient woman (a regular phoenix of spackle and blood) who can fashion a frail but lasting union of dirt and cloud, of nature and the imagination. A marvelous debut collection!”
—Theodore Deppe, author of Riverlight
“In Frail Union, Nylah Lyman invites readers along to dig down into the center of ruin and have a look around. What does she show us? The gravid, the overripe, the stripped bare. The ditch garden. Gathered fruit rotting in a barrel. Rupture and sundering and the scarred intersection where two lives collided. She shows us so well what has been lost—the rural landscapes, certain histories, the body’s territories. These vivid, affecting poems deeply examine their own uncertainties: no way of knowing until the whole mess / is too far gone to save. But these poems also embody reclamation. The graft. The transplant. Growth. Transformation—beaver pond to meadow, old life to new, and hand over hand, I reclaim it. Unsparingly, with deep curiosity and compassion, Lyman wonders what would happen in the hushed lacuna / between this new life and the old? She stands, in this collection, on the fault line of my own life, / the threshold between what is slipping away / and what is possible in the future. These poems render complex dynamics of loss and reclamation with wisdom and grace, never settling on easy closures or happily-ever-after tropes. These poems know better.”
—Liz Ahl, author of Beating the Bounds
Rating
I’ve read all 4 of the Bekker books. After you read this one, you’ll buy the others.
Great book. Characters have depth and complexity. The story breaks your heart and is hopeful at the same time . I buying the other 3 of this series
I really enjoyed this book and appreciate the twist and turns of the plot and look forward to the next book
I would recommend this book to others. It has violence and sex,but it also has strong characters that would do anything for each other
Although I liked the book, I didn’t like the Janet and Venus characters: too pushy. Watching them was like watching vultures snacking on the remains of their prey. John took up the bottle (alcohol) to hide his pain and a criminal gave him a reason to put down the bottle to find peace.
Give it a chance. Actually enjoyed this book. Read it in one sitting. Nice change from my usual genre.
I read this in one day. It’s a quick read, great for the beach or a snowy day when you’d like to be at the beach. I liked all the characters, and definitely want to continue my relationship with them. I’m glad to find a new series to love. This was a Kindle special, and I’m very glad it was the first book in the series. With the exception of a few typos (lots of “out” instead of “our”), the editing was ok. It just needs some proofing. For me, five stars are reserved for books I would read a second time.
John Bekker is a really likable character, flawed and quirky with a heart. The story moves quickly and is interesting. It’s a good, fast read.
Lamanda spins a terrific tale of vengeance and a cold case, with an appealingly damaged protagonist and a cast of clearly and economically drawn characters. A well-written, ex-cop procedural. I have to wonder, though, about the publication (I think Lamanda deserves better). First of all, there is absolutely no mention of the publisher anywhere – front & back covers, spine, inside. Anywhere. In fact, page 1 is just that – the story begins right there, on the first leaf. Secondly, spell-check utterly failed here. After a few pages I started penciling in corrections. Example: p. 74 – "Special Crimes, an umbrella for term for everything else." "manpower reports, maintenance budged, crime stats". p. 28: "She war brutally raped". So much for robot proofreaders! I am looking forward to Lamanda’s follow-up (book finishes with hero already accepting another case), with better editing.
Lamanda has read all the hard boiled, noir mystery authors and has learned well the elements that make a story compelling and a constant page turner. In this story an ex-cop ends up working for the dying bad guy he thought killed his family years ago to find the real killer. The story is filled with blind alleys, misdirection, invitations to faulty inferences by the reader, and finally a resolution you never see coming. This good read is highly recommended. And you should look for more of Lamanda’s books. With Elmore Leonard gone now, it’s good to see there are younger authors who have honed there craft and can continue the traditions and trade craft of noir crime fiction.
A very great detective story that shows the reader why this author is gaining the popularity he so richly deserves.
The was the first book I had read my Al Lamanda, and I read it because of it’s Edgar nomination. Great book about redemption with Bekker dragging himself up from the gutter.
I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review. What a story!! I really didn’t know if I would enjoy this book as it really isn’t my normal genre. But once I started it I couldn’t put it down! Well developed characters, action packed and twists I never saw coming! For anyone who loves a good murder mystery you are going to really love this book. I am now a total John Bekker fan!! Ex Police Detective John Bekker is an amazing character and in the beginning you feel as if you are sitting on the beach with him sipping beers and watching the sunset as he drinks his life away. Once the action starts and John is hired to solve his own wife’s murder you meet a number of people who could be responsible for it from Mob Bosses to fellow policemen and here the twists begin. It isn’t until the very end that John figures out who did it and why… absolutely amazing ending!
I am a mystery lover from the way go and this book sounded promising. Well, it turned out to be a great read–like the characters and the story was excellent. I’ve already pre-ordered the next book in the series!
Refreshing and well written. Our detective follows the breadcrumbs, keeps us guessing and trusts his instincts. Fast paced with well developed characters. A book you don’t want to put down. Can’t wait to read his other books.
Sunset, by Al Lamanda, was an excellent read. The characters were well-drawn and the plot – the search for the killer of an alcoholic PI’s wife – kept my interest. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work and to future John Bekker mysteries.
John Bekker is an ex-police detective who is now a PI and alcoholic. His life fell apart when he was investigating Eddie Crist, a mob boss, and someone came to his home to warn him off. Bekker was not home but as a result of the visit, his wife was brutally attacked and killed, while his daughter became withdrawn from the world after witnessing the attack and lives in a psychiatric hospital. Just when things seem to not be able to get any worse, Bekker is picked up by some mobsters and forced to sobriety. He is placed in front of Eddie Crist who claims he had nothing to do with his wife’s murder. Crist is dying of cancer and as a last wish, he wants Bekker to find out who did kill Bekker’s wife as a means of clearing his name. Bekker agrees to work for him after discovering that Crist paid for Bekker’s daughter to be institutionalized. With the help of some old friends from his law enforcement days, Bekker starts on his journey to the truth while seeking justice for his wife and daughter. There are two things that surprised me about this very well written mystery novel. First of all, I do not typically like PI novels. They are too highly formulaic and the more modern ones are taken up by a vast cast of characters, a highly complex plot, as well as, multiple red herrings to further confuse the reader and add bulk to the book. SUNSET is a PI novel that has a highly linear plot with relatively little complexity and a cast of characters easy to manage and but are also likeable and sympathetic. It is the right length to hold a reader’s interest in a single sitting. I read it in a single night. The intriguing plot twist is that Bekker must investigate the murder of his wife. So he is directly involved emotionally. No wisecracking here. There is much for him to gain. So this is a different type of PI novel and one that I consider to be the best one I read in years. The second thing that is surprising is the fact that this Edgar shortlisted book is published by Five Star Press. This particular publisher caters specifically to libraries and is not typically found in bookstores. This is almost a vanity press used by authors who could not get published any other way. The books tend to be overly long and unedited making them extremely tough to get through. SUNSET is definitely not that. I considered another Five Star book to be one of my favorites in 2009- THE KIND ONE by Tom Epperson. It went on to be published by a mass market publisher making it widely available. I predict the same for this book. The author, Al Lamanda deserves it. He is that good. Larry Gandle Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
Just finished reading Sunset last night, and I really enjoyed it. I can certainly understand why it is an Edgar nominee. Great characters, griping story, complex interactions–and a little gore. The image of the characters watching the sun set over the ocean will stay with me a long time.
