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The Honk and Holler Opening Soon Billie Letts 9780446675055 Books

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The Honk and Holler Opening Soon Billie Letts 9780446675055 Books

Probably the most fun summer book I've ever read, next to Lucifer's Hammer years ago. We found the book in a cottage we were renting on Tybee Island Georgia. My wife started reading it and after telling me about how good this book was, I couldn't wait so I Kindled it. My sister-in-law, an avid reader, visited for a couple of days and read the whole book in one day. She also loved it. The title is a hoot and you'll find the characters so lovable that you want to find this place and move there even with the ups and downs. No place is perfect, so why not be with these people. It is one of those books you can't put down, but never want to end. It's that feeling that you are losing friends. Also a great portrayal of a Vietnam Vet, like me, who wasn't over there murdering civilians like so many authors like to write. Thank you Billie Letts for not doing the Psycho Vietnam Vet thing. Would have loved to see this as a movie and think the movie rights were sold, but doubt this would fit in today's movie themes or audience. Too bad. With the right actors and script, it could be a huge winner. Read it yourself and find out why.


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The Honk and Holler Opening Soon Billie Letts 9780446675055 Books Reviews

I guarantee you will never pass by a road side cafe, complete with the typical neon sign, and not recall this very wonderful story from Billie Letts.
Once again, Ms. Letts captures a slice of Americana with vanilla ice cream on the side. Her story involves very unique characters that literally fall out of cars and trucks on the door step of The Honk and Holler (Opening Soon).
The cafe has been open and is central to the town it serves. The sign is an error which has subjected the owner to more teasing than any one should have to take. But, it works in Caney Paxton's favor, for as the owner he has benefited from the notoriety of the mistake. Unfortunately, he really doesn't appreciate the up side of the down side.
Caney lives with a sense of failure. He is a Viet Nam vet and suffered a serious injury which has turned his world upside down into a right side up wheel chair. He vacillates between feeling sorry for himself and down right angry, not to mention, hopeless and spiritless. He goes through the motions of the very demanding responsibilities of running the cafe and eventually allows himself to be bound mentally and physically to the boundary of the cafe. Shielding himself behind the responsibilities of the cafe management never allow him to recognize how fearful of life this once very strong and courageous man has become.
Together with Molly O, described as a "mother hen" and senior waitress, they encounter a unique cast of characters landing on the doorstep of the Honk and Hollar begging for jobs and temporary refuge. The assortment of people literally change the life and world of Caney. When the door swings open, and it is not a customer, Caney doesn' t realize, but he is in for a world of change and challenge.
Lucky for us, we are along for the ride.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts was special for me for two reasons. First, it was highly recommended by a friend, and second, it was the very first book that I read on my new Fire. I have nothing but raves for both. The Honk and Holler is funny, sad, moving and quirky--in equal measures. But overall, it's an uplifting tale of how the best family you can have is the one that you create for yourself.

Caney Paxton is the owner of a restaurant called The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. The name was actually a drunken accident and is now a local joke in Sequoyah, Oklahoma. Caney, a paraplegic after a stint in Vietnam, hasn't been outside the restaurant in 12 years. MollyO is his only waitress and a surrogate mother. Soon, two strangers will show up at the door and bring many changes to the restaurant, as well as Caney and MollyO. Vena Takes Horse is a caring and giving woman who has spent most of her short life running away from her past. Bui Khanh is a young Vietnamese immigrant who is trying to earn enough money to bring his young bride to the United States. All four carry baggage, but somehow, each one contributes something important to the group--although something dark and menacing threatens their new-found contentment.

Billie Letts has a down-home style of writing which reminds me of Anne Tyler--if Tyler lived in Oklahoma. Some of her writing is quite funny. "If anyone could outwhine an Oklahoma windstorm, it was Merle Haggard singing about low-down women and low-life men." But her writing can also be reflective and sad. Caney won't take any sympathy for being a wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran as his injury didn't come from actual battle. "Caney knew he didn't belong, knew he couldn't claim to have anything in common with those men...men missing eyes, hands, testicles...men fed through tubes in their bellies...men who held themselves and rocked, staring, seeing nothing. Those men had given up parts of their bodies, pieces of their minds, to kill an enemy they couldn't see, to save friends they couldn't forget, to take a piece of ground they wouldn't own."

For an avid reader, there is nothing like the thrill of discovering a previously unknown author and The Honk and Holler Opening Soon was a wonderful surprise. I have already started another book by Letts, Where the Heart Is, and plan to read everything that she has written.
Probably the most fun summer book I've ever read, next to Lucifer's Hammer years ago. We found the book in a cottage we were renting on Tybee Island Georgia. My wife started reading it and after telling me about how good this book was, I couldn't wait so I d it. My sister-in-law, an avid reader, visited for a couple of days and read the whole book in one day. She also loved it. The title is a hoot and you'll find the characters so lovable that you want to find this place and move there even with the ups and downs. No place is perfect, so why not be with these people. It is one of those books you can't put down, but never want to end. It's that feeling that you are losing friends. Also a great portrayal of a Vietnam Vet, like me, who wasn't over there murdering civilians like so many authors like to write. Thank you Billie Letts for not doing the Psycho Vietnam Vet thing. Would have loved to see this as a movie and think the movie rights were sold, but doubt this would fit in today's movie themes or audience. Too bad. With the right actors and script, it could be a huge winner. Read it yourself and find out why.